El Hierro
El Hierro, nicknamed Isla del Meridiano, is the southernmost and westernmost of the Canary Islands, in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Africa, with a population of 11,659. Its capital is Valverde. At, it is the second-smallest of the eight inhabited islands of the Canaries, with La Graciosa being the smallest.
Name
The name El Hierro, although spelled like the Spanish word for 'iron', is not related to that word. The H in the name of the metal is derived from the F of Latin ferrum, a phonetic mutation that was complete by the end of the Middle Ages.The confusion with the name of the metal had effects on the international naming of the island. As early as the 16th century, maps and texts called the island after the word for 'iron' in other languages: Portuguese Ferro, French l'île de Fer, and Latin Insula Ferri.
Nevertheless, the origin of the name ero or erro or yerro is not definitely known. It is thought to be derived from one of several words in the Guanche language of the pre-Hispanic inhabitants, known as Bimbaches. Juan de Abreu Galindo gives the native name of the island as Esero, meaning 'strong'.
Richard Henry Major, however, in notes on of , observes that the Guanche word hero or herro, meaning 'cistern', could easily have lapsed into hierro by a process of folk etymology. It is believed that the Bimbaches had to construct cisterns to save fresh rainwater. The Gran diccionario guanche gives the meaning of the Guanche word hero in Spanish as "fuente".
History
The ancient natives of the island, called Bimbaches, were subjected to Spanish rule by Jean de Béthencourt – more by the process of negotiation than by military action. Béthencourt had as his ally and negotiator Augeron, brother of the island's native monarch. Augeron had been captured years before by the Europeans and now served as mediator between the Europeans and the Guanches. In return for control over the island, Béthencourt promised to respect the liberty of the natives, but his son eventually broke his promise, selling many of the bimbaches into slavery. Many Frenchmen and Galicians subsequently settled on the island. There was a revolt of the natives against the harsh treatment of the governor Lázaro Vizcaíno, but it was suppressed.Landslides and tsunami
There is evidence of at least three major landslides that have affected El Hierro in the last few hundred thousand years. The most recent of these was the 'El Golfo' landslide that occurred about 15,000 years ago, involving collapse of the northern flank of the island. The landslide formed the El Golfo valley and created a debris avalanche with a volume of 150–180 km3. Turbidite deposits related to this landslide have been recognized in drill cores from the Agadir Basin to the north of the Canary Islands. Detailed analysis of these deposits suggests that the slope failure did not occur as a single event but a series of smaller failures over a period of hours or days. Local tsunami are likely to have been triggered by these landslides but no evidence has been found to confirm this.2011 seismic activity
The Instituto Vulcanológico de Canarias and National Geographic Institute's seismic monitoring station located in Valverde detected increased seismic activity beginning on 17 July 2011. The seismic monitoring network was increased in density on 21 July to allow better detection and location of the seismic events. There was an earthquake swarm with in excess of 400 minor tremors between 20 July and 24 July; by 27 July a further 320 earthquakes had been recorded. On 25 August there were reports that some horizontal deformation had been detected, but that there was no unusual vertical deformation. At that time, the total number of tremors had exceeded 4,000. By the end of September, the tremors had increased in frequency and intensity, with experts fearing landslides affecting the town of La Frontera, and also a small possibility of a volcanic eruption through a new vent. Emergency services evacuated several families in the areas at most risk, and made plans to evacuate the island if necessary. Between 4;15 and 4:20 a.m. on 10 October 2011 the earthquake swarm changed behaviour and produced a harmonic tremor. Harmonic tremors are produced by magma movements and can indicate that an eruption has begun. Later the same day a small submarine eruption began, 7 km south of La Restinga. On 11 October the volcanic threat level at La Restinga was raised from "yellow" to "red" after minor rockfalls on the slopes above the town. Temporary evacuation of the 600 inhabitants was ordered and, despite a reduction in activity, they were still unable to return 20 days later.As of 7 November 2011 a confirmed surtseyan type of eruption phase has started at the fissure. On 4 December 2011 the eruption was ongoing with vigorous phreatic bubbles emerging. After the 2011 eruption, fossils of single-celled marine organisms were found in restingolites, a type of tephra, that were released into the water.
