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1493
Columbus on the Island
On his second voyage to America, Christopher Columbus made a 17-day port of call to the island, gathering supplies of water and food, and also waiting for better winds to push him towards the Americas. -
New province for El Hierro
The Canary Islands got separated in two boondocks. From now on Tenerife, La Gomera, El Hierro and La Palma belong to the province Santa Cruz de Tenerife. The islands Gran Canaria, Lanzarote and Fuerteventura belong to the province Las Palmas de Gran Canaria -
El Hierro becomes first energy self-sufficient island
El Hierro has worked steadily at becoming the first energy-independent island in the world that is powered only by renewable energy sources. When a country is able to produce enough of its own fuel to meet its own demands, then it is referred to as being energy independent. -
Oil drilling on El Hierro
The Spanish Minister of Industry gave the multinational oil company Repsol permission to drill three exploratory deep-water perforations in the ocean near the Canary Islands. If a spill was ever to occur the marine life living near would be destroyed. A human complaint was the drilling noise that makes life impossible for many of the water species of whales and dolphins who depend on sound to communicate, navigate, feed, and, breed. This is why many of the people on El Hierro protested.
