RURAL GROUP, 25th April 2011

Before 1930 the whole area from south of Aguimes was not populated because of two main reasons. The first reason was the absence of fresh water and second was that the whole land was owned by only one person the “Count de la Vega Grande” who had no need to cultivate the south. This situation changed when he decided to rent small plots. The first inhabitants were farmers who cultivated cereals and after that tomatoes for export. The water supply was developed by building dams and canals. At the beginning of the fifties these plantations were the main tomato production area of the island. The tempting prospective income in tourism changed “Count de la Vega Grande”’s attitude which leaded to the gradual abandonment of agriculture and construction of a touristic infrastructure. In 1961 a contest was launched which selected a project of “S’etape” to realize their project. The project covered the whole area from Morro Besudo to Pasito Blanco.

In the one hand this would be an opportunity for the local farmers to sell their products but in the other hand the jobs attract people from the rural areas to work in touristic sector.

ENVIRONMENTAL GROUP, 25th of April 2011

The Dunas de Maspalomas are sand dunes located in the very south of the island of Gran Canaria measuring 4 km² and at present being completely surrounded by urbanized areas. The dunes are situated at the east of the lagoon of “Charca de Maspalomas” and can be dated back to the beginning of the Holocene. The formation of the dunes can’t be dated precisely, however there is a series of scenarios regarding the initiation. The most accepted theory says that the sand was deposited by oceanic currents. Underneath the dunes some kind of paleodelta and lavaflows can be found. The dunes can be seen as a closed system. As a result of this long lasting equilibrium between different patterns of sediment transport the sand dunes evolved. The main driving force is a temporary variable wind circulation. In winter and autumn the prevailing winds come from S-W carrying sand towards the “Playa de Inglés” and in spring and summer the winds come from N-E carrying sand in the opposite direction towards the “Playa de Maspalomas”. Recent research at the “Punta de Maspalomas” shows that the system has a progressive sedimentary deficit. The dunes lose about 42.000 m³ per year. At the current rate the mobile sand dunes, traveling at an average pace of 8-10 m per year, will be gone within 90 years. As an attempt to reduce the losses a retention dyke has been built. For any further actions to protect the dunes it has to be considered that the system is inherently complex and many variables that have yet to be found out and quantified will play a vital role in how the dunes will react on those influences.

RURAL GROUP, 24th April 2011

As we arrived on the island of Gran Canaria we visited first the Caldera of Bandama. On our way to the Caldera we could see that the main urban areas of the island are on the coast side while the lands used for agriculture are concentrated towards the center of the island. The urban landscape is expanding at the costs of the rural landscape.

From the top of the “Pico de la Bandama” we have seen the vineyards which were structured according to the French style unlike the vineyards in Tenerife. The latter are used for subsistence and are therefore smaller while the vineyards in Gran Canaria are bigger and intended for export.

ENVIRONMENTAL GROUP, 24th of April 2011

Caldera de Bandama, which is 200m deep and 1km wide, is the resulting landform of a recent volcanic eruption which happened about 2.000 years ago. At that time a pyroclastic storm might have destroyed first settlements of the Guanches in the south of the island. Right after the explosive eruption the magma chamber collapsed and the caldera was formed. Next to this caldera another cone preserved its original shape being the last active volcano on the island. The event that already happened in Gran Canaria can be seen as a probable scenario for Tenerife. This is supported by models based on the development of G.C. as it is the far more evolved island in this archipelago. Nowadays the Caldera de Bandama is a protected area (Natural Monument).

SOCIAL GROUP, 25th April 2011

Visit to Maspaloma’s tourist resort, sand dunes and Melonera’s coast.

Today we have seen much more about social geography than the day before. A human geography professor from the university of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria has been guiding us through the tourist gradient resort of Maspalomas. For that, we have been taught the recent history of south Gran Canaria. It was not until the 30s when the owner, of the almost whole south of the island, the Conde de la Vega Grande, decided to explode agriculturally that territory. It was not till the early 60s when he realized it was better to shift, thus he tried to gain money with the incipient tourism, especially based on a characteristic landscape and on a specific offer, sun and sand. The first tourism settlements had many infrastructural and lack of capital problems. It was not therefore until the end of the decade when this area was developed as a tourist area, specially for Scandinavian company employees. With the 73s oil crisis the tourism developed went down, till the 80s, concretely when in 1986 Spain joined the European Union, bringing money both from the UE and the new tourists. That also attracted people to that place, first from the islands and the others one of Lanzarote and Fuerteventura, and more recently from north Africa and Southamerica.

