Las Palmas de Gran Canaria was founded the June 24th, 1478.
When the Spanish troops led by conqueror Juan Rejón sited a palm
field on the right bank of the mouth of the Guiniguada ravine, where
they set up their military quarters. In the zone around the present
Ermita de San Antonio de Abad, in the district of Vegueta, the city
had its origins.
The civic centre was soon moved to the Plaza de Santa Ana, where the
most important religious, administrative and political organisms in
the archipelago were established. From the district of Vegueta, the
city stretches along the district of Triana. The old part of the city
dates back to the 16th century and hardly underwent any change until
the late 19th
The first expansion and the attacks of pirates.
Sugar cane exports stimulated the first important development
of the city, turning it into an active commercial centre. The riches
from this trade drew the pirates sailing the dangerous oceans of that
time. In October 1595, the city managed to repel the attack of a large
English fleet commanded by Francis Drake and John Hawkins. Four years
later, in June 1599, the Dutch Van der Does and his squadron were the
protagonists of one of the most dramatic episodes in the history of
Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. They sacked and burnt the city.
The Puerto de La Luz and the contemporary city.
A new rebirth took place in the second half of the 19th century. This
time it was thanks to the cochineal trade and to the construction of
the indisputable engine of the city: The Puerto de La Luz. In a few
years time, what used to be a village became a trade centre, a universal
capital city opened to the entire world.
A new city centre started to grow around the port. Las Palmas de Gran
Canaria was about to undergo its great modern transformation. The port
broadened the city's horizons. Its construction caused a revaluation
of its strategic location in the middle of the transatlantic trade routes.
It also enabled an approximation to Europe, thus substantially increasing
foreign trade.
Open and universal society.
Since its very beginning the population of this city has been varied.
Spaniards, Portuguese, Aragonese, Genoese, Frenchmen and Flemish settled
on it in search of free and cultivable land. Since the discovery of
America until well on into the seventieth century, it became a port
of call for European merchants on the way to the Indies.
After the construction of the port of La Luz, the city became a real
Tri-continental base where human crowds coming from everywhere in the
world arrived. Nowadays the population of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria
is the result of its cosmopolitanism, a crucible full of races, which
have placed roots in an open and universal society.
