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Barcelo Fuerteventura
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History of Fuerteventura, Canary Islands
The first settlers are believed to have arrived in Fuerteventura from North Africa. The ancient word “Maho” is still used to describe the people of Fuerteventura which refers to a type of goatskin shoe worn by the first inhabitants. Relics such as pottery and tools of the original inhabitants are still found today in the caves and semi-subterranean dwellings. In antiquity, the island was known as Planaria in reference to the flatness of most of its landscape.
In the 11th century BC, Phoenician settlers arrived in both Fuerteventura and Lanzarote (another Canary Island).
In 850 BC, Homer in the Odyssey refers to the Canary Islands as Insulae Fortunatae.
In the 14th century the island received its first Spanish and Portuguese expeditions.
In 1405, the French conqueror Jean de Bethencourt took the island and gave his name to the former capital, Betancuria, on the west coast (Puerto Rosario took over the mantle as island capital in 1835). The name of the island itself is believed to have come from Bethencourt's exclamation "Que forte aventure!" ("What a grand adventure"). A less romantic explanation is that Fuerteventura simply means "strong wind". Fuerteventura fell under military rule in 1708, which was finally resolved in 1859. Puerto de Cabras became the new capital.
In 1912 the Canary Islands were granted by Spain the right to self-govern, and in 1927 Fuerteventura and Lanzarote became part of the province of Gran Canaria. The island's first airport opened in the 1940's and by the 1960's tourism started thriving and the first tourist hotels sprung up.
The seat of the island government is in Puerto del Rosario.
