LOCATION

The Canary Islands form an archipelago made up by seven main islands and 6 islets. The Islands are located in the Atlantic Ocean near the Tropic of Cancer, in front of the African coast of Western Sahara, between latitudes 27° 38' North (El Hierro's southernmost point) and 29° 24' North (Islet Alegranza's northernmost point), and between longitudes 13° 20' West (Islet Roque del Este's easternmost point) and 18° 9' West (El Hierro's westernmost point).
Canarian latitude in subtropical zone is the same as this of Orlando, Tampa and Cape Kennedy (Florida- USA), Corpus Christi and San Antonio (Texas- USA), Chihuahua (Mexico), Midway (Pacific Ocean), Delhi (India) or Kuwait (Persian Gulf). The climate of the Canaries, however, is a very specific one due to their condition of oceanic islands.

There are only 115 kilometers (70 miles) between the African coast of Western Sahara and the islands of Fuerteventura and Lanzarote - the most easterly of the Canaries. But the islands stretch in an East-West 500 Kms -about 300 miles- long arch. This is the distance, as the crow flies, between Pittsburgh and New York. Therefore, the most westerly islands -El Hierro, La Gomera, La Palma- are located several hundreds of kilometers into the Atlantic.