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| A bronze dog statue in front of the Santa Ana cathedral in Las Palmas |
These bronze statues of dogs guard the square in front of the Santa Ana Cathedral in Vegueta (the old town of Las Palmas).
The dogs gave the name of the Canary Islands. The Spanish name of the islands
Islas Canarias is most probably derived from the Latin name
Insula Canaria, meaning
Island of the Dogs.
Canis is the Latin word for
dog.
Originally, the name
Insula Canaria was applied to the island of
Gran Canaria. Legend has it that the Mauretanian king Juba II named the island
Canaria because there was 'a large population of dogs of very large size'.
