In the new pottery settlements, women rather than men were the potters, taking over the task of making clay containers. The men had to combine their agricultural and livestock work with the tasks of gathering clay and firewood, and help prepare pieces for firing in the kiln. The women were in charge of selling their products all over the island, either for money or for goods produced in the areas where they travelled.
By the end of the 20th century, few of the traditional potters remained (Juliana, Rafaela, Panchito, Antoñita, Adolfina, Justo), but their work has slowly been taken up by a new generation of potters who work day by day to keep this ancestral profession alive.
Animal hides have had multiple uses throughout history. The early Canary Islanders used them to make a range of items, and even the clothes they wore. Although the use of animal skins for clothing declined after the conquest of the island, hides were useful to meet the needs of the new population. The settlers introduced hides of larger livestock, such as cows and horses, using more varied craft techniques and producing a greater range of items, including footwear, horse tack, liquid containers, musical instruments, and utensils for agriculture and livestock farming.
Many animal herders, probably following early traditions, cured goat skins to make implements and containers associated with their work, including various types of primitive rucksacks, collars for dogs, goats and sheep, and watch pouches. These items were made by tanners of goat leather (zurroneros), whose testimony survives today in rural areas of the Canary Islands. Bags made from whole goat hides (zurrones), one of the most distinctive elements of Canary Islands rural culture, were used to knead gofio (ground, roasted grains). When these bags were large enough, herders used them as rucksacks to carry their belongings in when they were pasturing their livestock.
Archaeological remains show that the early inhabitants of Gran Canaria became highly skilled in working with plant fibres, such as reeds and palm leaves, to make various items and clothing. Fibres were still used after the conquest of the island, but the weaving techniques, types of items produced, and the addition of new, semi-hard materials such as palm spine, willow and reeds brought substantial changes to Pre-Hispanic methods. The technique consisted of weaving or intertwining plant fibres that had been treated so they could be bent without breaking, and making the piece in the desired shape. Craftworkers needed only a few, simple tools for this work: a wooden or metal splitter, a knife and a mallet. The plant fibres they gathered were mainly cane, palm leaves, palm spine, willow, reeds, rye, bulrushes and broom. After the American aloe was introduced, its fibres were commonly used by artisans to make yoke pads for draught animals, espadrilles, and ropes and halters. Cane was the most commonly used fibre in basketwork, by itself or combined with willow stalks or thick strips of palm branches (the central spine of the leaf of the Canary Islands palm tree). The type of fibre used to make a basket depended on the intended use and size of the finished item.
Los cestos para cargar mercancía pesada o que van a sufrir una constante manipulación (labores agrícolas, transporte, industria, construcción) eran elaborados
(integramente o parcialmente) con fibras duras, como el pírgano o el mimbre (cestos, serones, cestas pedreras, etc.). Los objetos domésticos o de uso más delicado eran elaborados con fibras blandas como el junco, la palma, centeno o caña (pequeñas cestas, sombreros, cestas hierberas, barquetas, costureros, hueveras, esteras, etc.)
La cestería se desarrolló en Canarias como un oficio complementario pues gran parte de los cesteros y cesteras eran a su vez campesinos o jornaleros. Estas personas empleaban las horas libres que les dejaban las tareas agrícolas para elaborar productos que, tras su venta, les permitían obtener un ingreso extra para mejorar la economía familiar.
Los saberes técnicos de estos oficios se fueron transmitiendo, en la mayor parte de los casos, dentro del contexto familiar; los padres y madres enseñaban desde muy pequeños a sus hijos e hijas, las labores propias de estas actividades con el objetivo de que pudieran continuar ejerciéndolas en el futuro.
Con el paso de los siglos muchos oficios artesanos han ido desapareciendo ante el avance de nuevos procesos industriales. Las labores artesanas que continuaron ejerciéndose, los que conocemos como oficios tradicionales, quedaron relegados a zonas rurales, desde donde todavía se demandaba su producción. Por ello, la mayoría de los artesanos, hasta hace muy pocas décadas, eran también campesinos o pastores, que ejercían estos oficios durante los periodos de descanso vegetativo o de poca actividad en los campos. En el marco rural, no eran considerados individuos ajenos o extraños a la comunidad de agricultores.
After the conquest of the island, in 1483, a new society emerged, characterised by racial mixing. The original inhabitants were joined by colonists from Hispanic and Portuguese kingdoms in the Iberian Peninsula, and Italy and Flanders. Black African and Arabic inhabitants were used as slave labour.
Land and water resources were divided among the conquerors and the colonists who came to the island drawn by the opportunity for a better life. The economic structure of the island’s first inhabitants disappeared, and Gran Canaria joined the European trade route after sugar cane became established as its first export crop.
Sugar cane and its associated processing industry was the basis of Gran Canaria’s economy until the early 18th century. Competition from American sugar devastated sugar cropping, which gave way over the centuries to a succession of highly profitable crops such as grapevines and cochineal and, from the late 19th century, bananas and tomatoes.
