El Paso, also known as Ciudad de El Paso, is a Spanish municipality located on the island of

La Palma La Palma (, ), also known as ''La isla bonita'' () and historically San Miguel de La Palma, is the most northwesterly island of the Canary Islands, a Spanish autonomous community and archipelago in Macaronesia in the North Atlantic Ocean. La Pa ...

, province of

Santa Cruz de Tenerife Santa Cruz de Tenerife (; locally ), commonly abbreviated as Santa Cruz, is a city, the capital of the island of Tenerife, Province of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, and one of the capitals of the Canary Islands, along with Las Palmas. Santa Cruz has a ...

, Canary Islands. Geographically it is located in the center of the island of La Palma, covering to the west with the

Caldera de Taburiente Caldera de Taburiente National Park () is a national park on the island of La Palma, Canary Islands, Spain. It contains the Caldera de Taburiente, which dominates the northern part of the island, and was designated as a national park in 1954. ...

, part of the Aridane Valley, the Cumbre Nueva and the

Cumbre Vieja The Cumbre Vieja (; meaning "Old Summit") is an active Complex volcano, volcanic ridge on the island of La Palma in the Canary Islands, Spain. The spine of Cumbre Vieja trends in an approximate north–south direction, comprising the southern ha ...

. It is on the surface the largest municipality of the island, being the only one of the 14 municipalities of La Palma that lacks coastal strip. In 2016 it had a population of 7457 inhabitants. The nucleus of population had to have its origins in the pre-Hispanic stage of the island. Almost certainly, because of the engravings found in the area, it consisted of a first moment in a temporary settlement of Benahoarite shepherds. During the colonization and almost throughout the

Modern Age The modern era or the modern period is considered the current historical period of human history. It was originally applied to the history of Europe and Western history for events that came after the Middle Ages, often from around the year 1500 ...

the present territory of the municipality was administratively part of the Aridane Valley. In 1837, under the

reign of Alfonso XII The reign of Alfonso XII of Spain began after the ''Pronunciamiento de Sagunto'' on December 29, 1874, which ended the First Spanish Republic. It lasted until his death on November 25, 1885, after which his wife, Regency of Maria Christina of Aust ...

, the municipality obtained the title of City, segregating of the

Los Llanos de Aridane Los Llanos de Aridane is a municipality of the Province of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain. It is located in the west of the island of La Palma, in the Aridane Valley. With 20,930 inhabitants (2013)canarian pine in the world, with an estimated age of more than 1000 years.

History

Many footpaths already crisscrossed La Palma before the Spanish conquest. A number of mountain passes east of present-day El Paso enabled cross-island communications. One of these was Ajerjo Pass by which the island's Spanish discoverer,

Alonso Fernandez de Lugo Alonso is a Spanish name of Germanic origin that is a Castilian variant of ''Adalfuns''. The original Visigothic name ''Alfonso'' suffered the phonetic change of the phoneme /f/ into the mute /h/ in the Early Middle Ages (around 9th Century), w ...

, attempted to enter the

, hence its local name the Captain's Pass (Paso del Capitán). The village of El Paso was named after this mountain pass by association. On 3 May 1492 the mentioned Fernandez de Lugo finishes the conquest of the island of La Palma by the Spanish when conquering the last remaining stronghold of the native

Guanches The Guanche were the Indigenous peoples, indigenous inhabitants of the Spain, Spanish Canary Islands, located in the Atlantic Ocean some to the west of modern Morocco and the North African coast. The islanders spoke the Guanche language, which i ...

, the kingdom of Aceró. To this goal, Fernandez deceitfully invited its king Tanausú to an interview, to have him imprisoned on appearance. The island was made directly subject to the Spanish Crown, a situation which would last until 1812. In this year the new

Spanish Constitution The Spanish Constitution () is the supreme law of the Kingdom of Spain. It was enacted after its approval in 1978 in a constitutional referendum; it represents the culmination of the Spanish transition to democracy. The current version was a ...

paved the way for decentralisation of the

Canary Islands The Canary Islands (; ) or Canaries are an archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean and the southernmost Autonomous communities of Spain, Autonomous Community of Spain. They are located in the northwest of Africa, with the closest point to the cont ...

and subdivision into municipalities. At about 15:15 local time on Sunday 19 September 2021 the volcano above the town erupted following multiple tremors. It is situated in the Cumbre Vieja national park, despite having been quiet since 1971. BBC:Volcano on Canary Island La Palma erupts, spewing ash and lava into national park
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Historical population

Administration and policy

The local administration of the municipality is carried out through the City Council of El Paso, whose components are elected every four years by universal suffrage of all Spanish citizens and the European Union over 18 years of age who are registered in the municipality. According to the provisions of the General Electoral Regime Law, which establishes the number of eligible councilors depending on the population of the municipality, the Municipal Corporation of El Paso is formed by 13 councilors. The city council has mayor-president and twelve more councilors. In the elections of May 24, 2015 obtained a simple majority Canary Coalition, forming a coalition government with PSOE. The current government team is composed of the mayor-president, four mayors and three councilors. List of mayors since the 1979 democratic elections:

References

External links

El Paso Municipality WebsiteOfficial La Palma Website (Spanish)
{{DEFAULTSORT:El Paso, Santa Cruz De Tenerife Municipalities in La Palma

History

Historical population

Administration and policy

See also

References

External links