The Canary Islands consist of 2 provinces Santa Cruz de Tenerife and Las Palmas. Each province includes a number of islands.
Here are some figures and facts for the fans:
Western province "Santa Cruz de Tenerife" :
The western province consists of the islands of Tenerife, La Palma, La Gomera and El Hierro.
The largest island of this province is Tenerife: 2,034 km2, then follows La Palma with 708 km2, La Gomera 370 km2 and El Hierro, 269 km2.
The location of the western province is 250-350 km from the coast of Africa 1100 to 1300 km from the mainland of Spain
Population figures:
Tenerife : 949,500
La Palma: 85,000
La Gomera : 22,000
El Hierro: 11,000
The capitals of these islands are:
Tenerife - Santa Cruz de Tenerife
La Palma - Santa Cruz de La Palma
La Gomera - San Sebastián de la Gomera
El Hierro - Valverde
The highest peak of the western province is on Tenerife: El Teide with an altitude of 3715 m
Temperatures are between 17ºC and 25ºC in winter and between 19ºC and 35ºC in summer
Seawater temperature rarely drops below 18ºC
Eastern Province "Las Palmas"
The eastern province of Las Palmas consists of the islands of Gran Canaria, Lanzarote, La Graciosa and Fuerteventura.
Gran Canara is the largest island in this province with 1560 km2 (comparable to the province of Utrecht). Then follows Fuerteventura with 1660 km2, Lanzarote 846 km2 and La Graciosa is the smallest island of the eastern province with 29,05 km2.
Location:
130 km from the coast of Africa (Fuerteventura) and 1285 km from the coast of Spain (Lanzarote)
Population figures:
Gran Canaria: 865,750
Fuerteventura: 122.600
Lanzarote: 151.000
La Graciosa: 650
The capitals per island of the Eastern Province are :
Gran Canaria - Las Palmas de Gran Canaria
Fuerteventura - Puerto del Rosario
Lanzarote and La Graciosa - Arrecife
Highest peak: For a long time it was thought that el Pico de las Nieves with 1949m was the highest point (also on Gran Canaria), but this has been adjusted in 2020, the highest point is El Morro de La Agujereada with 1957m, see picture (source Local Guide Gran Canaria)
Temperatures do not differ from the western province and also in Las Palmas they are between 17ºC and 25ºC in winter and between 19ºC and 35°C in summer. And also here the seawater temperature rarely drops below 18°C.
Economy: All the islands in both provinces live mainly from tourism, agriculture, fishing, construction and industry. The main export products are bananas, tomatoes, tropical fruits and flowers.