Although the island of La Palma was conquered in 1493, it was already inhabited by the Benahoaritas (the indigenous people of La Palma) long before. The rich legacy of our ancestors can be discovered in several archaeological sites on the island.

After the conquest and throughout the centuries, the history of La Palma has been marked by numerous notable events, many of them of national and international importance, such as those that took place on the following anniversaries:

• May 3, 1493 (Day of the Holy Cross): end of the conquest and founding of the capital of La Palma, Villa del Apurón, which would later be called Santa Cruz de La Palma.

• July 21, 1553: Attack and capture of Santa Cruz de La Palma by the French privateer François Le Clerc, known as Pata de Palo.

• 1558: establishment of the first Port of the Indies in the Canary Islands, due to the importance of the port of Santa Cruz de La Palma, the third most important in the Spanish Empire (Official port of call for the Spanish merchant and military navy)

• November 13, 1585: unsuccessful attack by the English Royal Navy privateer Francis Drake on Santa Cruz de La Palma.

• 1676: Establishment of the Descent of the Virgin of Las Nieves, patron saint of the island of La Palma, celebrated every five years. This festival, one of the richest in Spain, is in the process of being declared Intangible Heritage of Humanity.

• January 2, 1773: Sixteen years before the beginning of the French Revolution, the first popular elections in Spain were held in Santa Cruz de La Palma, by census suffrage, a clear precedent of the Constitution of Cadiz of 1812. This was possible thanks to the lawyer from La Palma, Anselmo Pérez de Brito, and the Irish-born merchant Dionisio O’Daly, who denounced the illegalities of local politicians before the Spanish Crown (Pleito de los Regidores Perpetuos).

  (Judgment to abolish the hereditary nature of public government positions.)

• December 31, 1893: Santa Cruz de La Palma becomes the first city in the Canary Islands and, according to some sources, the sixth in the world, to have public lighting thanks to the “El Electro” Power Plant.

• April 21, 1983: El Canal and Los Tiles Estate declared a World Biosphere Reserve, making La Palma the first Spanish island to receive this distinction. In 2002, the Reserve was extended to the entire island.

• June 29, 1985: inauguration of the Roque de los Muchachos Astrophysical Observatory, one of the most important in the world.

• October 31, 1988: the Sky Law was passed, protecting the quality of the night sky on the island of La Palma and the north of Tenerife. This pioneering law worldwide served as an inspiration for other places on the planet.

• April 20, 2007: Adoption of the World Declaration in Defense of the Night Sky and the Right to Observe the Stars, also known as the Starlight Declaration or La Palma Declaration. This is the equivalent of a World Heritage Site in relation to the night sky.

• July 24, 2009: inauguration of the Gran Telescopio Canarias, the largest optical telescope in the world currently in operation.