Fuerteventura is the second largest island of the Canarian Archipelago with a population of around 80,000 inhabitants. Fuerteventura is 100km long, and 31km wide and is believed to be the oldest of the Canary Islands forming over 20 million years ago.

The earliest settlers, the Gaunches first landed in Tenerife, and were a primitive people descending from the Berber race of North Africa. Subsequently there were many invasions by Spanish and Portuguese and even the British tried to claim parts of Fuerteventura for themselves(unsuccessfully), the most successful invasion was by Jean de Bethencourt who in 1402 first conquered Lanzarote and who gives his name to the town of Betancuria in the centre of Fuerteventura, which was the capital of the island up until the mid 19th century.