La Palma

La Palma, also San Miguel de La Palma, is the most north-westerly island of the Canary Islands, Spain. La Palma has an area of 706 km2 making it the fifth largest of the seven main Canary Islands. The total population is about 86,000, of which 18,000 (2003 data) live in the capital, Santa Cruz de la Palma and about 20,000 (2004 data) in Los Llanos de Aridane. La Palma has "sister city" status with El Dorado Hills, California. Its highest mountain is the Roque de los Muchachos, at 2,426 metres, being second among the peaks of the Canaries only to the peaks of the Teide massif on Tenerife.In 1815, the German geologist Leopold von Buch visited the Canary Islands. It was as a result of his visit to Tenerife where he visited the Las Cañadas caldera and then later to La Palma where he visited the Taburiente caldera, that the Spanish word for cauldron or large cooking pot – "caldera" – was introduced into the geological vocabulary. In the center of the island is the Caldera de Taburiente National Park; one of four national parks in the Canary Islands.Origins and geologyLa Palma, like the other islands of the Canary Island archipelago, is a volcanic ocean island. The volcano rises almost 7km above the floor of the Atlantic Ocean. There is road access from sea level to the summit at 2426m, which is marked by an outcrop of rocks called Los Muchachos ("The Lads"). This is the site of the Roque de los Muchachos Observatory, one of the world's premier astronomical observatories.