Betancuria

The valley of Betancuria was the first European settlement on Fuerteventura, and from the time of the conquest it served as the island's capital, housing its main administrative and religious institutions. Its inland position, shielded from pirate raids on the coast, made it a model for other island capitals across the archipelago, Teguise on Lanzarote, San Cristóbal de La Laguna on Tenerife, and Valverde on El Hierro all followed the same logic. In 1416, the Franciscan convent of San Buenaventura was built here, the first Franciscan convent in the Canary Islands.

Two of its friars, San Diego de Alcalá and Juan de Santorcaz, went on to considerable renown. Eight years later, in 1424, Pope Martin V established the short-lived bishopric of Fuerteventura at Betancuria, a diocese that covered all the Canary Islands except Lanzarote. The parish church of Santa María de Betancuria was raised to cathedral status to serve as its seat.

The bishopric was rooted in the upheavals following the Western Schism of 1378–1417, and it lasted only seven years before being abolished in 1431. The town's worst moment came on 16 August 1593, when a Berber raiding force led by Xabán Arráez devastated Betancuria almost entirely. Most of its buildings were looted and destroyed, including the church, later rebuilt, and the convent of San Buenaventura, which was never reconstructed.

Around 60 residents were taken captive. From the eighteenth century onward, Betancuria gradually lost ground to faster-growing towns such as Pájara, La Oliva, and Antigua. It was stripped of its status as island capital in 1834.

The main church of Santa María de Betancuria, once briefly a cathedral, anchors the town, alongside three smaller hermitages dedicated to Santa Inés, Nuestra Señora de la Peña, and San Diego de Alcalá. The roofless ruins of the Franciscan convent of San Buenaventura still stand. Visitors can also find a sacred art museum, an archaeological museum covering Fuerteventura's history, a craft museum, and the surrounding Parque Rural de Betancuria.

Betancuria lies inland on Fuerteventura, in a valley of the Betancuria massif, now a rural park and one of the least desert-like parts of the island. Named after the French conquistador Jean de Bethencourt, it was the island's first European settlement and its capital, placed away from the coast to escape pirates. Its old centre of whitewashed walls and wooden balconies was declared a historic ensemble in 1978.

That shelter failed in 1593, when a Berber raid devastated the town. The church of Santa María, briefly a cathedral in the fifteenth century, was rebuilt in the seventeenth and mixes Gothic, Mudéjar, Renaissance and Baroque features. Nearby are the remains of the convent of San Buenaventura, founded in 1416 as the first Franciscan convent in the Canaries. The Museo Arqueológico covers the island's first inhabitants, and the local table offers conejo en salmorejo, marinated rabbit, and kid.

Betancuria joined Los Pueblos Más Bonitos de España in 2020. The label is awarded by a private association, not the state: a village applies and is audited against around 40 criteria, from how its historic buildings are conserved to the upkeep of its streets, and members are reviewed and can lose it. Betancuria is one of 5 members in Canarias, out of 126 in Spain. See all heritage towns in Canarias.