Puerto de la Cruz is a city and municipality in the northern part of the island of Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain. It was formerly known by its English translation, "Port of the Cross", although now it is known by its Spanish name in all languages. Puerto de la Cruz is located on the northern coast, northwest of La Orotava and west of Santa Cruz de Tenerife. The TF-5 motorway passes through the municipality. The population is 30,483 (2018). In Spanish, the local inhabitants are known as Portuenses. With an area of , the municipality is the smallest in Tenerife. The elevation of the town's centre is above sea level and the highest point being Las Arenas, a volcanic cone with an elevation of .
Historical population
Economy
Puerto de la Cruz occupies a prominent place in the history of tourism of the islands. The export economy established by the European colonizers after the conquest in the 15th century generated large commercial and passenger movements for decades. The first foreign visitors quickly felt drawn to the beneficial qualities of the weather in the Taoro Valley.
Before mass tourism existed in Puerto de la Cruz, minority tourism catered for privileged elites who were interested in climatology, botany and the tranquillity of the location. The proximity of the Canary Islands to Europe meant that travel for health reasons was a primary driver for launching modern tourism here.
At the beginning of the 19th century, the environment of Puerto de la Cruz meant that it attracted many researchers and exclusive high-class groups from Europe. At this stage Puerto de la Cruz was a leading cultural center accommodating many travellers and writers, including William Wilde and Alexander von Humboldt Olivia Stone (Tenerife and its Six Satellites).
Puerto de la Cruz therefore gained an illustrious reputation in Europe, and when it came to the subsequent advent of modern tourism, the city was at an advantage compared with other tourist sites.
Climate
Puerto de la Cruz enjoys a hot semi-arid climate (Köppen climate classification: BSh) bordering a tropical wet and dry climate, with warm winters and hot, dry summers.
History
The city's origins date back to the early 16th century. It existed in 1502 as a coastal port, and as the dependent population center of La Orotava. In 1603 a church and its corresponding square were built.
It was originally a fishing village that grew as local trade was increasing. The port became the most important in the island when a volcano eruption destroyed Garachico in 1706. The sugar trade gave way to wine, resulting in large scale social and economic development.
In the mid-17th century the inhabitants began to express their desire to form their own community, receiving the Royal Provision of Felipe IV on 3 May 1651, which empowered them to appoint a village head.
It belonged to the municipality of La Orotava, and in 1772, a municipal corporation was elected by the residents. It was known as Puerto de La Orotava, and it was not until 1808 that it obtained full municipal autonomy, changing its name to the current Puerto de la Cruz.
Tourism began to have an important role in the local economy in the late 19th century. It was in those years that the Grand Hotel Taoro was built and that old family houses began to be remodelled, for example as Marquesa or Monopol, transforming them into the first hotels in the city center. Finally, the real tourism boom came in the 1950s, when the city began its transformation into the tourist reference point of the island and of the archipelago.
During the second edition of the Ecological Film Festival of Nature in Puerto de la Cruz, at which guests were invited to give lectures and provide round tables, the Tenerife Manifesto was announced (29 May 1983). This text was a precursor of political ecology in Spain, and would initiate a process leading to the founding of the political party of the Greens.