Tenerife facts for kids
Tenerife is one of the seven Canary Islands. It is part of the province of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, the capital of the province being on the island. The other province in the canary Islands is Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. With 899.833 inhabitants, Tenerife is the most populated island of the Canary Islands and Spain.
The flag adopted by the island is that of a white St Andrew's cross on a navy blue background this is due to St Andrew being the patron saint of the island.
Geologically it grew up from a volcano, the Teide. This volcano has had many violent eruptions over its very long history, the most recent of those eruptions took place in 1909. Island capital is Santa Cruz de Tenerife, other important cities are Puerto de la Cruz, La Orotava, Arona, Adeje and San Cristóbal de La Laguna, all in the north of the island. Also important town of Candelaria, where they worship the patron saint of the Canary Islands, the Virgin of Candelaria.
The island is currently dependent on the tourism industry for much of its income.
Tenerife has two international airports, one in the south near the centres of tourism in Playa de Las Americas, Costa Adeje and Los Cristianos, and one in the north near Santa Cruz, which is where the world's worst plane disaster happened on March 27, 1977. Two Boeing 747 planes collided on the runway and killed 583 people.
The biggest tourist attractions are the volcano Teide (top is more than 3,000 m above sea level) and the Loro Parque in Puerto de la Cruz.
Images for kids
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Alonso Fernandez de Lugo presenting the native kings of Tenerife to Ferdinand and Isabella
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Amaro Pargo (1678-1741), corsair and merchant from Tenerife who participated in the Spanish treasure fleet (the Spanish-American trade route)
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Panorama of Valle de La Orotava
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Puerto de la Cruz, in the North, during winter, featuring background snowy mountains
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Castle of San Andrés, declared of National Tourist Interest Center
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Auditorio de Tenerife, icon of architecture in Canary Islands
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Basilica of Candelaria, sanctuary of the Virgin of Candelaria, patron saint of the Canary Islands
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Peter of Saint Joseph de Betancur, franciscan missionary in Guatemala born in Tenerife. It was the first canary to be canonized by the Roman Catholic Church. This saint is very venerated in Tenerife.
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Teide Observatory, part of the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (Astrophysics Institute of the Canaries)
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Gallotia galloti, a wall lizard species endemic to Tenerife
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Teide and Roque Cinchado
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Auditorio de Tenerife in Santa Cruz de Tenerife
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Valle de La Orotava
See also
In Spanish: Tenerife para niños