Climate
The precise climate of El Hierro depends on the area. The climate ranges are from subtropical Mediterranean in the center of the island, to semi-arid and to a desert climate in coastal sections. It also has tropical climate influences on some areas, as the coldest month average temperature does not fall below, but as precipitation is very low, the arid/semi-arid climate overlaps with the tropical climate, and therefore, its official classification according to AEMET is semi-arid or arid, depending on the exact area of the island. The temperatures are greatly influenced by the ocean. This is the climate chart from El Hierro Airport, which is the only airport in the island:Note
Geography, flora and fauna
El Hierro's size and geography supports entirely endemic species including the critically endangered El Hierro giant lizard, for which there is a captive breeding programme, allowing its reintroduction.The non-barren parts of the interior rely on relief precipitation, not much more than the average of 19 rainfall days per year, high relative humidity and geothermal springs. These non-arid parts have thermophilous juniper clumps and a pine forest with other evergreens.
In 2000, El Hierro was designated by UNESCO as a Biosphere Reserve, with 60% of its territory protected to preserve its natural and cultural diversity. Among cetaceans in these waters, it is notable that several species of lesser known beaked whales inhabit around the island.
Like the rest of the Canary Islands chain, El Hierro is volcanic and sharply mountainous. One eruption has to date been recorded on the island, but is not confirmed: from the Volcan de Lomo Negro vent in 1793, lasting a month. A submarine eruption occurred, however, offshore La Restinga village in 2011/2012. Except as landscaped at its harbour towns the shore is rocky and in places precipitous.
El Hierro is a island, formed late, about 1.2 million years ago after three successive eruptions, the island emerged from the ocean as a triangle of basaltic dykes topped with a volcanic cone more than 2,000 metres high. Continued activity resulted in the island expanding to have the largest number of volcanoes in the Canaries, together with approximately 70 caves and volcanic galleries, including the Cueva de Don Justo whose collection of channels exceeds 6 km. Landslides, plant erosion and seasonal wind erosion have reduced the size and height of the island.
The current highest point is in the middle of the island, in Malpaso, at high.
Tourism and transportation
Like all of the Canary Islands, El Hierro is a tourist destination. It is served by a small airport—El Hierro Airport at Valverde—and a ferry terminal at Puerto de la Estaca, both of which connect to Tenerife. Though El Hierro has a Parador, hotel accommodations are generally in small family enterprises; as a UNESCO World Biosphere Reserve, El Hierro has limited construction to less than half of its total surface and buildings to two floors, maintaining its traditional look and social structure more than the other six major Canary Islands.Political organization
The island is part of the province of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, and includes three municipalities:Valverde is situated in the northeast and Frontera in the west, both contain several villages.
The seat of the island government is in the town of Valverde, which houses approximately half of the island's population.
Migration
El Hierro and the Canaries have become bases for migration out of Africa. In early October 2023 boats carrying well over one thousand migrants had arrived within a few days many of them on "Spanish Lampedusa". "It is believed that the increase in arrivals in the Canary Islands is linked to the political and social crisis in Senegal."The "Meridian Island"
El Hierro was used in various parts of Europe for more than 500 years as the prime meridian, especially outside of the future British Empire. By the 2nd century CE, Ptolemy already considered a definition of the zero meridian based on the westernmost piece of land in the world, giving a few maps with only positive, eastern longitudes.In 1634, in France, as ruled by Louis XIII and his minister Richelieu, it was decided that Ferro's meridian should be used as a key reference of maps, in consideration of the island's historic meridian and status as the westernmost-known land of peoples of the 'Known World'. Flores Island is the westernmost Azore discovered by the Portuguese navigators in the early 15th century—after the First Voyage of Columbus in 1492 scholars and cartographers sometimes grouped them among the new world. The Paris elite considered El Hierro to be exactly 20° west of the Paris meridian.
Old international maps often have a common grid with Paris degrees at the top and Ferro degrees at the bottom. Louis Feuillée also worked on this problem in 1724.