The island of La Gomera is reinventing itself to publicise its archaeological heritage.

La Gomera is included in the European Charter for Sustainable Tourism, a hallmark of protected species and is the only Canary island with this classification. One of the reasons its archaeological treasures have survived is its relative inaccessibility.

The island wants to make more of its archaeological appeal, particularly underwater phenomena. A conference was recently held on La Gomera which involved experts from the Azores, Madeira and the Canaries. It covered both land and underwater archaeology.

The three areas agreed they had much in common, such as landscape, names, features, architecture, speech etc. and could learn a lot from each other for the promotion of tourism and the economy. In the Azores, for example, underwater archaeological studies have produced some 800 records dating back to the 16th and 17th centuries.

One company has started archaeological investigations on Gran Canaria and may now be interested in extending this to Gomera.

An outcome of the seminar was an agreement to ask the Government of the Canary Islands to begin an inventory in the archipelago and to discuss the steps necessary to preserve its underwater archaeological heritage.