Canary Islands
Vineyards
La Palma is a volcanic ocean island, one of the seven major Canary Islands, a Spanish territory located off of the north west coast of Africa in the Atlantic Ocean. Generally known by this name in English and Spanish, it may also be referred to as la Isla de La Palma, for example in a geographical context or to distinguish it from the Spanish cities of Palma or Las Palmas. Palma in all these cases refers to the Palm tree, of which there exists a species native to the Canary Islands. Historically the island was named San Miguel de La Palma, which refers to Michael the Archangel since the island was conquered for Castille on Michaelmas of 1492.
La Palma is the most northwesterly of the Canary Islands. La Palma has an area of 706 km2 making it the fifth largest of the seven main Canary Islands. The total population is about 85,000, of which 18,000 (2003 data) live in the capital, Santa Cruz de la Palma and about 20,000 (2004 data) in Los Llanos de Aridane.
La Palma, like the other islands of the Canary Island archipelago, is a volcanic ocean island. The volcano rises almost 7 km above the floor of the Atlantic Ocean. Proportional to its size, it is alleged to be the steepest island in the world.[citation needed] There is road access from sea level to the very summit at 2423 metres, which is marked by an outcrop of rocks called Los Muchachos ("The Lads"). This is the site of the Roque de los Muchachos Observatory, one of the world's premier astronomical observatories.
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