Las Palmas de Gran Canaria

The city was founded on 24 June 1478 by Juan Rejón, commander of the Castilian army sent to conquer Gran Canaria, who set up a camp called the Real de Las Palmas with a small force at the mouth of the Guiniguada ravine — the site of today's Vegueta. Five years of war with the island's native people followed, until Pedro de Vera completed the conquest in 1483. Two years later the bishopric of the Canaries moved here from Lanzarote, and the first court of the Holy Inquisition, the Royal Court of the Canaries and the residence of the captains general followed, making the town the islands' de facto capital until the 17th century.

In 1492 Christopher Columbus put into the port to repair the rudder of the Pinta on his first voyage to the Americas. The town's wealth drew attackers: Francis Drake was beaten off in 1595, and a Dutch fleet under Pieter van der Does destroyed some of the town in 1599 before being repelled.

The modern city grew from its port. Work on the Puerto de la Luz began in 1883 and did much to modernise the city, and the port boomed again when the Suez Canal was closed from 1967 to 1975, bringing many foreign workers. In 1927 the islands were split into two provinces and Las Palmas became capital of the eastern one, covering Gran Canaria, Lanzarote and Fuerteventura; it now shares the regional capital's role with Santa Cruz de Tenerife.

Vegueta and Triana are the city's historic core, and both are on Spain's tentative list for UNESCO World Heritage status. The old town's cathedral, squares and museums, from the Museo Canario's archaeological collections to the Casa de Colón, tell the story of the islands before and after the conquest and of their place on the route to the Americas. The novelist Benito Pérez Galdós, one of the great figures of 19th-century Spanish literature, was born in Triana, and his house is a museum; the modernist painter Néstor Martín-Fernández de la Torre has his own museum in the Pueblo Canario, built by his brother Miguel.

The cultural calendar is full. The city hosts the Canary Islands Music Festival and an international film festival, whose screenings take place at the Auditorio Alfredo Kraus, and there are festivals of opera, theatre and dance, jazz and the WOMAD world music festival. Carnival, held each February with galas on the stage in Santa Catalina park, is one of the city's main attractions and was declared a Fiesta of International Tourist Interest in 2023. June brings the Fiestas de San Juan, marking the city's founding.

Football matters a great deal: UD Las Palmas, in yellow and blue, have been runners-up in La Liga, and their derby against CD Tenerife is a fierce rivalry between the two islands.

About 384,000 people lived in the city in 2024, making it the ninth-largest city in Spain, and in 2008 nearly half of Gran Canaria's population lived here. Waves of migration have made it a mixed city: around 16 per cent of residents were born abroad, with large North African, sub-Saharan African and Latin American communities — the Venezuelan one is growing fast — and long-standing Sindhi Indian and Korean minorities. Korean sailors call it the 'second Busan', and a street near the port has Korean businesses.

The economy rests on the port, government and services. The city houses half of the regional government's ministries, the High Court of Justice of the Canary Islands and, since 1989, the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria.

Everyday life is lived outdoors and by the sea. Las Canteras is a city beach used all year by residents as much as by visitors, the seafront promenade fills with walkers, runners and cyclists, and the yellow guaguas carry much of the city to work. Traffic is heavy on working days, and many districts spread up the steep hills behind the coast.

The city eats the cooking of the Canaries. Papas arrugadas, 'wrinkly potatoes', are small unskinned potatoes boiled in salt water and served with mojo, the islands' sauce of oil, garlic, vinegar, peppers and spices — red mojo is often served with meat, and its spicy form is called mojo picón, while green mojo usually goes with fish. Gofio, a flour of roasted grain that was the islanders' staple for centuries, turns up in many dishes, from escaldón, stirred with fish broth and onion, to desserts.

Fish is central in a port city: sancocho canario is boiled fish with potatoes, sweet potatoes, gofio and mojo, and fish soups use local species such as grouper, dentex and wreckfish; the Mercado Central has a large choice of fish and seafood. Puchero canario is the islands' meat-rich soup, their version of the Spanish cocido; Canarian ropa vieja mixes chicken and beef with potatoes and chickpeas, and conejo en salmorejo is rabbit marinated in a coriander sauce. Among the cheeses are Flor de Guía and soft queso tierno, and bienmesabe, a paste of almonds, honey and sugar, is a favourite dessert.

The city's three historic markets are the best places to see local produce: Vegueta's, founded in 1787, the modernist Mercado del Puerto of 1891, and the Mercado Central. Local drinks include Arehucas rum, drunk straight or with cola, and Tropical beer.