The area on which now stands the city and the municipality of Santa Cruz de Tenerife has been the subject of human occupation since the time of the Guanches, approximately 2000 years ago, as attested by the archaeological sites found. The area was known to theGuanches, the first inhabitants of the island, as Añazo. Later, it became one of the most important ports of the Atlantic and the Canary Islands, a status it retains to this day. This former fishermen's village rose to prominence after a Volcano destroyed the port of Garachicoin the 18th century. Santa Cruz became the major port on the Island. It first won its independence from La Laguna and, in the 19th century, was awarded the status of Capital of the Canary Islands province by King Ferdinand VII.
Between 1833 and 1927 Santa Cruz de Tenerife was the sole capital of the Canary Islands. In 1927 a Royal decree ordered that the status of capital city of the Canary Islands would be shared with Las Palmas in Gran Canaria. This arrangement remains in place today.
In recent years, it has become clear that there exists a de facto union with neighbouring citySan Cristóbal de La Laguna (141,627 inhabitants as in 2005 census) due to the rapid population growth and reduction in undeveloped space space between the cities, as their suburbs merged, forming a metropolitan area with 420,198 inhabitants (including the nearby municipalities of Tegueste, Candelaria and El Rosario). Regarding this situation, the mayor of Santa Cruz, Miguel Zerolo Aguilar and his La Laguna counterpart, Ana María Oramas Moro, both belonging to the Canarian Coalition, stated several times to local media that they shared a willingness to proceed to a full political union between their municipalities, even though the decision was postponed to a date after the local elections in 2007. As of 2012 the merger is no longer part of the political agenda
