Santa Cruz de Tenerife is the capital and largest city of Tenerife. It's also the capital city of the Canary Islands, together with Las Palmas. Santa Cruz de Tenerife is situated at the eastern tip of the island of Tenerife, the largest of the Canary Island chain. The municipal borough covers an area of 150.56 square kilometres and it is divided into two differentiated areas: the Anaga Massif and the southern ramp formed by the lava flows that run down from the Acentejo peak to the coast. The maximum altitude in the borough is 750 metres above sea level. Over half the municipal perimeter is shoreline. Population is 223,347 (2005). Before the arrival of the Castilian conquerors, the territory where the city would be based, constituted zones of wild vegetation pertaining to the menceyato (kingdom) of Anaga, that governed the Mencey Beneharo. The pre-Hispanic history of the city is carried out by the legacy of 'guanches' (from Guan Chenech, meaning 'man from Tenerife') and several foreign expeditions which arrived at the coast. In 1494, in one of these trips, the Castilians arrived and established in Santa Cruz the camping bases for the conquest of the island, that extended until 1496, the year in which Tenerife was incorporated into Corona of Castile. From the beginning, the economic nucleus of the city centred on the port. The first wharf, constructed in 1548, was located by the beach of Añazo, but it was later destroyed in a storm. The present port corresponds with four old points of dockage in the municipal coast: the port of Horses with the creek of Blacks, the creek of Blas Diaz, the High Step and the Bufadero. The bay of Santa Cruz was appreciated by navigators due to its natural advantages, that turned it into a food supply center for the ships that sailed for the New World. At the end of the 15th century a heterogenous society began to form, composed of soldiers, native sailors, merchants and guanches. The first population establishments were located in the surroundings of the castle of San Crist..