Gran Canaria

Gran Canaria (Spanish pronunciation: [ɡɾaŋ kaˈna.ɾja]; originally meaning "Great [Island] of Dogs") is the second most populous island of the Canary Islands, a Spanish archipelago, with a population of 838,397 which constitutes approximately 40% of the population of the archipelago. Located in the Atlantic Ocean about 150 kilometres (93 mi) off the northwestern coast of Africa and about 1,350 km (840 mi) from Europe.

Gran Canaria was populated by the Canarii, who may have arrived as early as 500 BC. The Canarii called the island Tamarán or Land of the Brave. After over a century of European (French, Portuguese...) incursions and attempts at conquest, the island was conquered on April 29, 1483, after a campaign that lasted five years, by the Crown of Castile, with the support of Queen Isabella I, a conquest which turned out to be an important step towards the expansion of the unified Spain.

The capital city of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria was founded on June 24, 1478, under the name "Real de Las Palmas", by Juan Rejón, head of the invading Castilian army. In 1492, Christopher Columbus anchored in the Port of Las Palmas (and spent some time on the island) on his first trip to the Americas. Las Palmas de Gran Canaria is, jointly with Santa Cruz de Tenerife, the capital of the autonomous community of the Canary Islands.

Norway

Norway (ⁱ/ˈnɔːrweɪ/ NAWR-way; Norwegian:  Norge (Bokmål) or  Noreg (Nynorsk)), officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a sovereign and unitary monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula plus the island Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard. The Antarctic Peter I Island and the sub-Antarctic Bouvet Island are dependent territories and thus not considered part of the Kingdom. Norway also lays claim to a section of Antarctica known as Queen Maud Land. Until 1814, the Kingdom included the Faroe Islands (since 1035), Greenland (1261), and Iceland (1262). It also included Shetland and Orkney until 1468.

Norway has a total area of 385,252 square kilometres (148,747 sq mi) and a population of 5,109,059 people (2014). The country shares a long eastern border with Sweden (1,619 km or 1,006 mi long). Norway is bordered by Finland and Russia to the north-east, and the Skagerrak Strait to the south, with Denmark on the other side. Norway has an extensive coastline, facing the North Atlantic Ocean and the Barents Sea.

Gran

Gran may refer to:

People

Places

Spanish language

in Spanish Gran means "Great" or "Greater", may refer to:

Other

Gran, Norway

 Gran  is a municipality in Oppland county, Norway. It is part of the traditional region of Hadeland. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Jaren. There is also a village of Gran located within the municipality.

The municipality of Gran was established on 1 January 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt). Brandbu was separated from Gran on 1 January 1897, but it was merged back into the municipality of Gran on 1 January 1962.

General information

Name

The municipality (originally the parish) is named after the old Gran farm (Old Norse: Grǫn), since the first church was built there. The name is identical with the word grǫn which means "spruce".

Coat-of-arms

The coat-of-arms is from modern times. They were granted on 11 December 1987. The coat-of-arms is red with two gold triangles stretching upwards with a bottony cross on the tip of each triangle. It is meant to represent the spires of the medieval Sister Churches which are located in the municipality. The arms were designed by Kari Ruud Flem from Jevnaker.