Tenerife, as is with the other islands, has maintained a close relationship with Latin America. From the start of the colonization of the New World, many expeditions stopped at the island on their way to the Americas and added to their crews with many Tinerfeños who formed an integral part of the conquest expeditions or simply left in search of better prospects. It is also important to note the exchange in plant and animal species that made those voyages.

After a century and a half of relative growth, based on the grape growing sector, there was an extended emigration of families especially to Venezuela and Cuba. Also by these times there was a new interest on the part of the Crown of populating those empty zones in the Americas to pre-empt the occupation by foreign forces as had happened with the English in Jamaica or the French in Guyana or Western Hispaniola; so Canary islanders including many Tinerfeños left for the New World. The cultivation of new crops of the Americas, such as cocoa in Venezuela and tobacco in Cuba, contributed to the population exodus from towns such as Buenavista del Norte, Vilaflor and El Sauzal in the late 17th century. Witness to the emigration history of the island is the foundation in the outskirts of Santo Domingo of the village of San Carlos de Tenerife in 1684. This village founded by Tinerfeños was created with the strategic purpose of protecting the town from the French, established in the Western side of Hispaniola. Between 1720 and 1730 the Crown moved 176 families, including many Tinerfeños to the Caribbean island of Puerto Rico. In 1726, about 25 island families migrated to the Americas to collaborate on the foundation of Montevideo. Four years later, in 1730, another group left which would found the following year the city of San Antonio in Texas. Later, between 1777 and 1783, the port of Santa Cruz de Tenerife sent a new group to ultimately help in the foundation of St. Bernard Parish in Louisiana and also some groups went to Florida.

Emigration to the Americas (mainly Cuba and Venezuela) continued during the 19th and early 20th century due to economic problems and isolation. In the last few decades, with newer island protectionist economic laws and the resurgence of the tourism industry, the migration flows have reversed. Today, Tenerife receives an influx of people, including the return of many descendants of the islanders, some of whom had left five centuries earlier.