Volcanic Formation — Hotspot in the Atlantic

The Canary Islands owe their existence to a hotspot — an upwelling of hot mantle material from the depths of the Earth, melting through the African plate and pushing volcanoes to the surface. The islands formed over a period of over 20 million years, with the eastern islands being the oldest and the western ones the youngest:

• Fuerteventura & Lanzarote: ~20 million years old — heavily eroded, flat, desert-like
• Gran Canaria: ~15 million years — a miniature continent with extreme landscape diversity
• Tenerife & La Gomera: ~12–8 million years — Tenerife with the highest peak, La Gomera deeply rugged
• La Palma: ~4 million years — geologically young and very volcanically active
• El Hierro: ~1.2 million years — the youngest and smallest of the main islands

The Canaries are volcanically active — and this is not a theoretical risk. The last major eruption on mainland Europe occurred here:

• 1730–1736: On Lanzarote, dozens of volcanoes erupted over six years, burying a third of the island under lava — the Fire Mountains (Montañas del Fuego) in Timanfaya National Park
• 1971: Teneguía on La Palma — the last "peaceful" eruption, where spectators could watch
• 2021: The Cumbre Vieja on La Palma erupted on September 19 and spewed lava for 85 days, burying 3,000 buildings and thousands of hectares of banana plantations. The lava flows reached the sea, creating new landmasses. The scars are still clearly visible
• 2011–2012: A submarine volcanic eruption off El Hierro (Tagoro) made the sea bubble and change color

The volcanic soils are the reason for the extraordinary fertility (bananas, wine, tomatoes) and the spectacular landscapes — from the black sand beaches to the lunar landscape of Teide National Park to the lava caves (Cueva de los Verdes on Lanzarote).