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Palma History - Palma de Mallorca
Until the conquest of the island by the Spanish
at the end of the fifteenth century, La Palma was inhabited
by the Benahoaritas a pastoral people stemming from North
Africa who grazed their goats on the coast in winter and in
the mountains in summer. The Caldera de Taburiente was a communal
grazing area, and it remained so almost until modern times.
But back to the Benahoaritas. These shepherds wore animal
skins, lived in caves and hut settlements and had no knowledge
of either writing, metal working or navigation. They worshipped
gods of nature and were brave warriors- even the women. Tanausú,
the last king of the Benahoaritas, who had made the Caldera
into his strong hold, put up such bitter resistance against
the Spanish conquerors that he could only be defeated by a
trickery.
Once the island had been subjugated by the Crown of Castile
in 1493, the conquistadores laid out enormous sugar-cane plantations
in the lower part of the Ariadne Valley ( Los Llanos de Ariadne,
Tazacorte) and in the northeast (San Andrés y Sauces).
The haciendas in the west were irrigated with the water canalised
out of the Caldera, those in the east by the Marcos y Cordero
springs ( Los Tilos).
At the same time, La Palma lay on the route to recently discovered
America. The island capital of Santa Cruz de La Palma developed
into a bridge between the Old World and the New. In the sixteenth
century its harbour became the third most important in the
Spanish Empire, after Antwerp and Seville, and at first Spanish,
Flemish, English and Portuguese merchants settled there. Sugar
export brought them great wealth which they invested in Flemish
art.
By the seventeenth century however the dream was already
over. The sugar market crashed. Santa Cruz de La Palma lost
its commercial supremacy and La Palma turned into the peaceful
island it is today.
The island went on living from export farming : after sugar
came wine, silk, embroided, cigars and dye from the cochineal
beetle, all of which brought the big land owners and merchants
short term profits. Various natural disasters and economic
crises eventully forced the island to its knees, however.
The rural population became impoverished and islanders had
to try their luck emigrating to Cuba and Venezuela.
Those who survived the crossing and managed to achieve wealth
and prosperity on the other side of the ocean returned with
considerable culture in their back pockets.
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