On January 27, 1822, Fernando VII promulgated the royal decree establishing the division of Spanish territory into 52 provinces. It read: “Canarias (islands). Population: 215,108 souls.- Deputies: three.- Capital: Santa Cruz de Tenerife”. This is how the chronicler of Santa Cruz, José Manuel Ledesma, narrates how the deputy José Murphy managed to convince the Cortes that Santa Cruz be named the capital of the Canary Islands. Santa Cruz would remain the sole capital of the Canary Islands until September 23, 1927, when the Government of the dictatorship of General Miguel Primo de Rivera y Orbaneja decreed the division of the Archipelago into two provinces: Santa Cruz de Tenerife and Las Palmas.
Last January, therefore, the 200th anniversary of that historic milestone was completed. On the occasion of this event, the Royal Casino of Santa Cruz de Tenerife hosts, starting tomorrow, a cycle of conferences organized by the Tertulia Amigos del 25 de Julio, in collaboration with the Santa Cruz City Council, in which the figure by Joseph Murphy and Meade.
“For a century, in Santa Cruz, various authorities have established their residence, whose presence symbolized the capital status of the town in which they lived and, emanating from the Constitutional Regime, other Institutions were established, as a natural, simple and common thing.” This is how Murphy defended before the Cortes that Santa Cruz was the capital of the Canary Islands.
The deputy’s speech will be better known thanks to the three speakers who will take part in the cycle called Homage to Don José Murphy and Meade, on the bicentenary of the designation of Santa Cruz de Tenerife as the capital of the Canary Islands. They will go through the life and time of the deputy who managed to convince the Cortes to change their minds about the designation of the capital, which was initially planned to fall on La Laguna. Those in charge of this tour are Brigadier General Emilio Abad Ripoll, member of the Tertulia Amigos del 25 de Julio; the architect Sebastián Matías Delgado Campos, member of the Royal Canary Academy of Fine Arts of San Miguel Arcángel; and the architect Carlos Pallés.
The first of these conferences will take place tomorrow, at 7:30 p.m., at the Real Casino de Santa Cruz, by Emilio Abad, who will give the conference entitled Santa Cruz de Tenerife: Unique Capital of the Canary Islands (1822-1927). In it, he will make a detailed account of the circumstances that motivated the Santa Cruz City Council to send to the Spanish Courts, in 1821, the Ombudsman José Murphy y Meade with the task of defending the interests of the then Villa, which seemed to be damaged in new legislation about to be passed.
Likewise, the interventions of Mr. Murphy are collected and it is explained how he managed to make the deputies feel, in the designation for the first time of capitals for the Spanish provinces, that Santa Cruz de Tenerife should be, with all merit, the capital of the provinces. Canary Islands.
The next conference will take place on Monday, March 21, by Sebastián Matías Delgado, whose title is Santa Cruz de Tenerife, capital of the Canary Islands. Chronicle and achievements of a population with a pulse. The architect will approach the economic and political reality that allowed Santa Cruz to become the capital. The cycle will close on March 28 with Carlos Pallés and the conference entitled Santa Cruz de Tenerife in times of Murphy, in which Pallés travels to Santa Cruz from 1777 to 1841.
The cycle will be presented by the president of the Tertulia Amigos on July 25, Luis García Rebollo.
