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as a result of the island's strategic position
between three continents.
The island's famed spring weather throughout the year and its
natural resources provide the inhabitants of Gran Canaria with a
very high quality of life.
Almost 96 per cent of the inhabitants of the Canary Islands are Roman
Catholics, who are very tradition-conscious, which can be witnessed on
big religious feast days and particularly during the 'Semana Santa' (Holy
Week before Easter), when extensive celebrations take place all over the
islands.
Gran Canaria is the most
populated island of the Canarian Archipelago,
( 802.247 inhabitants in the year 2005 ), and is located near the West
African Coast. Its population is Caucasian, from Spanish, Portuguese and
French origins.
The population of Gran
Canaria is young in comparison with that of the rest of the country
and Europe, given the fact that the largest part of the population
is between the ages of 15 and 45 years, the growth rate of the
population being 3.71%, compared with the national average of 0.27%.
Maybe because of its youth, it is also the most cosmopolitan of the islands (especially the
capital, being home to almost half of the population), which is what
lends so many special traits to the island, finding expression in
its open nature and cultural diversity.
A facet of the
inhabitants that always intrigues the visitor is their manner of
speech, which, despite the fact that it falls within the confines of
perfectly understandable Spanish, has also been influenced by the
linguistic diversity that was brought to the islands by the
continuous passage of foreign visitors through the course of time.
For many people, the speech of the people of Gran Canaria is
reminiscent of the Latin American dialects, in the sense that both
have a sweetness of intonation, while it is also replete with
curious practices, such as the use of the affectionate diminutive (Antońito
instead of Antonio) and the substitution of the "c" and "z" by the
"s".
In any event, the people of Gran Canaria are very accustomed to
foreign languages and one can easily find local inhabitants who have
taught themselves to speak and understand many foreign languages.
The island
has a population of 802.247 with 378.628 (year 2005) of
those in the capital city of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria.
Las Palmas de Gran Canaria is also the capital of the
province of Las Palmas, ( Gran Canaria, Fuerteventura
and Lanzarote ) and also one of the two capitals
of the autonomous community of the Canary Islands, along
Santa Cruz de Tenerife.
Although smaller than Tenerife
and Fuerteventura, Gran Canaria houses more than half of the entire
population of the archipelago, mostly in Las Palmas. It’s now Spain’s
seventh-largest city.
The Gran Canaria of today boasts,
with an average of 465 people per square kilometre, the highest housing
density not only of the archipelago but also of all European regions.
Almost half of its population concentrates in the city of Las Palmas, a
great ethnic mix lending it a very cosmopolitan image.
As a result of having been a bridge between Europe and the continents
of America and Africa for so long, many members of other nations – in
particular merchant families and seafaring people – have settled on the
Canary Islands from early on.
Their descendants are fully integrated in
the island’s society, where nobody would deny them their status of a
genuine 'Canario'. |
