The Canary Islands: Diputación, Cabildos and the precedent of the Diputación provincial of Puerto Rico

Abstract

The territorial administration of the Canary Islands was a problematic issue during the 19th century. In this contribution we approach the pre-existing situation, the changes that the new constitutional framework entailed, the consequent crises and the successive attempts at solutions until reaching the model of the Cabildo Insular (with the precedent of the Diputación provincial of Puerto Rico) and its irruption into the Canarian administrative panorama. This change provoked a new conflict resolved between the years 1925 (end of the Diputación provincial of the Canary Islands) and 1927 (end of the single province of the Canary Islands and establishment of two provinces in the Canary archipelago around the two central islands).