Although Tenerife has a small population, it has still managed to produce a few famous inhabitants.
Tomas de Iriarte
An 18th Century satirical writer, translator and neo-classic poet. He started to translate French plays for the royal theatre when he was just 18 years old. This was quite a fete as most of the population was illiterate. Tomas’s work became highly successful on the Spanish mainland, and they included a collection of fables. In 1771 he became the official translator to the Foreign Office, and then went onto be the keeper of records for the war department in 1776. He is immensely noted for the ‘Fabulas literarias’, published in 1781, which emulated his satirical view on literary men and the methods they used. He died from Gout on September 17th 1791.
Christopher Columbus
By far the most famous person associated with the small island of La Gomera. Christopher Columbus was reputed to have stayed on the island before setting off to discover if a westward trade route to the Indies existed.
Christopher Columbus was born in 1451, and his first visit to La Gomera was in 1492, when he took on supplies before his pioneering Atlantic crossing. He became close friends with another famous inhabitant, Beatriz de Bobadilla, and it is believed that he visited the island several times during his Atlantic voyages. Christopher Columbus died in 1506, just outside Valladolid in Spain.
Beatriz de Bobadilla
A beautiful Spanish Courtesan, and was believed to be the mistress of Ferdinand V. Queen Isabella was not amused with the relationship and tried to remove Beatriz from the island, but Beatriz married the Governor of La Gomera, Count Hernan Peraza. The Guanches murdered Hernan, and Beatriz took revenge by having hundreds of them killed, or sold into slavery. She ruled La Gomera in her own right, and married Alonso Fernandez de Lugo in 1498. Alonso Fernandez went on to conquer Tenerife. Beatriz was eventually ordered to return to Madrid on the Spanish mainland, where she died from poisoning. Rumours believe that Queen Isabella was responsible for the death.
Horatio Nelson
Was a British admiral, famous for his participation in the Napoleonic Wars. Nelson attacked the port city of Santa Cruz, on the island of Tenerife in July 1797, but unfortunately he was defeated and he withdrew his army. Nelson lost his own arm in this battle, but there were many other casualties. Doctors on the island generously nursed Nelson and his men.
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