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The main answer is probably, because the canaries have a very favorable climate. Some places are quite dry, but others have basically spring all around year. R
by lukan 3y ago
The main answer is probably, because the canaries have a very favorable climate. Some places are quite dry, but others have basically spring all around year.
Really interesting is, that that they came there by boat, but lost the ability to build boats or stopped doing so for whatever reasons, that they could not even travel between the islands anymore.
Maybe it is culturally, I met someone in La Palma who said La Palma is the best place in the world. And he didn't needed to actually go somewhere else to check. Always just been on the island. And it is a beautiful island.
But most old buried bodies showed signs of head injury, from fighting. So it probably was not only paradies back then (or is today).
Fun fact, there are now lots of hippies on the islands, living in caves again, eating mostly wild figs and almonds.
Some other interesting bit, the islands have lots of deep canyons, so the inhabitants of la gomera have invented a whistling language, to communicate.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silbo_Gomero https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silbo_Gomero
- aivisol 3y ago>Really interesting is, that that they came there by boat, but lost the ability to build boats or stopped doing so for whatever reasons, that they could not even travel between the islands anymore. Maybe due to lack of access to iron?
- lukan 3y agoPossible, but there were tribes who could do sea faring only by simple wooden canoes. The polynesians for example went even so far as New Zealand by wooden boats only. https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Datei:Model_of_outrigger_boat,_Marshall_Islands,_1891_-_Staatlichen_Museums_f%C3%BCr_V%C3%B6lkerkunde_M%C3%BCnchen_-_DSC08309_(cropped).JPG https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Datei:Model_of_outrigger_boat,... And the canarian islands are really close to each other, you could probably do island hopping by clinging to some wood (but the currents and waves can be nasty there).
- aivisol 3y agoI think as it was mentioned in the article it was mostly due to lack of need to travel: they were poor and didn’t have things to trade to justify seagoing. And then the other additional factors: lack of iron, the fact that shores were less habitable than mountains ( lack of freshwater), wind and currents between islands.
- lukan 3y agoBut travel between the islands is still something one would think is worth it. And if it is just to prevent incest.
- wolverine876 3y agoCuriosity, or when food runs low, or for a million reasons. And boats are not only for travel between islands; there's also fishing, or to retrieve that thing that washed out to sea in the latest storm, etc etc.
- usrusr 3y agoDoable, but when every area that isn't up in the clouds is properly deforested at some point the economics stop making sense.
- asimpletune 3y agoLa Palma is one of the best places in the world, but it's not to be confused with "Las Palmas" (de Gran Canaria), which isn't nearly as nice.
- lukan 3y agoYup, for example La Palma is one of the few places in the world, where light pollution like bright advertisement is forbidden, because of the many observatories on top of its Vulcano. That alone is worth much, aside from the beautiful island itself. Only downside are the many crazy people who moved there and the poison from the banana plantations.
- torcete 3y agoAnd of course, don't confuse them with "Palma" (de Mallorca) which is also in an island, but in the Mediterranean Sea :D