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The island of Fuerteventura not too many decades ago was condemned to be deserted. The adverse climate conditions were causing the population to immigrate to other islands or latitudes as they could not cultivate anything during hundreds of years.

The history of Fuerteventura is the history of a dying town that came back to life from night to day. More exactly at the end of the 70's when tourism made a boom in the Island. Fuerteventura's population stopped it's decline and started to escalate once again. In actuality the population of Fuerteventura is more of tourists than actual islanders.

The tourism that chose Fuerteventura as a preferential destination caused major investments in the principal localities of the island. Tourism today is the main source of economy in Fuerteventura.

But that is the present and Fuerteventura also has a past, a past that was dominated by the aboriginees until the island was concquered by the Reino de Castilla (castilla kingdom) around the XV century. In that moment, the island started recieving new inhabitants that settled in the Villa de Betancuria, the first nucleus of inhabitants on the island. Betancuria is called this way in honor of Juan de Bethencourt, name with Normandic origins that began the colonization of the island in the beginings of the XV century. This colonization of Bethencourt was started accompanied by a french soldier called Gadifer de la Salle.

At the end of the XVI century and the beginings of the XVII century the island of Fuerteventura suffered various attacks from Africa, for which it decided to build castles and fortress walls. That is why the coast looking towards africa is abundant in castles.

Fuerteventura went from being a spanish province in 1812, a fact that stayed written in teh spanish Constitution of that date.

The island's economy is based on the exportation of cereals and wines fundamentally, but the dryness and heat of this climate caused a dense population to fall and the Island started to get deserted. At the end of the 70's, with the arrival of tourism the economy of the island changed and the population started immigrating to the coasts where tourism is today a main source of income.

The original name of Fuerteventura was Erbaria, in reference to the fortress thaqt divided he tribe of the north witht the island of the south.

From the municipalities of Fuerteventura, Antigua started to get populated in teh XVIII century: Betancuria was founded in 1404 by Gadifer de la Salle and Juan de Bethencourt. The municipality of the Pájara is located south of the island where it started getting populated in the XVI century. Puerto del Rosario, the capital of Fuerteventura started getting populated in the XVIII century just as Tuineje. These are the six municipalities of the island of Fuerteventura, and the origin of what we know today.