the canary islands are a group of islands off the coast of morocco. they are an autonomous community of spain (they make their own laws). there are seven main islands. the people who live there speak spanish. the autonomous community has two capital cities, of equal status: santa cruz de tenerife and las palmas de gran canaria. like the other islands of macaronesia, they were created by volcanoes on the bottom of the sea. those volcanoes slowly rose above the water and became islands. this process lasted many thousands of years.