Trapiche (Canary Islands)
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Arucas is a municipality in the northern part of the island of
Gran Canaria Gran Canaria (, ; ), also Grand Canary Island, is the third-largest and second-most-populous island of the Canary Islands, a Spain, Spanish archipelago off the Atlantic coast of Northwest Africa. the island had a population of that constitut ...
, province of
Las Palmas Las Palmas (, ; ), officially Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, is a Spanish city and capital of Gran Canaria, in the Canary Islands, in the Atlantic Ocean. It is the capital city of the Canary Islands (jointly with Santa Cruz de Tenerife) and the m ...
,
Canary Islands The Canary Islands (; ) or Canaries are an archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean and the southernmost Autonomous communities of Spain, Autonomous Community of Spain. They are located in the northwest of Africa, with the closest point to the cont ...
. Arucas borders
Las Palmas Las Palmas (, ; ), officially Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, is a Spanish city and capital of Gran Canaria, in the Canary Islands, in the Atlantic Ocean. It is the capital city of the Canary Islands (jointly with Santa Cruz de Tenerife) and the m ...
to the west and is part of its urban area. Its population is 36,852 (2013),Instituto Canario de Estadística
, population
and the area is . The GC-2 motorway passes north of the town.


Sites of interest

The Church of San Juan Bautista is the leading architectural and social monument in the municipality. It was built entirely in Arucas stone by local master masons, and it dates from 1909. Apart from the wealth of the carved stone columns and column heads, there are also some beautiful stained glass windows, the works of Canary Island painter Cristobal Hernandez de Quintana, and an extraordinary carving of the Reclining Christ, by Manuel Ramos. To the north is the Montaña de Arucas which is thought to be the area where courageous Doramas the Guanche leader was killed in 1481 by
Pedro de Vera Pedro de Vera Mendoza (Jerez de la Frontera, c. 1430 - Jerez de la Frontera, July 1505) was a Castilian nobleman and Conquistador who completed the conquest of the island of Gran Canaria in the Canary Islands for the Crown of Castile and who bruta ...
in the Battle of Arucas. Arucas is known for the production of rum.


History

Arucas was rebuilt in 1480 after being completely destroyed in 1478. Since the 15th century, the main crop of the Arucas area was sugar cane.
Rum Rum is a liquor made by fermenting and then distilling sugarcane molasses or sugarcane juice. The distillate, a clear liquid, is often aged in barrels of oak. Rum originated in the Caribbean in the 17th century, but today it is produced i ...
was produced here long before sugar plantations were cultivated in
Cuba Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is an island country, comprising the island of Cuba (largest island), Isla de la Juventud, and List of islands of Cuba, 4,195 islands, islets and cays surrounding the main island. It is located where the ...
. One of the main features of modern-day Arucas is its rum factory. Arucas boomed with the demand for
cochineal The cochineal ( , ; ''Dactylopius coccus'') is a scale insect in the suborder Sternorrhyncha, from which the natural dye carmine is derived. A primarily sessility (motility), sessile parasitism, parasite native to tropical and subtropical Sout ...
(a beetle feeding off cactus pear, crushed to produce red dye) in the second half of the 19th century.


Gallery

File:Arucas 2016 05.jpg, The Church of San Juan Bautista File:Arucas vista.jpg, City of Arucas File:BotanischerGartenDerHerzoginVonArucas.jpg, Jardín de la Marquesa de Arucas, the Botanical Garden in Arucas. File:BotanicGardensinArucas.JPG, Jardín de la Marquesa de Arucas, the Botanical Garden features more than 500 plant species. File:Church of San Juan Bautista, Arucas, May 2018.jpg, Church of San Juan Bautista as seen from Calle Párroco Morales.


See also

*
List of municipalities in Las Palmas This is a list of the 34 municipalities in the province of Las Palmas in the autonomous community of the Canary Islands, Spain. There are 21 municipalities on the island of Gran Canaria, 6 on the island of Fuerteventura and 7 on the island of Lan ...


References


External links


English version of Arucas tourism site
{{Authority control Populated places established in the 1480s 1481 establishments 15th-century establishments in Africa Municipalities in Gran Canaria 1480s establishments in Spain