A quiet pearl in the Atlantic, always with mild to warm temperatures, invites you to relax and dream. It wasn't always like this!!!
The formation
It started around 36 million years ago with volcanic activity on the sea floor due to the drifting of the continental plates. Lanzarote itself is around 15.5 million years old. The Ajaches Mountains and the far north were originally 2 islands, they grew together when the volcanoes near Tías were added. Then the island eroded and lost a lot of height until around 2.8 - 1.4 million years ago the Montaña Roja near Playa Blanca and some volcanoes near Teguise and Haria, as well as in the middle of the island, emerged.
In the last 1 million years there have been some eruptions with hot lava. Around 3000 years ago the Monte Corona erupted in the north and expanded the island to the northwest. This is also where the caves Cueva de los Verdes and Jameos del Agua were formed.
The last volcanic eruptions occurred between 1730 and 1736 and at the end of July 1824, which only lasted 3 months. This is very well described because the priests on the island could read and write.
1730-1736
Andrés Lorenzi Curbelo was a priest in Yaiza and noted that on the evening of September 1st, 1730, the earth opened up about 3 km to the north and lava shot up from the del Cuervo volcano. A few days later, the lava poured over the towns of Timanfaya, Rodeo and as far north as Mancha Blanca. He described how loud it must have been. The inhabitants, who were mostly farmers and craftsmen, had never seen anything like it. Many fled because the lava flowed into many valleys down to the sea and destroyed everything they had. It is believed that the amount of lava was about 1000 million m³, some of which was up to 90m high in the valleys. After 1.5 months, things calmed down and there was hope, until another volcano with three openings opened up behind Santa Catalina. The eruptions continued like this until 1736. About 1/4 of the current island was affected.
The people fled to the north, protected from the ash and the smoke that filled their lungs. Many fled from the island to Spain and South America. But the Spanish government repeatedly tried to keep the people on the island and guarded them at times because they feared that another nation would take over Lanzarote, as it was a strategically important trading point in the Atlantic.
1824
On July 31, 1824, the priest Don Baltasar Perdomo of San Bartolomé noted renewed volcanic eruptions, but these were further to the northwest. This is where the volcanoes Nuevo del Fuego, Tinguatón and Tao were formed. It lasted until October 20, 1724, and since then the volcanoes on Lanzarote have been sleeping like Sleeping Beauty.
Die Einwohner in der Frühzeit
It is believed that the Phoenicians were the first to arrive on the island around 1100 BC. Ancient Greek philosophers described what are now the Canary Islands as the Garden of the Hesperides. In 999 BC they were rediscovered by Arabs. They called themselves Guanches, or today Guanches, but they mainly lived on Tenerife. They stayed on the islands for a very long time.
From the end of the 13th century to the 15th century, the Guanches fought steadfastly. Introduced diseases and battles with enslavement finally wiped them out. Anyone who did not profess the Christian faith had to die.
There is evidence of Roman finds from the 1st century BC, when the Mauritanians also visited the islands until they were forgotten.
The Portuguese occupied the islands at times until they were expelled in 1404 under pressure from Jean de Béthencourt. This was the time of the great pirate battles. In 1618, the pirates Jabán and Solimán discovered about 1,000 Guanches, whom they captured and sold on African slave markets.
NOT YET FULLY EDITED AND RESEARCHED!