Canary Islands (Spain)

Canarias, Autonomous Community of the Canary Islands, Comunidad Autónoma de Canarias

Last modified: 2008-12-26 by eugene ipavec
Keywords: spain | canary islands | islas canarias | canarias | dogs: two (black) | historical | coat of arms | stars: 7 (white) | crown | mountain: teide |
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image by Juan Manuel Gabino Villascán, 11 Feb 2006

• Description
• Civil Flag
• Coat of Arms
• Towards a New Flag?
• Island and Municipal Flags
• Historical 20th Century Proposals
• Independentist Flags

See also:

• Clickable map of the Canary Islands
• Spain

Other sites:

• Flags of the Canary Islands by José Manuel Erbez

Color specifications for flags of the Canary Islands have been provided by the Canary Islands government:

      Black - Pantone Black
Silver/Grey - Pantone 7544
  Red/Gules - Pantone 485
     Maroon - Pantone 722 (for dogs)
Yellow/Gold - Pantone 7406
 Blue/Azure - Pantone 3005

Juan Manuel Gabino Villascán, 11 Feb 2006

I saw various flags of the Canary Islands all over Tenerife. But on each of them the supporting dogs were light brown (FIAV code M-- ; i.e. brighter than M-). You could clearly recognize the dogs round drop ears on both sides.

There was also another variant having a stripe of "rebel-blue," that is a light greenish blue in the middle instead of the blue one; e.g. in Icod d.l.V. or in (San Cristobal de) La Laguna. I spotted both variants in January 2007.

Sources and Credits

Klaus-Michael Schneider, 09 May 2007

According to the newspaper _La Opinion de Tenerife_ #1846, dated 25 October 2004, the parliamentary commission for the reform of the Autonomy Status proposed that the collars are removed from the dogs supporting the coat of arms of the Canary Islands:

The current description of the coat of arms is found in Article 6 of the Autonomy Statute and reads as follows:

Canarias tiene escudo propio, cuya descripción es la siguiente: en campo de azur trae siete islas de planta bien ordenadas, dos, dos, dos y una, esta última en punta. Cuyo timbre una corona real de oro, surmontada de una cinta de plata con el lema ´Océano´ de sable y como soportes dos canes en su color encorallados.

Canary Islands have their own coat of arms, whose description is the following : on a field azure are seven islands argent placed two, two, two and one, the latter in point. The shield is surmonted by a royal crown or, surmonted by a scroll argent with the motto "Oceano" sable, and supported by two dogs proper with a collar.

Therefore, the last words of the description will be amended. Cave canem!

Source: La Opinion de Tenerife, #1846, 25 Oct 2004

Ivan Sache, 26 Oct 2004

The translation is correct, but since the original is a Spanish blazon, the translation could be made in heraldic terms as well:

Azure seven islands 2,2,2,1 Argent. Crest: a royal crown Or [*] surmounted by a ribbon Argent, motto 'OCEANO' Sable. Supporters: two dogs [rampant] proper collared [Argent].

Santiago Dotor, 27 Oct 2004

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image by Juan Manuel Gabino Villascán, 11 Feb 2006

image by Juan Manuel Gabino Villascán, 11 Feb 2006

The Partido de Independenties de Lanzarote (PIL) proposes to modify the Autonomy Statutes of the islands and to adopt a new flag. This new flag would be the flag with the seven green stars used by the independentist groups since 1964. It must be the flag we show as the MPAIAC/ CNC flag.

Celso Betancor, the president of the PIL, said that the flag proposal was supported by all political parties, including the Partido Popular (PP). The PIL announced at the end of last April that he would submit a law proposal to be discussed during the next session of the Canay Parliament in June, so that the Carta Magna of the Canary islands shall be modified, including the adoption of the new flag.

Source: Diaro de Avisos website

Ivan Sache, 28 May 2004

This news struck me as particularly odd — not the flag change proposal, but the PP's support. I have exchanged a couple of e-mails with Canary vexillologist José Manuel Erbez and he has confirmed that only marginal groups (centred in the party youth) of the regionally governing Coalición Canaria plus possibly somebody in the Socialist Party (PSOE) would support such a change. Only the very small parties support it openly, as can be read here (in Spanish).

Santiago Dotor, 01 Jun 2004

Historical 20th Century Proposals

José Manuel Erbez wrote me, "In my opinion, the best summary of the history of the Canary flag and my main source of information for my webpage and my article in Flag Report is Hernández Bravo de Laguna 1994".

Santiago Dotor, 17 December 1999

Ateneo proposal

by Jaume Ollé

The Canary Islands were originally inhabited by a branch of the Berber people (the Guanches) which were exterminated. The islands were occupied by Catalans near 1300 and by Castile in the 15th century. The first modern flag for the island was hoisted in the early 20th century at the home of a cultural society called Ateneo (Atheneum).

Jaume Ollé, 13 December 1996

Poet Estévanez's proposal

by Jaume Ollé

In 1907 another flag was proposed (very similar to the current Saint Lucia flag but with a red background), the triangle (mountain) blue, and the upper part white (snow). The flag symbolised Mount Teide on Tenerife island and wasn't accepted by the other large island (Grand Canary).

Jaume Ollé, 13 December 1996