· Culture
In its first issue, La Aurora described Fuerteventura as “the most forgotten island in the Canary Islands.” According to Rotativa 70, a blog by students at the University of Santiago de Compostela, that issue was published on November 7, 1900. And the newspaper that championed the island was printed on another island: it was published in Fuerteventura but rolled off the presses in Las Palmas.
The University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria Library refers to it as the first newspaper published on the island. Researcher Mario Ferrer Peñate dates it to Puerto de Cabras between 1900 and 1906, and identifies it as the longest-running and most notable publication in Fuerteventura during the period beginning in 1898. That was no small feat: of the at least 72 local newspapers that existed in Lanzarote and Fuerteventura between 1852 and 1982, Ferrer estimates that only 15 lasted more than a year.
A family-run weekly
Rotativa 70 reports that it was founded by Ramón Fernández Castañeyra and run by his son, José Castañeyra Carballo. Both served as mayors of the city: the father from 1898 to 1902, and the son from 1907 to 1914.
It described itself as a weekly of general interest and literature. The blog itself highlights a surprise in that first issue: a two-column article in defense of feminism, featuring Concepción Arenal and Emilia Pardo Bazán as role models.
Barley and Taxes
The pages of La Aurora often discussed rural life. Ferrer recalls that its promoters were part of the island’s elite, with interests in the export business, and that the newspaper repeatedly asked for the land tax to be waived.
In May 1901, it advocated for the creation of an Agricultural Chamber with a forceful statement: “Indifference, inactivity, and paralysis are symptoms of death.” It also campaigned for years against the new tariff on grain imports into mainland Spain, without achieving its goal, according to Ferrer. By June 1904, the tone had changed. After complaining about the neglect of the island, the newspaper asked: “Will that day ever come?”
The nuance of “first”
We need to clarify the term “first newspaper.” It is described as “published on the island” because it was printed elsewhere, and furthermore, Ferrer notes another earlier newspaper in Fuerteventura, El Eco de Tiscamanita, dating from the 1852–1898 period. His article provides no further details about it, so the claim to primacy stands as stated by the University Library.
If you’d like to see it
There’s no need to go to an archive: La Aurora is available in its entirety on JABLE, the ULPGC’s digital press archive, at jable.ulpgc.es/aurora.
The originals are part of the estate of Ramón Castañeyra Schamann, who died in 1973: 618 books, 295 copies of the newspaper, and the personal effects and decorations that Unamuno left him in 1924. This collection was donated to be displayed at the Municipal Library.