The volcanism of the Canary Islands has been the subject of many research projects, scientific publications and Doctoral Theses. However, not very much has been done to spread basic knowlege of this thrilling study among those who are not specialists. The reasons which move us, to try to fill in this cultural gap are obvious, but in the case of the Canary Islands it seems most necessary that volcanism should be looked upon as a key factor for the Archipelago, not only in its geolopolitical setting, but in many economic and social aspects, as also in the very personality of its inhabitants and in their cultural heritage.
We are conscious of the difficulty that any work of propagation presents and of the gaps which in this sense may be found in our book. We have tried to accompany the scientific terms with a brief explanation, but inevitably we shall have to refer to specific concepts, the explanation of which requires some previous knoweldge of the subject. Such basic knowledge, as also greater information for those who wish to go further into the Science of Volcanoes, may be found in the texts on Volcanology and Geology which we mention at the end of the book together with a selected bibliography. The
geological maps and publications carried out by members of the Department of Petrology and Geochemistry of the Superior Council of Scientific Research (C. S. I. C.) and the.Deportmeru of Petrology of the University of Madrid are in this bibliography, since to a great degree, we owe the knowledge we nowadays possess about Canary volcanism to the research of these Departments.
We have divided the subject into two parts, preceded by an introduction in which some general concepts are explained which will help in understanding the phenomenon of volcanism. The first part is descriptive and a selected graphic documentation will form the base whereby both materials and volcanic structures can be recognised. The second part will deal with a series of aspects which reflect the social and economic influence of such a particular background as is this volcanic and insular terrain.
The prodigious variety of the Canary Island volcanism permits us to study almost any type of volcanic phenomenon without leaving the Archipelago. Logically, some aspects are of more significance in some of the islands than in others (see Table at the end of the book). In future works
we hope to complete the subject, making special emphasis in each island of
those volcanic characteristics which are best represented there or those which deserve special mention.
With this bi-lingual edition, we wish to make it easier for the many
friends who visit us to understand our country and who are interested in the roots of a people to whom we wish to dedicate this book, in which we
hope they find one of the keys to their unique personality.

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