Eight sisters swimming together in the Atlantic

Somewhere on the Atlantic Ocean, off the coast of Africa (West of Morocco), eight beautiful sisters are found bathing in the Atlantic’s crisp waters. They lie there, peacefully, unaffected by what goes on in the world, enjoying their symbiotic relationship with the ocean that lovingly caresses their bodies. These beautiful pieces of land, each with her own unique personality and beautiful traits, are known as the Canary Islands.

On the outermost eastern island, Lanzarote is where I was lucky enough to grow up; surrounded by an ocean that was home to the most amazing and intriguing creatures, covered in beaches with silky, smooth, and warm sand that embraced your skin when you lay there in utter bliss. An island covered in lava and volcanos reminiscent of sci-fi movies portraying Mars or worlds unknown to us swimming freely in the Universe (where, actually, movies such as Enemy Mine - 1985 was filmed). An island so small you could traverse it by car in one day and come across such different and rich landscapes that it would be hard to believe you were in the same place. Yes! That’s where I grew up and I wouldn’t trade those evenings coming back from the beach —my mom screaming at me and my sister to get out of the water before we became dolphins so we could get home— for anything in the world. The sun setting on the horizon, blending in with the water in an explosion of colors, making love to the sky in a final goodbye, merging their power and transcending their orgy of burning hues to nearby clouds and any and all surfaces they touched. I couldn’t have asked for a better place to grow up in, and my memories of it are fond and warm.

It wasn’t until I was an exchange student in California during my senior year that I actually thought about the name of the islands. Also known as the Fortunate Isles (and I’ll get to that later), I never gave it a second thought as to why the group of islands to which Lanzarote belonged was called the Canary Islands. I would be teased in class in the U.S. by male schoolmates as to the name.

“Are there a lot of canaries, there?” They’d ask mockingly.

“Errrr… no, actually.” I’d replied puzzled. Which lit up my ever flaring curiosity to find out why, indeed, the name.

When I looked it up back then (many years ago now), it claimed that the name came from the Latin canis, which means dogs. So the Canary Islands are the Isles of Dogs. As I was doing a little more research for this entry, I came across a few theories about the name.

It is said that the islands were given the name of Isles of Dogs because when the first explorers arrived, they encountered many wild dogs (debatable and impossible to prove). Another one says it was because of the large number of sea dogs (which are also known as monk seals) that were found in the waters around the islands (and which are now non-existent there as they are a critically endangered species). Another theory is that it could come from the Berber tribe “Canarii”, as the population of the Canaries is believed to originate from Northwest Africa. In any case, none of these theories can be proven completely, so it’s up to our own fancy to decide what we like the most. Personally, I love the idea of the sea dogs, since I love all marine animals, and thinking that once upon a time, those same waters that I’ve swum many a time were shared by those creatures makes me tingle with amazement.

I also mentioned that they are affectionately called the Fortunate Isles, and this is even harder to prove, as this theory is entangled with mythology (yay! One of my favorite subjects!).

Here’s the story behind that name.

In Greek Mythology it was believed that a set of islands existed where anything grew without much effort, somewhere further west of the Pillars of Hercules (the modern Strait of Gibraltar). Legend has it that Hercules was to go to the end of the world and bring golden apples guarded by the Hesperides (nymphs of evening and golden light of sunsets, who were the "Daughters of the Evening" or "Nymphs of the West”). Hercules was successful in his task, which took him past the Pillars of Hercules, reaching the paradisiacal home of these maidens. It is believed that such a place was the Canary Islands.

Interestingly enough, I always believed that they were called the Fortunate Isles because the weather was always so pleasant (never too cold, never too hot, always just about right and in a location that didn’t yield great fury from Nature, albeit there have been storms and raging fires — mostly caused by man’s stupidity).

I have explained the name as well as I possibly could without boring you, dear reader, to death. However, you might be thinking: “if these islands are so close to Africa, do they belong to that continent?” They do not. The Canaries, like many other places around the world, were part of Spain’s expansion and conquest during its years as a vast empire. For a long time, Portugal and Spain fought, like children over a toy, over who would get to keep them. It’s refreshing to see how politics has matured in the past six centuries (NOT!). In any case, when I was in high school, our history teacher said that, basically, they flipped a coin during the Treaty of Alcáçovas and Spain won the Canaries, while Portugal got itself the Madeiras, Azores, and Cape Verde. Pretty funny if you think about it.

Although the Canary Islands rest about one thousand kilometers (over six-hundred and twenty miles) south of Spain, and just about one hundred kilometers (slightly over 62 miles) west of Morocco, they are part of Spain and Europe.

Thus, my little not-known fact (or perhaps you, reader, knew it) comes to an end. Truthfully, though, I could ramble about these islands “of mine” ad nauseam.

Thank you for reading!