Puerto del Rosario

According to several authors, the original village of Puerto de Cabras was established towards the end of the eighteenth century and developed in parallel with the growth of maritime traffic in the port.
In 1812 the Cortes of Cadiz began a series of changes which included the creation of new municipalities, with one in each parish of Fuerteventura existing at that time. Thus arose Antigua Betancuria, Casillas del Angel, La Oliva, Pajara, and Tetir Tuineje, being dependent on Puerto de Cabras Tetir.   Years later, on December 30^th 1834 by decree, they established the council and started to function independently on 1st February 1835 with Nieves Lazaro Rugama as first mayor.

During the year, the town was officially defined on 13^th February, 1836. Ten years later, on August 12^th 1846 the municipalities of Casillas del Angel, and Puerto de Cabras Tetir ratified the boundary.
Gradually settling into the town were the various institutions of government and they made the capital in 1860, replacing Betancuria, which has been capital of the island so far.   Between the years 1876 and 1899 there appeared a series of territorial disputes between Tetir and Puerto de Cabras, which were finally resolved in favor of Tetir. Years later, there came a new demarcation of the island’s capital and Tetir Angel Casillas became part of the municipal districts for the Census June 24th 1925 and September 21st 1926 respectively.
In 1936 Colonel Jesus Gimeno Ferrer, civil governor, by Circular 630 ordered the dissolution of the council and established a republican Management Committee comprising of Cabrera Esteban Dominguez, Luis Rodriguez de Vera, Isidro Gonzalez Diaz and Benito Herrera Cruz.

The Commission managed the town until February 6th 1949 when he took office of the new council elected by decree on September 30^th 1948.
On February 19^th 1954 the Council of Ministers adopted the Charter of the Municipal Economic Fuerteventura municipalities, allowing the consolidation of the municipal economy.

At this time, it began to question the need to rename the municipality.  The change was approved by the Cabinet on March 16^th 1956, changing its name to Puerto del Rosario, a name that remains today.   During the 1960s, many majorero migrated to other islands and the Sahara and the capital is growing slowly due to the influx of people from villages in the interior.

In 1976, after Franco’s death and the decolonization of the Sahara, the Tercio Juan de Austria of the Legion, commanded by Colonel Pallas, arrived in Puerto del Rosario, staying on the island until 1995. Being well received at first, but not by all its inhabitants, the arrival of the Legion brought on one hand, the revitalization of the economy both in the capital of the island as a whole but also the problems and conflicts of a sudden population growth.

With the transition came a loss of interest in local politics that was evident with the arrival in 1979 of Mayor Fermin Vera Moseguez after the resignation of the previous mayors. Despite the difficulties of this period, Puerto del Rosario began the democratic stage in which it is at today.  At present, various groups and individuals pose the recovery of the former name of the capital, Puerto de Cabras.