Lanzarote, Canary Islands
UTSA hosts Texas-Canary Islands symposium
(March 5, 2004)--UTSA and the Friends of the Canary Islands Foundation will
present a symposium, "Canary Islands-Texas: The Historical Connection,"
from 8 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Saturday, March 6 in the Buena Vista Street Building
Aula Canaria (1.328) at the UTSA Downtown Campus. The event is free and open
to the public.
Speakers at the symposium include Felix D. Almaraz Jr., UTSA professor of history and symposium coordinator ; Francisco Aznar Vallejo, director of the Tricontinental Institute for Democratic Government and Human Rights, University of Laguna, Tenerife; Alfonso Chiscano, president of the Friends of the Canary Islands Foundation and Henry Cisneros, former San Antonio mayor and current CEO of CityVista and Matias Diaz Padron, curator of Museo de Prado, Madrid, Spain.
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RSS FeedsOther speakers at the event are Manuel Hernandez Gonzalez, Department of History chair, University of Laguna; Lucas Martinez Sanchez, director of the Monclova Municipal Archive, Coahuila, Mexico; Sen. Jeronimo Saavedra, Canary Islands Senate, Senate of Spain and Joseph Patrick Sanchez, director of Spanish Colonial Research Center, National Park Service, University of New Mexico.
Fifty-six Canary Islanders (or "Islenos") arrived in 1731 to establish what is known today as San Antonio. Ordered by King Philip V of Spain to establish the settlement, the Islanders organized the municipal government, and the first mayors of the city were original settlers or their descendants.
In 1738 the Islanders began construction of a church, now the oldest part
of San Fernando Cathedral. Islenos descendants were instrumental in developing
the culture and institutions of San Antonio.
The Canary Islands are often described as Spain's tropical paradise. In mainland
Spain, they are synonymous with holidays, as they are for thousands of foreign
tourists who pack the islands' resorts year round. Colonized and populated
by Spaniards, the seven islands lie 1,150 kilometers off the west coast of
Africa.
The symposium is sponsored by the UTSA Office of the President, the UTSA
Department of History, the Friends of the Canary Islanders Foundation and
the government of the Canary Islands.
Parking is available on the upper level of the UTSA parking garage on Pecos-La
Trinidad Street. Simultaneous translation equipment will be available on a
first-come, first-served basis.
For more information or to pre-register for the symposium, contact Martha Cooper at 210-458-357-5611 or Felix D. Almaraz Jr. at 210-458-2616.
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