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La Palma
San Miguel de La Palma, the full name of the island, belongs to the Western Canaries and is thus the furthest away from the African continent (445 km). At 726 km sq. La Palma is the third smallest Canary Island and, along with El Hierro, is one of the youngest islands, about 2-3 million years old.
The largest distance across the island from east to west is 28 km, from north to south 47 km.
The Caldera de Taburiente with a circumference of 28 km, constitutes its centre and is one of the largest craters in the world. At 2426 m, the Roque de Los Muchachos is the island’s highest elevation.
La Palma has about 85 000 inhabitants, of which about 8000 are foreigners. Administratively, the island belongs, like La Gomera und El Hierro, to the province of Santa Cruz de Tenerife.
Like all of the Canary Islands, La Palma is volcanic in origin. It is agreed that volcanic eruptions from the seabed thrust the island to the surface; the island now rests on a 4000 m pedestal. The last volcanic episode took place in 1971 in the island’s south, with the eruption of Teneguia. Even today, extremely high ground temperatures can be detected only slightly below earth’s surface.
One seldom comes across such a variety of landscapes over such a small surface area: alpine mountains, volcanoes, cloud forests, steep coastlines and beaches. Only white beaches are lacking.
La Palma west: Los Llanos de Aridane - El Paso - Tazacorte - Tijarafe – Puntagorda
La Palma east: Santa Cruz de La Palma - Breña Baja - Breña Alta - Mazo - Puntallana - San Andrés y Sauces
La Palma north: Garafia - Barlovento
La Palma south: Fuencaliente
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