Contenido
- 1 The time difference between the Canary Islands and the mainland: historical reasons
- 2 Impact of the daylight saving time in the Canary Islands: a geographical adjustment
- 3 The Canary Islands and daylight saving time: how does it affect tourists?
- 4 Understanding the time zone of the Canary Islands: a geographical peculiarity
Having one hour less than the mainland is a hallmark of the Canary Islands, but why does the Canary Islands have one hour less? Discover the origin of this time change.
The time difference between the Canary Islands and the mainland: historical reasons
The historical reasons why the Canary Islands have one hour less go back to the year 1900, when a decree was passed to establish a single official time throughout the country that was aligned with the Greenwich meridian.
That decree, however, left out the Canary Islands, which for two decades maintained its ‘independence’ in this regard. However, due to maritime traffic issues, Great Britain lobbied for the Canary Islands to also have an established time zone.
It was in 1922 when a Royal Decree established that the Canary Islands had the time of its time zone, which, due to its geographical location, was one hour behind the mainland.
Peninsular time remained aligned with the Greenwich Meridian until 1940, when the dictator Franco, due to his sympathy with Nazi Germany, decided that Spain should have the same time zone as the center of Europe, changing from GMT to GMT+1, making the Canary Islands also move forward one hour (from GMT-1 to GMT).
This has been the case since then and the Canary Islands defends maintaining this time difference with the peninsula as a matter of brand identity and tourist promotion.
Impact of the daylight saving time in the Canary Islands: a geographical adjustment
The Canary archipelago is located further west than the mainland, so geographically it is in a different time zone. This means that the Canary Islands spend half of the year in GMT time, which is the Greenwich Mean Time, and the other half of the year in GMT+1.
GMT is summer time and GMT+1 is winter time. This means that the archipelago has the same time all year round as Portugal, the United Kingdom and Ireland, but it never coincides with the rest of Spain, that is, the peninsula and the Balearic Islands.
Why does the Canary Islands have one hour less and Galicia does not? As we have said, the Canary archipelago has the same time as Portugal, which is geographically aligned with the Galician community. However, the Canary Islands are even further west, so the time change with respect to the rest of Spain is more logical and acceptable.
The Canary Islands and daylight saving time: how does it affect tourists?
One of the reasons why we identify the Canary Islands is precisely because the Canary Islands have one hour less than the rest of Spain. That phrase ‘one hour less in the Canary Islands’ is a tourist promotion.
But, of course, it is also an adaptation to its hours of sunshine, and this is an incentive for those who visit the archipelago, whether we are talking about national or foreign tourists.
That is why in the Canary Islands – where the economy depends to a large extent on tourism – it is advocated to always maintain this time difference that distinguishes them.
Understanding the time zone of the Canary Islands: a geographical peculiarity
The case of the Canary Islands has always been particular. When in 1921 the British pushed to give the archipelago an official time zone in order to properly organize maritime traffic in the islands (key logistical base of the British Empire), they realized that there were up to five different time zones operating at the same time in the archipelago.
Tenerife had two different times in the city of Santa Cruz itself and Las Palmas had three time zones in the capital: one in the port, one in the town hall and one in the cathedral.
Great Britain needed a time synchronization for logistical reasons and that is how this solution was arrived at and explains why the Canary Islands have one hour less.