La Palma (, ), also known as La isla bonita () and historically San Miguel de La Palma, is the most northwesterly island of the Canary Islands, Spain. La Palma has an area of making it the fifth largest of the eight main Canary Islands. The total population at the end of 2020 was 85,840, of which 15,716 lived in the capital, Santa Cruz de La Palma and about 20,467 in Los Llanos de Aridane. Its highest mountain is the Roque de los Muchachos, at , being second among the peaks of the Canaries after the Teide massif on Tenerife.
In 1815, the German geologist Leopold von Buch visited the Canary Islands. It was as a result of his visit to Tenerife, where he visited the Las Cañadas caldera, and then later to La Palma, where he visited the Taburiente caldera, that the Spanish word for cauldron or large cooking pot – "caldera" – was introduced into the geological vocabulary. In the center of the island is the Caldera de Taburiente National Park, one of four national parks in the Canary Islands.
Etymology
The full name of the island is "San Miguel de La Palma" ("Saint Michael of La Palma"), usually abbreviated simply to "La Palma". La Palma is nicknamed "La Isla Bonita" ("beautiful island").
Origins and geology
La Palma, like the other islands of the Canary Islands archipelago, is a volcanic ocean island. The volcano rises almost above the floor of the Atlantic Ocean. There is road access from sea level to the summit at , which is marked by an outcrop of rocks called Roque de Los Muchachos ("Rock of the Young Men"). This is the site of the Roque de los Muchachos Observatory, one of the world's premier astronomical observatories.
La Palma's geography is a result of the volcanic formation of the island. The highest peaks reach over above sea level, and the base of the island is located almost below sea level. The northern part of La Palma is dominated by the Caldera de Taburiente, with a width of and a depth of . It is surrounded by a ring of mountains ranging from to in height. On its northern side is the exposed remains of the original seamount. Only the deep Barranco de las Angustias ("Ravine of Anxiety") ravine leads into the inner area of the caldera, which is a national park. It can be reached only by hiking. The outer slopes are cut by numerous gorges which run from down to the sea. Today, only a few of these carry water due to the many water tunnels that have been cut into the island's structure.
From the Caldera de Taburiente to the south runs the ridge Cumbre Nueva ('New Ridge', which despite its name is older than the Cumbre Vieja, 'Old Ridge.') The southern part of La Palma consists of the Cumbre Vieja, a volcanic ridge formed by numerous volcanic cones built of lava and scoria. The Cumbre Vieja ridge is active, last erupting in the 2021 La Palma eruption, which destroyed more than 2600 buildings and caused one death. Beyond Punta de Fuencaliente at the southern tip of the island, the Cumbre Vieja continues in a southerly direction as a submarine volcano.
Volcanism and eruptions
Like all of the Canary Islands, La Palma originally formed as a seamount through submarine volcanic activity. Along with Tenerife, La Palma is the most volcanically active of the Canary Islands. Its base lies almost below sea level and reaches a height of above sea level. About a half a million years ago, the Taburiente volcano collapsed with a giant landslide, forming the Caldera de Taburiente. Erosion has since exposed part of the old seamount in the northern part of the caldera. Since the Spanish have kept records, there have been eight eruptions – all of which have occurred on the Cumbre Vieja volcanic ridge: 1470–1492 Montaña Quemada 1585 Tajuya 1646 Volcán Martín 1677 Volcán San Antonio 1712 El Charco 1949 Volcán San Juan: Duraznero, Hoyo Negro and Llano del Banco vents 1971 Volcán Teneguía 2021 Cumbre Vieja volcanic eruption
At Cumbre Vieja ridge a new monogenetic volcano burst on 19 September 2021 after several seismic crises that rocked the island, among other anomalies regarding volcanic surveillance.