el hierro

El Hierro

El Hierro , nicknamed Isla del Meridiano (the "Meridian Island"), is a Spanish island. It is the smallest and farthest south and west of the Canary Islands, in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Africa.

History

Ferro (Latin ferrum , "iron") was and is used as an alternative name for the island. Most likely "hero" is the original name of what we to-day call a "cistern", due to the way the bimbaches saved water from trees. It is the name for the island in other languages, including French, German, and Danish. Pliny the Elder, who used Juba II as his source, names a series of Canary Islands in his Natural History, and it is believed that his Capraria may have been Hierro.

The ancient natives of the island, called bimbaches , were conquered by Jean de Béthencourt –more through the process of negotiation than by military action. Béthencourt had as his ally and negotiator Augeron, brother of the island's native monarch. Augeron had been captured years previously by the Europeans and now served as mediator between the Europeans and the Guanches. In return for control over the island, Béthencourt promised to respect the liberty of the natives, but he eventually broke his promise, selling many of the bimbaches into slavery. Many Frenchmen and Galicians subsequently settled on the island. There was a revolt of the natives against the harsh treatment of t