Europe's Most-Visited Island — the Canarian triangle where Spain's highest peak (Teide, 3,718 m, an active volcano with its own national park) rises above sea-of-clouds, the north is lush banana plantation villages and colonial towns, and the south is beach-and-party resort at European scale
Tenerife is the largest of Spain's Canary Islands — an autonomous community off the northwest African coast — and the most-visited island in Europe, receiving 6–7 million tourists annually. The island's extraordinary diversity within a small area (2,034 km²) makes it unlike any other island destination: the volcanic peak of Teide (3,718 m, Spain's highest point) dominates the interior, rising above a permanent sea of clouds that creates a striking inversion layer visible from the beaches below. The Teide National Park (UNESCO World Heritage) surrounding the volcano is the most-visited nationa…
The Canary Islands were originally inhabited by the Guanche people — a Berber-origin population who arrived from North Africa c. 1000 BCE and maintained an isolated Neolithic culture (no knowledge of metallurgy or boats) until European contact. The Guanche called Tenerife 'Achinet.' The Spanish conquest of Tenerife (1494–1496) was the most difficult of all the Canary Islands — the Guanche leader Mencey of Güímar allied with the Spanish, but Tenerife's nine kingdoms fought back at the Battle of Matanza de Acentejo (1494, a Spanish defeat) before the Spanish returned with reinforcements and com…