“A ship arriving in Marseille from the Canary Islands, after fifteen days of navigation, has brought letters containing various details about a volcano that has erupted on the island of Lanzarote (…)” (L’Echo du Midi, October 21, 1824) This is how Marseille woke up 200 years ago, with news about the eruptions that were taking place in Lanzarote.
In 1824, the last eruptions of Lanzarote took place, specifically the volcanoes of Tao, Nuevo del Fuego (Chinero) and Tinguatón. The first to appear was the Tao volcano on July 31, 1824. On November 4, 1824, the Gaceta de Madrid reports the following story:
“On the 31st, at seven in the morning, a league from the capital to the west, close to the road that goes to the place of Tiagua, a whirlpool similar to a pump or a water hose rose from a not very large rock (…) and immediately a column of smoke came out of the same rock with great force (…)”
That was the beginning of the last volcanic phenomenon in Lanzarote, after this event came the formation of the Tinguatón volcano on September 29 of the same year and ended with the formation of the Nuevo del Fuego or Chinero volcano on October 16.
In order to give visibility to these three events that constitute the last volcanic manifestations that occurred on the island, the Cabildo de Lanzarote, through the Lanzarote and Chinijo Archipelago UNESCO World Geopark, is promoting the celebration of different events in 2024 on the occasion of the 200th anniversary.
The activities organized by the Cabildo are aimed at different audiences. Among them we find the realization of a storytelling session about the 1824 eruptions in the educational centers of Teguise and Tinajo, municipalities affected by this phenomenon.
Also, the III Conference “Mitigating volcanic risk, international experiences for the mitigation of volcanic risk in island territories” will take place on October 23 and 24 in the Assembly Hall of the Cabildo de Lanzarote. An activity organised jointly by the Cabildo of Lanzarote through the UNESCO Global Geopark Lanzarote and Chinijo Archipelago and Timanfaya National Park on the occasion of the 50th Anniversary of the Timanfaya National Park and the 200th anniversary of the 1824 Eruption.
To close these events, in December, the Commemoration Days of the 1824 Eruption that gave rise to the volcanoes of Tao, Nuevo del Fuego (Chinero) and Tinguatón will take place on the 16th and 17th in the Assembly Hall of the Lanzarote Maritime and Fishing Vocational Training Institute. In addition, on December 19th the documentary “The Memory of the Volcano. Eruptions of 1824: Tao, Nuevo del Fuego (Chinero), Tinguatón. Lanzarote” will be screened and an exhibition of texts and photographs will also be inaugurated at the Monumento al Campesino.
