Teguise

La Villa de Teguise is a town and municipality belonging to the province of Las Palmas, situated in the center of the island.  The town lies on a strip running from the east coast to west and covers several towns and islands and islets in the archipelago Chinijo. The town of Teguise, popularly known as “La Villa,” was the capital of Lanzarote in 1847.

The municipality of Teguise, with its 263 km2, is the longest on the island of Lanzarote. Within it, at the foot of the boiler Guanapay, is the capital city, the Villa de Teguise.  On the southeast coast of the municipality is the tourist heart of Costa Teguise, one of the main tourist areas of Lanzarote. On the other coastal slope (northwest) is located Famara beach, 6.5 kilometers long, at the foot of the Massif de Famara.

From this beach and into the interior of the island runs a sandy plain known as El Jable. Other locations in the municipality are Tahiche, Nazareth, Guatiza, Mala, Tiagua, Tao, Soo Munique, El Mojon valleys and Teseguite.  The municipality also comprises of the islands of the archipelago Chinijo, La Graciosa, Alegranza, Roque del Este and islets, Roque del Oeste and Montana Clara.

History

Anteriodidad with the conquest of the island by the Europeans, has the environment of the town known as the “Big Village Acatife” which was one of the major population centers of maja. Another settler population important in Lanzarote was Zonzamas, the main archaeological site of the island, which lies within the territorial area of this municipality.

After the Norman Conquest, the nephew of Jean de Bethencourt, Maciot, heir to the lordship of the Canary Islands, founded Teguise, third colonial city of San Marcial del Rubicon, south of Lanzarote, and Betancuria in Fuerteventura.

Teguise became the capital of the island taking advantage of its central geographic location that sought shelter from frequent raids by pirates, who still shook the population several times. Mountain Guanapay served as a vantage point for monitoring the currency.  They constructed a defensive fortress, called the Castillo de Santa Barbara, in the twentieth century it became the seat of the Museo del Emigrante Canario.

Teguise increased from the mid-sixteenth century from a major urban fabric that has been preserved.  Concentrated in the village are the main institutions of the island, the Cabildo or writing desk and the main church.

In the nineteenth century, the port of Arrecife became a major economic and social development, moving the island’s capital to that city in 1847. On the same date, held in the municipality of Teguise is an important activity for the cultivation of cochineal, insect parasite of the prickly pear and Tunera to remove the dye used in the manufacture of the color red.

Despite the crisis in the sector with the development of synthetic dyes, the traditional crop has been kept in the vicinity of the villages of Mala and Guatiza.  In the last decades of the twentieth century, tourism has become one of the main economic sources of the municipality, mainly in the town of Costa Teguise, one of the three main tourist centers of Lanzarote.
Points of Interest
Church of Our Lady of Guadaloupe, Teguise.
Villa de Teguise
Castillo de Santa Barbara: sixteenth-century fortress, now hosts the Museo del Emigrante Canario.
Church of Our Lady of Guadalupe: Temple of the sixteenth century, but further reforms in the center of the old town.
Palacio Spinola: noble eighteenth century.
Convent of St. Francisco and Santo Domingo: Examples of religious architecture Canary XVI and XVII.
Ermita de San Rafael (BIC)
Ermita de la Vera Cruz.
The Cilla
Guatiza
Cactus Garden: Works of artist from Lanzarote, Cesar Manrique.
Costa Teguise
Royal residence of La Mareta: Casona walk from coast acquired by King Hussein of Jordan and remodeled by Cesar Manrique. It was donated by the Jordanian king to the Spanish Royal Family.
Culture and traditions

Festivities include the Carmen and Las Nieves. The latter was the former patron of the island of Lanzarote. At present there is a traditional pilgrimage to the shrine at the top of Famara. The carnival in Teguise is associated with “The Diabletes” a group of people dressed in costumes trying to look evil to scare the little ones in town.

In addition, Teguise is considered the cradle of the launch and one of the most traditional in the production of this typical Canarian instrument.  The craft is also important in this town, especially for ceramics.  Noted are figurines featuring male and female sexual traits one very well-known is “The Couple’s Mojon”.   In the last decade there has been a colorful flea market that takes place in the streets of the town of Teguise every Sunday.