Fuerteventura
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| Fuerteventura | |
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| Elevation: | 217 m |
| Latitude: | 28.33° N (28°20' N) |
| Longitude: | 14° W |
| Location: | eastern and southeastern Canary Islands, Spain |
| Area: | 1,660 km˛ |
| Type: | Stratovolcano |
| Last eruption: | Unknown |
| First ascent: | |
| Easiest route: | |
Fuerteventura, a Spanish island, is one of the Canary Islands, in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Africa. It is situated at 28°20' north, 14°00' west.
The elongated island has an area of 1660 km².
It is part of the province of Las Palmas. It is divided into six municipalities:
67 individual settlements are distributed through these municipalities. A nearby islet, Islote de Lobos, is part of the municipality of La Oliva.
Located just 100 kilometres off the coast of North Africa. It is the second biggest of the islands, after Tenerife, and has the longest beaches in the archipelago. The island is a paradise for sun, beach and watersports enthusiasts.
The island is widely believed to be the oldest of the Canary Islands. Its strange form was created out of a series of volcanic eruptions many thousands of years ago.
The first tourist hotel was built here in 1965 followed by the construction of the airport at El Mattoral, heralding the dawn of a new era for the island. Fuerteventura, with its 3,000 sunshine hours a year, was placed firmly on the world stage as a major European holiday destination.
The island is on the same latitude as Florida and Mexico and temperatures here rarely fall below 18C or rise above 24C. There are no less than 152 beaches along its coastline - 50 kilometres of fine, white sand and 25 kilometres of black volcanic shingle.
The summer Trade Winds and winter swells of the Atlantic make this a year-round surfers' paradise. Sailors, scuba divers and big game fishermen are all drawn to these clear blue Atlantic waters where whales, dolphins, marlin and turtles are all common sights.
Much of the interior, with its large plains, lavascapes and volcanic mountains, consists of protected areas which can be best be explored in a 4x4 or (for the more daring) with a cross-country motorbike.
Flag
The flag color of Fuerteventura is green on the left and white on the right.Fuerteventura_flag.gif
History
The island's colourful past can be traced in a variety of ancient buildings, monuments, archaeological sites and museums.
The first settlers are believed to have arrived here from North Africa - the word Mahorero or Maho is still used today to describe the people of Fuerteventura and comes from the ancient word 'mahos' meaning a type of goatskin shoe worn by the original inhabitants. They lived in caves and semi-subterranean dwellings, a few of which have been discovered and excavated revealing relics of early tools and pottery. In antiquity, the island was known as Planaria, among other names, in reference to the flatness of most of its landscape.
In 1405, the French conqueror Jean de Bethencourt took the island and gave his name to the former capital, Betancuria, on the west coast (Puerto Rosario took over the mantle as island capital in 1835). The name of the island itself is believed to have come from Bethencourt's exclamation "Que forte aventure!" ("What a grand adventure"). A less romantic explanation is that the name simply means "strong wind".
Tourism arrived in 1966. In 1927, Fuerteventura and Lanzarote became part of the province of Gran Canaria.
The seat of the island government (cabildo insular) is in Puerto del Rosario. A total of 74,983 people (2003) live on the island.
Since the island is close to Africa, many illegal African immigrants try to enter the European Union through it, by a dangerous boat trip from Morocco.
External link
- Cabildo de Fuerteventura (http://www.cabildofuer.es/) (Official page, in Spanish)
- Sunnyfuerteventura.com - Fuerteventura weather, places to see, things to do and much more (http://www.sunnyfuerteventura.com/)
- Fuerteventura.com - Website devoted to Fuerteventura (http://www.fuerteventura.com/)
- Fuerteventura.to - Tourist and informational guide to Fuerteventura (http://www.fuerteventura.to/)
- Surf Fuerteventura (http://surfing-fuerteventura.blogspot.com/)(Spanish and English)
- http://www.fuerteventura-virtuell.de (in German)
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