The municipality of San Bartolomé, where we are, had not any node near by the sea, so the urbanization process had not any foundations from which it could develop. Thus the urbanization process started from zero, and all new urban areas were used for tourism use. The main idea nowadays is consequently the spatial social structure, so that we have three clear urban areas. Playa del Inglés is the first area which was developed, being now a gradient tourist resort. At the other side of the sand dunes and the Maspaloma’s golf course we have Melonera’s coast, a new tourism resort developed since the 90s, full of four and five stars hotels. Furthermore, we have El Tablero, a neighbourhood born as a tourist industry and construction workers.

So today we have discussed where exactly we want to do our field work. It seems both interesting the case we have just described, and also Mogán municipality case, where we would be able to see the relation between an old town and the new tourist resort located down the beach. Tomorrow we will most likely visit Mogán in order to decide which option we will choose.

SOCIAL GROUP, 24th April 2011

Visit to Santa Cruz de Tenerife. Ferry to Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. Visit to Bandama’s volcanic caldera.

Today we have been visiting Tenerife’s capital, Santa Cruz. We went on a quick sightseeing, walking around the old town and old port. There it was where later on we took a ferry to Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. We travelled to Bandama’s volcanic caldera, where we did not see any social processes at all. The most remarkable fact we saw it was the golf course just near by the amazing caldera. We were taught how the English people who were living in Las Palmas (most of them working on trade or commercial) moved to that part of the island, close to the capital of Gran Canaria but still far from the city. There they built their own houses, most of them easily recognisable due to the characteristic British architecture. There were that English citizens who built this golf course in the 19^th century, being therefore the oldest in Spain. Finally, it is also remarkable how the 75% of the population of the island is living there, so it is here where all infrastructure is concentred too. This is saying how different is Gran Canaria in spatial distribution terms compared to its sister Tenerife.

We have been discussing about the method from how we will approach our future goals. What we are sure now is we want to crumble social structures and where are them located.

Economy group 25th of April

Maspalomas nowadays is the second most touristic area in Spain and it has a capacity of 143209 beds (Consejeria de turismo de Canarias, 2007), which represents 70 % of the island's offer. The estimates of the number of tourists in this area is 2,5 millions, meanwhile for the whole island is 3,2 millions. However, Tenerife has more visitants.

The desertic south of Gran Canaria was unpopulated and cultivated for cereals and tomatoes until the 30s. They were providing water from the mountanious part. Then was started the planning for tourism development, from where the owner of the land, Conde de la Vega Grande, expected to get more profit.

To start with it they had to plan the needed infrastructure and future development. There are three diferent types of acommodation:

- apartaments (for enterprises, the highest percentage);

- the mixed (parcial private owners and rented apartaments);

- sold completly.

The bases for the tourist development and country's benefit were:

- the Strauss act (in the 70s: they were allowed to invest in the infrastructure of the countries in development);

- the oil crises (1973, 1979 - the construction slowed down).

With the entrance in the EU in 1986 they recevied founds needed for country's development, which made posible the further construction, also luxury hotels. There was a new crises in the 90s, when the prices went down.

Nowadays there have been building new commercial centres and hotels with special atractions to fullfill the offers and visitor's expectations as complementary service.

Economy group from Tenerife to Gran Canaria

Between Tenerife and Gran Canaria you have diferent posibilities of transport:
- ferry: cheaper one (3 hours) which costs 30 € both ways, or the more expensive one (1 hour) which costs around 80 €;
- aeroplane: costs from 60 - 100 € (depends on days).
So the conections between the islands and the penisland are quite good, which has the fundamental importance for tourism and industry.

The first golf court made in Spain was on Gran Canaria, which was founded by the english in the times of tax free trade. It is situated next to the big caldera that appeared due to the big vulcano explotion 2000 years ago.