Garajonay National Park

Geology
La Gomera is a volcanic island some 12 million years old, created by the accumulation of materials emitted in different eruptive periods separated by prolonged periods of calm.

One characteristic that differentiates La Gomera from the other Canary Islands is that the last eruptions took place about two million years ago, which has allowed a prolonged and intense erosive action that has dismantled the original volcanic relief, giving rise to its current steep morphology.

Los Órganos: Spectacular geological formation in the north of the island (Los Órganos de Vallehermoso in the north of the island is a magnificent example of columnar disjunction).

Ravines in the south of La Gomera: The relief of the island of La Gomera is criss-crossed by impressive ravines, the product of continuous erosion over the last two million years.

La Gomera’s natural vegetation levels
In its small surface area, barely 376 km2, it concentrates an incredible variety of natural landscapes, largely the result of the climatic contrasts caused by its accentuated relief, which rises to an altitude of around 1500m, superimposed by the contrasts of orientation between the greener north, which benefits from the oceanic humidity of the trade winds, and the drier south.

Ascending from sea to summit, there are different vegetation levels, as follows:

Low zone (from sea level to 200-300 m on the north face and 400-500 m on the south face). Highly arid zone, this level is dominated by formations of cardonal tabaibal, including the sweet tabaiba (Euphorbia balsamifera) near the coast, the bitter tabaiba (Euphorbia bertheloti) and the cardón (Euphorbia canariensis), sometimes accompanied by thickets of balos (Plocama pendula).

Middle zone (up to 500-600 m on the north face and 800-1,100 m on the south face). Slightly rainier and cooler than the previous one, a marked seasonality between summer and winter begins to appear. The vegetation has certain Mediterranean affinities, the characteristic formation being the juniper grove (Juniperus phoenicea), which on the south face is replaced by rockrose (Cistus monspeliensis) and broom (Spartocytisus filipes and Retama monosperma). Palm groves (Phoenix canariensis) occupy the headwaters of most of the ravines, generally associated with human settlements.

Summit zone. Covered by jungles, forests and arborescent scrubland, commonly known as Monteverde, a name that encompasses the laurel forest characterised by developed forests, located in the humid areas facing north, and the fayal heathland located in areas with poorer soils in the drier south-facing areas or in areas degraded by human activities. The monteverde formations currently cover some 5,000 hectares on La Gomera, which is about a third of those existing in the Canary Islands.

Economic Activities
Among the most important economic activities is agriculture, which is currently undergoing a deep crisis, with the main crops being bananas, destined for export, and vegetables for self-consumption. Tourism is the only activity with a certain degree of dynamism, with three small tourist centres having been consolidated in recent years: Valle Gran Rey, Playa Santiago and San Sebastián de la Gomera, with around 8,000 beds.

The humanisation of the Gomeran landscape
The rural landscape of Gomera is the result of human action over centuries on a rugged territory that is difficult for human settlement. The natural landscapes, described in another section, have been profoundly transformed by human activity and occupation. The remarkable terrace systems are the result of efforts to conquer land suitable for cultivation, which are enriched by a remarkable network of canals and irrigation systems that allow the development of intensive, moisture-demanding agriculture.

Population settlements were established in areas that could be irrigated, mainly in the lower areas of the large ravines. The population reached around 30,000 inhabitants in the 1950s, a level that can be considered very high in relation to the usable agricultural area, more than 500 inhabitants per square kilometre, which produced a truly overwhelming pressure on resources. In those years, the traditional rural society, characterised by isolation and adaptation to the poverty of the environment, went bankrupt and the population plummeted to 17,000 inhabitants at the beginning of the 1990s. Since then, the population has begun to stabilise and even rise slightly, and now exceeds 20,000 inhabitants. During these years, the economy has gone from an autarkic to a highly dependent economy, in which agriculture, fishing and livestock farming have suffered a sharp decline in favour of tourism, which has led to a lamentable abandonment and deterioration of the traditional agricultural landscape.