Tacoronte

Tacoronte retains its original name. It was one of the kingdoms governed by a Mencey (Guanche king) called Acaymo, according to Viana and Viera, who was famous for his bravery and the love for his people.

The Mencey represented an aboriginal institution that administered the territory in co-ordination with a council of elders, called "Tagoro" the meeting place of the kingdom.

The founding father of Tacoronte was Sebastián Machado from Guimaraes (Portugal).

Like his father, he came to the Canary Islands and took part in the conquest of Tenerife. He settled in this area in 1496, where he had been granted a large expanse of land in the share out.

The village grew up around the old church that, according to Millares Torres, had been the parish church since soon after the conquest. Some people say it was Sebastián Machado who had the church built, others say its founder was the Governor himself, Alonso Fernández de Lugo, or the few original inhabitants of the settlement.

Like so many others on the island, Tacoronte became a borough in 1812 and in 1911 (23rd of March) King Alfonso XIII awarded it the title of city "for the development of its agriculture, industry and commerce and its constant adhesion to the Constitutional Monarchy."

A famous son of Tacoronte was the widely known surrealist painter Oscar Domínguez (1906 - 1957).