Santa Cruz de La Palma

The city was founded by Alonso Fernández de Lugo on May 3, 1493. It was located between a river which is situated by a cave named Tedote (now Cueva de Carías, located north of the city). The city, originally called Villa del Apurón, served as a port that connected routes to the Americas, exporting goods from the island such as sugarcane. The city was sacked by pirates and was later reconstructed and fortified against future pirate attacks. Famous fortifications include the Castillo de Santa Catalina and Castillo de la Virgen. The economic crisis that affected the agriculture sector brought the greatest loss of population in the city's history, which limited its expansion and caused the population to stabilize and drop to 11,000. The population did not approach its original 18,000 again for the next hundred years.

{{wide image|Santa Cruz D81 7001 (31811779034).jpg|700px|Mountain view of Santa Cruz looking south.}}

{{wide image|Santa Cruz D81 7477 (31918418033).jpg|700px|Panorama of Santa Cruz harbor.}}

{{wide image|Santa Cruz D81 7023 (32532323391).jpg|700px|Panorama of Santa Cruz expansion to the north.}}

Santa Cruz de la Palma has a hot semi-arid climate (Köppen BSh) featuring very warm, almost rainless summers from April to September, and warm, rainier winters from October to March.

{{Weather box

|location = La Palma Airport 33m (1981-2010); {{convert|8|km|mi}} from the city.

|metric first = yes

|single line = yes

|Jan record high C= 27.0

|Feb record high C= 31.0

|Mar record high C= 32.8

|Apr record high C= 36.6

|May record high C= 32.4

|Jun record high C= 29.4

|Jul record high C= 38.4

|Aug record high C= 38.0

|Sep record high C= 36.8

|Oct record high C= 34.4

|Nov record high C= 31.6

|Dec record high C= 28.0

|Jan high C = 20.6

|Feb high C = 20.7

|Mar high C = 21.2

|Apr high C = 21.6

|May high C = 22.6

|Jun high C = 24.1

|Jul high C = 25.5

|Aug high C = 26.3

|Sep high C = 26.6

|Oct high C = 25.5

|Nov high C = 23.5

|Dec high C = 21.8

|Jan mean C = 18.1

|Feb mean C = 18.0

|Mar mean C = 18.5

|Apr mean C = 18.9

|May mean C = 20.0

|Jun mean C = 21.7

|Jul mean C = 23.1

|Aug mean C = 23.9

|Sep mean C = 24.0

|Oct mean C = 22.8

|Nov mean C = 20.9

|Dec mean C = 19.3

|Jan low C= 15.5

|Feb low C= 15.3

|Mar low C= 15.7

|Apr low C= 16.2

|May low C= 17.4

|Jun low C= 19.2

|Jul low C= 20.7

|Aug low C= 21.4

|Sep low C= 21.3

|Oct low C= 20.2

|Nov low C= 18.3

|Dec low C= 16.7

|Jan record low C = 9.4

|Feb record low C = 10.9

|Mar record low C = 10.2

|Apr record low C = 10.0

|May record low C = 11.0

|Jun record low C = 15.2

|Jul record low C = 14.9

|Aug record low C = 16.7

|Sep record low C = 16.4

|Oct record low C = 15.3

|Nov record low C = 10.0

|Dec record low C = 10.0

|year record low C = 9.4

|Jan rain mm = 49

|Feb rain mm = 57

|Mar rain mm = 33

|Apr rain mm = 19

|May rain mm = 7

|Jun rain mm = 2

|Jul rain mm = 1

|Aug rain mm = 1

|Sep rain mm = 12

|Oct rain mm = 41

|Nov rain mm = 70

|Dec rain mm = 80

|rain colour = green

|Jan rain days = 5

|Feb rain days = 4

|Mar rain days = 4

|Apr rain days = 3

|May rain days = 1

|Jun rain days = 0

|Jul rain days = 0

|Aug rain days = 0

|Sep rain days = 2

|Oct rain days = 5

|Nov rain days = 7

|Dec rain days = 8

|year rain days = 40

|Jan sun = 141

|Feb sun = 146

|Mar sun = 177

|Apr sun = 174

|May sun = 192

|Jun sun = 188

|Jul sun = 222

|Aug sun = 209

|Sep sun = 187

|Oct sun = 175

|Nov sun = 140

|Dec sun = 138

|year sun = 2106

|source 1 = Agencia Estatal de Meteorología{{cite web

|url=http://www.aemet.es/es/serviciosclimaticos/datosclimatologicos/valoresclimatologicos?l=C139E&k=coo

|title=Valores climatológicos normales. La Palma Aeropuerto

}}

}}

The main Catholic church is the Iglesia de El Salvador, founded in 1500.

Santa Cruz de la Palma has the only major port in the island, serving ferry routes to Cádiz in Spain, as well as to Tenerife, Gran Canaria and Lanzarote. The main ferry operators in the port are Naviera Armas, Fred. Olsen Express, and Trasmediterránea. Many cruise line firms visit the port.

In Las Nieves is the Real Santuario Insular de las Virgen de las Nieves, the patron saint of the island of La Palma.

• {{anchor|El Apurón}}El Apurón : elapuron.com{{cite web |title=Aviso Legal |url=https://elapuron.com/aviso-legal/ |website=El Apurón |access-date=26 December 2022}}

The football SD Tenisca rivalry with CD Mensajero is the most important derby of the island of La Palma. One of these games, played in 1983, was considered one of the most violent in the history of Spanish football.{{cite web|url=http://elpais.com/diario/1983/10/07/deportes/434329208_850215.html|title=Las peñas apostaron dos millones en el Mensajero-Tenisca|publisher=El País|language=es|accessdate=29 September 2016|date=7 October 1983}}

• Manolo Blahnik, shoemaker

• Holy Week in Santa Cruz de La Palma
• List of municipalities in Santa Cruz de Tenerife

{{reflist}}

{{commons category}}

• [http://www.santacruzdelapalma.es/ Official website] {{in lang|es}}
• {{Cite NIE|wstitle=Santa Cruz de La Palma|short=x}}

{{Geographic location

|Centre = Santa Cruz de la Palma

|North = Puntallana

|Northeast =

|East = Atlantic Ocean

|Southeast =

|South = Breña Alta

|Southwest =

|West = El Paso

|Northwest =

}}

{{Canary Islands-Capitals}}

{{Municipalities in Santa Cruz de Tenerife|state=autocollapse}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Santa Cruz De La Palma}}

Category:1490s establishments in Spain

Category:1493 establishments in Europe

Category:Populated places established in the 1490s

Category:Municipalities in La Palma