Fuerteventura Travel Guide
Travel to Fuerteventura - The Peaceful Island
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Fuerteventura is an oasis in the Atlantic. White and luminous, the island extends its immense beaches of brilliant, golden sands alongside the turquoise of crystal-clear waters. The island covers an area of 1 660 square kilometres making it the second largest of the Canary Islands after Tenerife.
The first settlers are believed to have arrived from North Africa living in caves and semi-subterranean dwellings, a few of which have been discovered and excavated revealing relics of early tools and pottery. In antiquity, the island was known as Planaria, among other names, in reference to the flatness of most of its landscape. In the 11th century BC, the Phoenician settlers arrived in Fuerteventura and Lanzarote. In 850 BC, the island was mentioned by Homer in the Odyssey, the Canary Islands as Insulae Fortunatae.
Several Spanish and Portuguese expeditions occurred in about 1340 around the island.
In 1405, the French conqueror Jean de Bethencourt took the island and gave his name to the former capital, Betancuria, on the west coast. The name of the island itself is believed to have come from Bethencourt's exclamation "Que forte aventure!" ("What a grand adventure"). A less romantic explanation is that the name simply means "strong wind".
Places to Visit in Fuerteventura
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