El Hierro

Infobox Islands
name = El Hierro


image caption =
image size = 225px
locator

locator map size = 225px
native name =
native name link =
nickname = "Isla del Meridiano"
location = Atlantic Ocean
coordinates =
archipelago = Canary Islands
total islands =
major islands =
area = 278 km²
highest mount = Malpaso
elevation = 1,501 m
country = Spain
country admin divisions title = Autonomous Community
country admin divisions = Canary Islands
country admin divisions title 1 = Province
country admin divisions 1 = Santa Cruz de Tenerife
country admin divisions title 2 =
country admin divisions 2 =
country capital city =
country largest city = Valverde
country largest city population = 5,797
country leader title =
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population = 10,162
population as of = 2003
density = 37
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El Hierro, nicknamed "Isla del Meridiano" (the "Meridian Island"), is a Spanish island. It is the smallest and furthest south and west of the Canary Islands, in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Africa. It is situated at 27°45' north, 18°00' west.

History

The name of the island is derived from the Guanche language toponym Hero, which by the process of folk-etymology was transformed into "Hierro," meaning "iron" in Spanish, due to its similarity to that word. Thus, Ferro (Latin "ferrum", "iron") was and is used as an alternative name for the island. It is the name for the island in other languages, including French, German, and Danish. Pliny the Elder, who used Juba II as his source, names a series of Canary Islands, and it is believed that his "Capraria" may have been Hierro.

The ancient natives of the island, called "bimbaches", were conquered by Jean de Béthencourt –more through the process of negotiation than by military action. Béthencourt had as his ally and negotiator Augeron, brother of the island's native monarch. Augeron had been captured years previously by the Europeans and now served as mediator between the Europeans and the Guanches. In return for control over the island, Béthencourt promised to respect the liberty of the natives, but he eventually broke his promise, selling many of the "bimbaches" into slavery. Many Frenchmen and Galicians subsequently settled on the island. There was a revolt of the natives against the harsh treatment of the governor Lázaro Vizcaíno, but it was suppressed.

Geography, flora and fauna

Like the rest of the chain, the island is sharply mountainous. It has an area of 278 km².The highest point is situated in the middle of the island, in Malpaso, 1501 meters high. El Hierro is home to many unique species, such as the El Hierro Giant Lizard ("Gallotia simonyi").For more information on the flora and vegetation of the island see http://www.hierro-flora.de.

Tourism & Transportation

Like all of the Canary Islands, El Hierro is a tourist destination. It is served by a small airport, El Hierro Airport at Valverde and a ferry terminal, both of which connect to Tenerife.

Political organization

The island is part of the province of Santa Cruz de Tenerife. It includes three municipalities:
*Frontera
*Valverde
*El Pinar

Valverde is situated in the northeast and Frontera in the southwest, both contain several villages.

The seat of the island government ("cabildo insular") is in Valverde town. 10162 people lived on the island in 2003.

The "Meridian Island"

The island was known in European history as the prime meridian in common use outside of the future British Empire. Already in the 2nd century A.D., Ptolemy considered a definition of the zero meridian based on the western-most position of the known world, giving maps with only positive (eastern) longitudes. In the year 1634, France ruled by Louis XIII and Richelieu decided that Ferro's meridian should be used as the reference on maps, since this island is the most western position of the Old World and also thought to be exactly 20 degrees west of the Paris meridian, so indeed the exact position of Ferro was never considered. Old maps (outside of Anglo-America) often have a common grid with Paris degrees at the top and Ferro degrees offset by 20 at the bottom. Louis Feuillée also worked on this problem in 1724.

It was later found that the actual island of El Hierro itself is in fact 20° 23' 9" west of Paris, but the Ferro meridian was still defined as 20 degrees west of Paris.

According to the European longitude adjustment of Theodor Albrecht (ca. 1890) the Ferro meridian is 17° 39' 46.02" west of the Greenwich meridian. But for the geodetic networks of Austria, Germany and Czechoslovakia, the value 17° 40' 00" was adopted in the 1920s, not only for practical reasons but also as it was discovered that the longitude of the Berlin (Rauenberg) fundamental point was miscalculated by 13.39". For the geodetic networks of Hungary and Yugoslavia, the value of Albrecht was used prior to the switch to the Greenwich prime meridian.

Energy

According to the Ministry for Industry, Tourism and Commerce El Hierro will become the first island in the world to be energy self-sufficient. This will be achieved through a €54 million project combining a 10 megawatt wind farm with two water reservoirs to store excess energy. [ [http://www.typicallyspanish.com/news/publish/article_9513.shtml El Hierro to be the first island in the world solely powered by renewable energy ] ]

El Hierro in literature

* The island of Hierro is mentioned in Umberto Eco's novel "The Island of the Day Before" "("L'isola del giorno prima", 1994)", a novel about a 17th century Italian nobleman trapped on an island on the International Date Line.

See also

* Prime meridian

Notes

External links

* [http://www.hierro-flora.de/ Information on flora and vegetation of El Hierro]
* [http://maps.inthecanaryislands.com/elhierro-map/ Watch from above El Hierro points of interests and add your preferred ones (map provided by Google)]
* [http://www.elhierro.tv/ Info-Portal of El Hierro (Spanish, English, German)]
* [http://www.elhierro.com/ Information about El Hierro (Spanish, English, German)]