The history of the County of Vega Grande de Guadalupe, which began in 1777, is a unique case of nobility directly linked to capital, real estate strategy, and the projection of a global brand. Far from being mere landowners, this family saga acted as a catalyst for modernity and tourism in Gran Canaria, projecting an impact that extends from the first illustrated travel guides to the creation of the first major tourist city on the Atlantic coast: Maspalomas Costa Canaria.
The family's tourism legacy predates the charter era. The lineage demonstrated a profound awareness of the territory's intrinsic value for international projection. As early as the 18th century, Pedro Agustín del Castillo y Ruiz de Vergara (author from 1669-1741), though without the title of Count, produced the "Historical and Geographical Description of the Canary Islands" (1735), a seminal work with valuable maps and plans. This manuscript, intended for the colonial and military elites, can be considered the first "tourist guide" to the islands, laying the foundations of geographical knowledge that brought the Canary Islands out of the myth of the Fortunate Isles and onto the radar of the European Renaissance.
This cosmopolitan vision was reinforced by members of the family linked to the enlightened Royal Economic Society of Friends of the Country (1777), as well as adventurous figures like José de Viera y Clavijo, who led the first balloon flights in Spain. The family also demonstrated an early cultural sensibility, notably Leonor del Castillo, who, at the beginning of the 19th century, introduced the tradition of flower carpets to Las Palmas, a tradition that is now an essential tourist attraction in La Orotava.
At the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries, the Casa Condal aligned itself with the emerging civil society of Gran Canaria, key to the transition from an agrarian to a tourism-based economy. Count Fernando del Castillo Westerling (1828-1901) was a shareholder in the company that created the Hotel Santa Catalina and the first golf club in Spain (1891). These institutions were not merely leisure facilities; they were the necessary infrastructure to attract health tourism and high-spending travelers from Northern Europe.
However, the definitive milestone of its global impact occurred in the mid-20th century. Echoing the cry of Néstor Martín-Fernández de la Torre —to conceive projects "on a grand scale, with an eye to the future"— the counts took on the challenge of Maspalomas.
Count Alejandro del Castillo y del Castillo (1892-1977), along with his nephew and ninth count, Alejandro del Castillo y Bravo de Laguna (1928-), rejected the idea of converting their vast unproductive lands into mere hotels or zoos. Their response was an International Ideas Competition (1961) for Maspalomas Costa Canaria.
The resulting project was a feat of economic and logistical engineering. The Condal family not only developed the area but also had to create the city's ecosystem from scratch: they built the Soria Dam, the water distribution network, the Maspalomas Electric Power Plant (Elmasa), and the roads, given the lack of adequate public services. They promoted the first ecumenical temple in Spain, the Hotel Oasis Maspalomas (an architectural landmark), the flying club, and the country's first theme park (Sioux City). They opted for the apartment model, which allowed numerous small island investors to finance their projects with tourist income, ensuring that the benefits of tourism reached a large number of islanders.
In a decade, the impact was "extraordinary": Maspalomas went from 58.000 tourists to more than 900.000 annually in 1974, surpassing the capital. By donating land for the NASA space station, the family also injected symbolic and technological capital, boosting the Gran Canaria brand. The Condado family, honoring their motto "Always extol life. Honor it if it is not forgotten," demonstrated that land ownership, when combined with business acumen and urban planning audacity, can be the most powerful engine for transforming an island economy.
