At the beginning of the twentieth century, Canarian regionalism was neither a single doctrine nor a homogeneous movement. Federal republicans, autonomists, representatives of the island bourgeoisies and groups linked to the labour movement all used the term. They shared a criticism of centralisation and a desire for the Canary Islands to manage their own affairs more effectively, but disagreed over how far that aspiration should extend politically[1].
The colonial crisis of 1898 gave the debate fresh urgency. The archipelago’s Atlantic location became more strategically significant, while the press discussed neglect by the Spanish state and the scale of British economic influence. Campaigns defending the Spanish identity of the Canary Islands therefore coexisted with proposals for decentralisation. For some contemporary writers, autonomy could strengthen the islands’ ties to Spain rather than inevitably lead to separation[1].
The economy provided another source of discontent. The free-port regime had encouraged commercial expansion and the islands’ integration into Atlantic trade, but its benefits were concentrated particularly among the merchant bourgeoisies of Gran Canaria and Tenerife. The liberalisation of grain and flour imports from 1900 also deepened the difficulties of rural economies unable to compete with foreign produce. Demands for economic autonomy thus arose from a concrete debate about taxation, trade, agriculture and dependency[2].
The pleito insular, or island dispute, added a political dimension. The elites of Gran Canaria and Tenerife competed for administrative and commercial control, while Lanzarote, Fuerteventura, La Gomera and El Hierro had no electoral districts of their own. On the peripheral islands, autonomy came to express both opposition to control by the two central islands and a demand for direct representation. The later Petition of the Minor Islands, submitted in 1910, would turn these grievances into an explicit programme[2].
Regionalism was also linked to opposition to political clientelism and to the reorganisation of labour. The Workers’ Association of the Canary Islands was founded in Santa Cruz de Tenerife in 1900, and its newspaper, El Obrero, circulated autonomist ideas. The People’s Autonomist Party was established in 1901, linking workers’ political participation to criticism of electoral fraud and the parties of the Restoration. After its electoral defeat, some members transferred the campaign to the pages of ¡Vacaguaré![3].
These currents did not always advocate the same thing. Autonomy might mean economic and administrative decentralisation, greater decision-making power for island institutions or, in the most far-reaching proposals, separate legislative and executive bodies. Fear that autonomy would lead to independence coexisted with the opposite argument: broad self-government would reduce discontent and protect the archipelago against outside interests[3].
Against this background, the journalist Leoncio Rodríguez delivered a lecture entitled El Regionalismo Canario. Bosquejo histórico-social at the Ateneo de La Laguna in July 1906. He presented regionalism as a response to bureaucratic centralisation, clientelist rule and the weakness of public life. In the pages of El Progreso, the cause was described as compatible with different ideologies and initially focused on administrative and economic autonomy[1].
The newspaper then organised a survey of political and cultural figures. Their answers appeared between 23 July and 8 September 1906. Twenty-eight participants responded to a central question: what they thought of regionalism and whether economic and administrative autonomy should be requested. A large majority were in favour, but their different understandings of the meaning and limits of both concepts make it impossible to speak of a common programme[1].
The survey did not create Canarian regionalism. It made visible a debate already running through the economy, territorial representation, the press and social mobilisation. Its documentary value lies precisely in revealing a temporary convergence of different interests. At the beginning of the twentieth century, the word regionalism provided a way to formulate shared problems, but not yet a single answer to how the Canary Islands should be governed.