As the legend goes, many islands, among them Tenerife, were the uppermost peaks of Atlantis, a continent that sank under the ocean in a catastrophic event which left only the highest mountains above sea level.

It is also belived that nearly 3 million years ago the island known today as Tenerife was three separate islands with 3 mountain ranges: the Anaga, Teno and Valle San Lorenzo. Then, as the consequence of a remarkable volcanic process, they melted together forming the island of Tenerife.

Geologists also estimate that about 25 million years ago parts of the continent broke off from the mainland and formed the Canary Islands.

The earliest known settlement in the islands was around 200 BC, by people called the Guanches. They were a tall, powerfully built Scandinavian-looking people with blue eyes and long, fair hair. The Guanches were comparatively uncivilized people with Stone Age technology, dressed in animal hides and living in caves.

Then the Europeans took over the archipelago. First occupied by the French and then by the Spaniards, the Canary Islands slowly started to loose their Guanches roots. Native inhabitants were sold off into slavery and their language and traditions vanished. During the next centuries the Moroccan, the Dutch and the British unsuccessfuly tried to subjugate the islands. In 1821 the islands were officially declared part of Spain and have remained so ever since.

Soon after the death of Franco in 1975 and the restoration of Spain's monarchy in 1978, the Canaries became an autonomous region. Today the Canary Islands have a great deal of political autonomy within the Spanish state, and the islanders generally think of themselves Canarians rather than Spanish. Nonetheless, at the same time that the rift between the Spanish mainland and Tenerife widens, the island's links with the rest of Europe are strengthening, mainly because of economic connections and the huge income from tourism.