History of La Gomera

Facts
Size: 378 sqkm
Population: approx. 1.8990
Capital: San Sebastian (approx. 5.000 inhabitants)

The history and settlement of La Gomera still leaves space for presumptions and hypotheses. Legends and myths still make up most of the knowledge about the ‘Islands of the Luck-blessed’, which was what the Canary Islands were called in the classical antiquity. Poets and philosophers praised them for their mild climate, the heavenly nature and the happy lifestyle.

Though the mathematician and geographer Claudius Ptolemäus registered the exact geographical position of the islands in the 2nd century, the islands were almost forgotten out of disinterest until the Middle Ages. When the Europeans rediscovered the archipelago in the 13th century they found no indications that there were any contacts between the Canary Islands and other people. The seafarers were surprised not only by the European appearance of the islanders but also by their untouched Stone Age culture. Plenty of theories exist even up to today about where the natives originally came from and how they managed to completely close up their culture from the modern civilisation. One of the thesis claims that Northwest African nomad tribes settled the islands about 500 BC, though there are no traces to prove that. Genetic investigations and the proximity of the African continent make this conclusion probable. But the simple constructions of the boats of the nomads make another thesis more likely which claims that the natives came from the Iberian Peninsula. The currents and trade winds between the eastern Canary Islands and morocco should’ve proved almost insurmountable obstacles for the nomad navigation technique. Modern simulations of these ‘primitive’ techniques show that the rafts, which start from the Moroccan coast, pass the Canary Islands in the south. The only sea-travels, which could’ve been successful, were therefore the ones that started as far in north as possible. Therefore it is not to rule out that the settlement started from Spanish Cadiz or the Portuguese coast. At the beginning of this century the tourism slowly developed in the Canary Islands. But in those days only the rich and noble could afford a stay o the islands. The introduction of package tours to the Canary Islands in the sixties made it possible for more and more people to choose the archipelago as their holiday destination.

La Gomera though was only accessible twice a week via boat, which limited the amount of tourists (1973: 20.000 visitors). Later the Ferry Gomera created more regular connections to the second smallest island of the archipelago. From then onwards La Gomera became a secret tap for individualists, dropouts (mainly Germans), hippies and hikers. Though, after an increase in guest beds of 500% (from 1970 to 1990) the natives, called ‘Gomeros’, want to inspire all kinds of tourist to visit the island.