Posted on 03/28/2019 10:25:50 AM PDT by blam
The Canary Islands are a unique part of Spain. Geographically part of Africa and politically part of Europe, it is unlike anywhere where else in Spain or the EU. In addition to being different from the rest of Spain, the islands are all different from each other as well, sometimes having radically different landscapes and geographies.
(1) They were NOT named after the canary birds.
Despite the name, the islands were not named after canaries, the cute, chirping birds. It comes from the Latin word for dog, “canaria“. One story is that when some of the first Europeans arrived, they found large dogs on the island of Grand Canary. In fact, they might not even be named after dogs at all, but rather after seals which used to inhabit the island, which the Romans called “sea dogs”.
(snip)
(6) The city of San Antonio, Texas was founded by people from the Canary Islands
If you remember the Alamo, then you should also take a second to remember the Canary Islands. The city was originally founded by settlers from the Canaries and their descendants died fighting alongside Jim Bowie and Davy Crocket. The founder of the city of São Paulo, Brazil is also from the island of Tenerife.
(snip)
(10) Tex-Mex cuisine can trace its roots back to the Canary Islands.
As noted above, many of the settlers of Texas and Mexico came from the Canary Islands, and almost all of the Spanish conquistadors came through the Canary Islands on their way to the New World. Along the way, they brought with them many of their food. The use of peppers and chilies originally came from African Berbers to migrated to the Canary Islands and infused the food their with their flavors. Other things such as the use of sauces, which in the Canary Islands are called mojo sauce, later became the basis of the sauces and salsas which are found in Tex-Mex cuisine.
(snip)
Beware the Dog, from the Roman Empire:
http://www.google.com/search?q=beware+the+dog+mosaic+in+pompeii&sa=X&oi=image_result_group&tbm=isch
Whistling language of the Canary Islands.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PgEmSb0cKBg
And possibly related to...
Whistling language in Turkey.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bQf38Ybo1IY
Mexico
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6eliANcZdkw
The Pyrenees Mountains.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AymnVY_xXPg
I wonder if there wasn’t a whistling language in wide spread use in Europe and the mid east with lots of local dialects in the distant past, maybe pre-dating the Indo-Euro invasion.
All peppers, genus capsicum, originated in the Americas.
We’re planning on stopping in the Canary isles on the way back from Europe after we sail our boat there in a few years.
I want to visit the astronomical observatory there.
Have a nice trip. And, post to us here at FR when you set sail.
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