Located in the north east of Tenerife the land on which the city of Santa Cruz sits has been populated by humans for over 2000 years.
According to Wikipedia’s page on Santa Cruz de Tenerife, the city’s first denizens, who called the area Añazo, were the aboriginal Berber race known as the Guanches. At that time Santa Cruz was mostly stretches of wild vegetation and it wasn’t until the arrival of the Conquistadors from Spain in the 1400s that the city started to grow into the metropolis we recognise today.
However, it wasn’t until the 1706 eruption of a volcano that destroyed the port of Garachico that Santa Cruz became not just one of the most important ports in the Canaries but also the Atlantic.
The harbour is one of Spain’s busiest and a central communications hub between Europe Africa and the Americas. There is a high level of commercial and passenger traffic with Santa Cruz being a major stopover for cruise liners before crossing the Atlantic to the Caribbean.
It is this nautical significance that prompted one of Santa Cruz de Tenerife’s most famous battles. In 1797 Admiral Horatio Nelson was violently repelled as he tried to storm Santa Cruz with a task force of some 400 guns and 4,000 men. The locals fought bravely and it was here that Nelson lost his arm before retiring from the painful defeat.
As the 19th century dawned Santa Cruz de Tenerife really began to evolve and take shape. With a royal decree in 1821 the city became the Canarian capital and a wealth of architecturally significant government buildings began to spring up along with civic monuments and public leisure spaces.
Nowadays, Santa Cruz de Tenerife is a booming tourist destination drawing visitors to its globally famous carnival which takes place every February or March. The city has also geared up to provide facilities for the hundreds of cruise ship passengers who make excursions into the centre during their stopovers.
For the general visitor in 2012 the city offers a break from the sunshine and sangria of the holiday resorts with its cosmopolitan atmosphere, glamorous architecture and range of museums, art galleries and performance spaces including the iconic Auditorio de Tenerife which has become a symbol of this captivating city.
Click here for more information on the history of Tenerife