String instruments such as the guitar, the lute, the bandurria, and especially the timple, have become the acoustic foundation of Canary Islands popular music, and are always played in local groups. Although some instruments were imported, Gran Canaria has a long history of artisan instrument makers. They used wood as their main raw material, cutting and seasoning it themselves until the mid-20th century.
The timple is an essential part of Canary Islands music and represents it like no other instrument. No other part of Spain has an instrument like the Canary Islands timple. Ideas on its origin vary: some academics believe the timple could be a Baroque vihuela, because of its long rounded case and the tuning of its strings. The timple arrived in the Canary Islands with the colonists and has survived as a relic of the past with few changes.
Unlike the fate of other artisan professions, the tradition of making string instrumentshas continued and even grown, although normally as a sideline rather than a full time occupation. The craft has changed with the times, particularly in the case of the timple, which has undergone morphological changes. Electric acoustic versions of the timple are now made, and it is played as a solo instrument.
Livestock bells were typically made by herders who specialised in making this essential item for free-ranging livestock in the Canary Islands. The pyramid-shaped bells were made from sheet metal and had a circular piece of wood, called the clapper, inside them. The wood for the clapper was sourced from local trees known for their hardness and density. Artisans made different types of bells, depending on herders’ requirements and the livestock they were intended for, known as the grillote, grillota, cumplida, llorona, habanera, redonda and vizcaína.
Trade in birds, particularly the Atlantic canary (Serinus canaria), flourished from the time European traders and sailors visited the Islands in the 14th century, until the species was successfully bred in captivity, in the 18th century. This activity went hand in hand with the rise of cage makers, who also specialised in capturing and breeding birds.
Although this craft is dying out, it was once carried out all over Gran Canaria. A cage maker’s materials included cane, wood and wire, and very simple tools: a knife, a measuring compass, a wood auger and a hole punch. The size and shape of a cage depended on its purpose and the type of bird it was intended for. Rectangular or oval, for one bird or more, cages could be designed with towers or walkways and include a trap door.
After the Islands were colonised, smithies became a constant feature in the growing settlements, until their decline in the 1960s. As well as making parts for sugar mills, presses, windmills and wells, smiths made a range of items and tools. In addition to shoeing animals, they made tools for working the land, such as hoes, planting sticks, sickles, pruning sticks and winnowing forks, and all the tools and items needed for construction, including stonecutters’ hammers, sledge hammers, chisels, hinges, locks, nails, tie rods and railings. Metal workers were also needed to produce items for household and professional use, such as buckets, knives, axes, weighing scales and bridles.
Alongside blacksmiths and locksmiths, other trades associated with metalwork were documented in the 16th century, including tinsmiths, coppersmiths, and founders of bells and artillery pieces, who worked with bronze. Other artisans that were documented include the goldsmiths and silversmiths who produced liturgical and luxury items, andswordsmiths.
Over the centuries, three craft professions associated with metalwork have survived to the 20th century virtually unchanged since they first arrived in the Islands: blacksmithing, tinsmithing and cowbell making. These professions were carried out only by men, who handed their knowledge down from father to son. Blacksmiths and tinsmiths worked full time, as their products and services were in constant demand.
The Maspalomas pond is the most important wetland on Gran Canaria. The final refuge of a marshland that once extended over the mouth of the Fataga ravine, the wetland is now confined to the area of the pond where the ravine meets the sea.
The water in the pond comes from ravine run-off and sea water that enters with the spring tide. This process renews the fish population, bringing fish eggs and fry. At highest inflow of water, the pond can cover four hectares.
The west side of the pond is home to one of Gran Canaria’s most significant coastal palm groves, known as the oasis. Despite the tourist infrastructure that has been built around it, the oasis remains an area of environmental and scenic interest, along with the pond and the dunes.
Until the 1960s, Maspalomas was a deserted, isolated area with poor access, cut off from the island’s economic activity. Tomato crops were one of the few indications of human life on the coast.
In 1962, an international call for proposals to create a tourism hub was announced by the owner of the area, the Count of Vega Grande, in a bid to attract quality tourism. In just 10 years, Maspalomas received more visitors than the city of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, the island’s main tourism destination until then. The success was due to the outstanding climate, which ensured considerably more sunshine hours than the island’s capital city enjoys, and the beauty of the coastline, especially the complex formed by the pond, the oasis and the dune field.
The rise of tourism began in San Agustín, followed by Playa del Inglés and later Meloneras, at the end of the 20th century, extending beyond the Maspalomas oasis and pond. The growth of tourism preserved the dunes and the lagoon, along with their palm grove, creating a tourism enclave alongside an environmental jewel.
Tuesday to Saturday, from 10:30 a.m. to 14:30 p.m.
928 772 445
faromaspalomas@fedac.org
Pl. del Faro, 15, 35100 Maspalomas, Las Palmas
