The flag of

Tenerife Tenerife (; ; formerly spelled ''Teneriffe'') is the largest and most populous island of the Canary Islands. It is home to 43% of the total population of the Archipelago, archipelago. With a land area of and a population of 978,100 inhabitant ...

is a

white White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White ...

saltire A saltire, also called Saint Andrew's Cross or the crux decussata, is a heraldic symbol in the form of a diagonal cross, like the shape of the letter X in Roman type. The word comes from the Middle French ''sautoir'', Medieval Latin ''saltatori ...

(or

Cross of Burgundy The Cross of Burgundy (french: Croix de Bourgogne; es, Cruz de Borgoña/Aspa de Borgoña; german: Burgunderkreuz; it, Croce di Borgogna; ca, Creu de Borgonya; nl, Bourgondisch kruis) is a saw-toothed ( raguly) form of the Cross of Saint Andr ...

or St Andrew's Cross) over a blue field. The arms of the cross are approximately one fifth the width of the flag and the field is

navy blue Navy blue is a very dark shade of the color blue. Navy blue got its name from the dark blue (contrasted with naval white) worn by officers in the Royal Navy since 1748 and subsequently adopted by other navies around the world. When this color ...

(''azul marino'').

Significance

There is no official meaning to justify the colours of the flag, but blue and white colours have been identified on the island of Tenerife for centuries. Traditionally, navy blue has been identified with the

sea The sea, connected as the world ocean or simply the ocean, is the body of salty water that covers approximately 71% of the Earth's surface. The word sea is also used to denote second-order sections of the sea, such as the Mediterranean Sea, ...

and the white to the snow-covered peaks of Mount Teide in winter.

Juba II Juba II or Juba of Mauretania (Latin: ''Gaius Iulius Iuba''; grc, Ἰóβας, Ἰóβα or ;Roller, Duane W. (2003) ''The World of Juba II and Kleopatra Selene'' "Routledge (UK)". pp. 1–3. . c. 48 BC – AD 23) was the son of Juba I and client ...

and

Ancient Romans In modern historiography, ancient Rome refers to Roman civilisation from the founding of the city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD. It encompasses the Roman Kingdom (753–50 ...

referred to Tenerife as Nivaria, derived from the

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through ...

words ''nix'', ''nivis'' or ''nives'', meaning snow, in clear reference to the snow-covered peak of the Teide volcano. The name of Tenerife is derived from the language of the Benehaorits - the natives of nearby

La Palma La Palma (, ), also known as ''La isla bonita'' () and officially San Miguel de La Palma, is the most north-westerly island of the Canary Islands, Spain. La Palma has an area of making it the fifth largest of the eight main Canary Islands. The ...

. ''Tene'' means ''mountain'' and ''ife'' means ''white''. After colonisation by Spain, the letter ''r'' was added, uniting both words.

History

The flag was first adopted as a maritime registry flag of the maritime province of the

Canary Islands The Canary Islands (; es, :es:Canarias, Canarias, ), also known informally as the Canaries, are a Spanish Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community and archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean, in Macaronesia. At their closest point to ...

. It was initially adopted in 1845 by Royal Order and was adopted as the flag of

by an Order issued on 9 May 1989, with the order appearing in th
Boletín Oficial de Canarias
on 22 May 1989. The flag closely resembles the

flag of Scotland The flag of Scotland ( gd, bratach na h-Alba; sco, Banner o Scotland, also known as St Andrew's Cross or the Saltire) is the national flag of Scotland, which consists of a white saltire defacing a blue field. The Saltire, rather than the ...

, the difference being a darker shade of blue. There are two popular traditions on the island of Tenerife trying to explain the resemblance. One is that the flag was adopted as a mark of respect to the bravery of the Scottish sailors in the Battle of Santa Cruz. An alternative theory is the most influential masters of the island of Tenerife chose a design similar to the Scottish flag belonging to the Masonic Grand Lodge of Scotland and proposed a similar flag for the maritime province of the Canary Islands, which later became the flag of Tenerife.La bandera de la Isla cumple 170 años
/ref>

Flags with the same origin

* The flag of the

province of Santa Cruz de Tenerife Province of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, also Province of Santa Cruz ( es, link=no, Provincia de Santa Cruz de Tenerife), is a province of Spain, consisting of the western part of the autonomous community of the Canary Islands. It consists of about ...

is the same, with the provincial shield in the centre. * The flag of

Club Deportivo Tenerife Club Deportivo Tenerife, S.A.D. is a Spanish football club based in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Tenerife, in the Canary Islands. Founded in 1912, the club plays in the Segunda División, holding home matches at the Estadio Heliodoro Rodríguez Lóp ...

is also the same, with the shield of the entity at the centre. * The

Flag of Canary Islands The flag of the Autonomous Community of the Canary Islands is a vertical tricolour of three equal bands of white, blue, and yellow. The state flag includes the Coat of arms of the Canary Islands in the central band; the civil flag omits this. ...

, has in two colours (white and blue) representation of

and its province.

References

External links

Flags of the Canary Islands
Retrieved on 2006-10-16.
''Flag of Tenerife''
from Tenerife Island Council. Retrieved on 2006-10-16. {{Spanish Flags Tenerife, Flag of Tenerife Politics of the Canary Islands Canarian culture Flags introduced in 1989

Significance

History

Flags with the same origin

See also

References

External links