Canary Islands The connection to dogs is retained in their depiction on the islands' coat-of-arms. It is considered that the aborigines of Gran Canaria called themselves "Canarios". It is possible that after being conquered, this name was used in plural in Spanish, i.e., as to refer to all of the islands as the Canarii-as. What is certain is that the name of the islands does not derive from the canary bird; rather, the birds are named after the islands. Tenerife is the largest and most populous island of the archipelago. Gran Canaria, with 865,070 inhabitants, is both the Canary Islands' second most
Religion in the Canary Islands subdued on the islands of Lanzarote, Fuerteventura, La Gomera and El Hierro will be baptized, as well as their followers. In 1424, Pope Martin V erected in Betancuria the "Bishopric of Fuerteventura", which encompassed all the Canary Islands except the island of Lanzarote. This bishopric was abolished just seven years after it was created in 1431. In the mid-fifteenth century there is evidence of the presence of Christian missionaries in the western Canary Islands, because around 1450 is based in the area of the modern municipality of Candelaria in Tenerife a hermitage consisting of three friars led by friar Alfonso