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 La Palma and Tenerife would begin. The Christianization of the Canary Islands was quick and complete. Insular Catholicism has given two saints to the Church up to the present: José de Anchieta (1534-1597) and Peter of Saint Joseph de Betancur (1626-1667). Both, born on the island of Tenerife, were missionaries respectively in Brazil and Guatemala. In the nineteenth century a new bishopric was founded in the Canary Islands, the Diocese of San Cristobal de La Laguna in 1819. Although the origins of creating a diocese based in Tenerife began shortly after the conquest of the Canary Islands, it was the