Tacoronte is a municipality of Tenerife, located in the north of the island. Mostly rural, the municipality stretches for 30 square kilometers from the volcanic peaks that rise in the center of the island to the Atlantic. The municipality seat, also called Tacoronte, lies 4 km from Tenerife North Airport and about 15 km west of the capital. Old manorial houses and farms are situated here, as well as vineyards that produce the wine known as Tacoronte-Acentejo.
The population is 21,986 (ISTAC, 2003), its density is 725.37/km² and the area is 30.09 km². The elevation is 800 m. Tacoronte is linked with the TF5 Motorway and the old highway linking Icod de los Vinos and the capital. Urban areas as well as fractions of farmlands are in the valley areas and within the Atlantic, urban areas covers much of the area and the mountain and the hills are to the southeast. Its climate is mainly vegetation.
Tacoronte is a toponym of Guanche origin, believed to be derived from "Tagoror," meaning "place where the Council of Elders meets." Its territory constituted an ancient menceyato, as the Guanche kingdoms were known, ruled by the mencey Acaymo. After the Spanish conquest of Tenerife, the area was settled by the Portuguese Sebastián Machado, who founded the town of Tacoronte around the hermitage of Santa Catalina that he had built. The town grew during succeeding centuries and in 1911, Alfonso XIII granted the town the status of “municipio.”
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