Birth Of The Modern State
By the end of the nineteenth century Tenerife's role as unofficial capital of the archipelago encouraged other economic activity and wealth, and it became less dependent on the shifting fortunes of its agricultural sector. Though its position weakened as power gradually shifted to Gran Canaria, in 1927 the division of the archipelago into two administrative regions - with Tenerife governing La Gomera, El Hierro and La Palma - again helped to strengthen its position. To the government on the Spanish mainland, however, the island was of course still considered a remote backwater, so it was to Tenerife that a young General Francisco Franco was transferred, under suspicion that he was plotting a coup, in the hope that this would put him at a safe distance. But it was as military governor of the Canary Islands, and while residing on Tenerife, that Franco hatched the plans that led to the Spanish Civil War . In 1936 Franco launched his coup, and within days he left the islands, flying to the sympathetic Spanish foreign legion in Morocco from where he organized the march into Andalucia, sparking a war which grew into a major international conflict, claimed half a million lives and sent as many into exile. There was actually little fighting in the Canaries, but within hours of Tenerife falling into Nationalist hands repression began. Left-wing politicians as well as trade unionists, teachers, writers and artists were herded into Fyffes' banana warehouse , near the present football ground in Santa Cruz, to be shot in batches. A spate of summary executions followed elsewhere on the island, including that of Lieutenant Gonzalez Campos , the only officer in Tenerife to oppose the uprising. The civil governor and staff were also executed for good measure, allegedly because the governor had shouted "Long live Libertarian Communism." But neither a known Libertarian nor a Communist, the reports of independent witnesses who actually heard "Long live the republic" are more likely to have been true. The Canaries suffered from Spain's post-war economic depression with thousands of refugees fleeing clandestinely to South America, many perishing in unseaworthy vessels on the way. But ultimately the Franco era brought prosperity to the Canaries, as it did in Spain, and Santa Cruz developed into an internationally important staging post for long-distance shipping (a role it still maintains); fish processing began to emerge as a major industry and the island's increasingly diversified agrarian sector showed stability and some growth. Today the island's agricultural sector has shrunk drastically and has been in a state of crisis for some years. While forty years ago over half its population worked in agriculture, now only one tenth of the islanders work the land. Both exports of crops and seafood have declined considerably, with actually around six times more food being imported than exported. But luckily the rise in the level of imports is due to the needs of Tenerife's latest profitable monoculture - tourism .
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