INHABITANTS: 743

According to the city’s official chronicler, Pablo P. de Jesús y Vélez-Quesada, Trasmontaña was the scene of one of the most important episodes in the fight between islanders and Castilian troops. It was the site of the battle of Arucas and the death of Chief Doramas in 1481. The original inhabitants of Arucas referred to it as behind the mountain, meaning on the opposite side or northern face. This rapidly developed into “Trasmontaña”, and this name has remained unaltered. The land was soon enriched by the arrival of two irrigation channels, one called ligera or alta, apparently built in 1505. It follows the street called Acequia Alta, in the town centre and surrounds Arucas Mountain on the south-west, The other, built by Juan de Ariñez around 1522, comes from La Hoya de San Juan.

One interesting piece of information, according to Official Chronicler Juan Zamora Sánchez, is that in the 18th century one Antonio Marrero was already growing banana trees, and selling their fruit on the local market. This area, then, can be considered to have pioneered the introduction of the crop.

One of the most important local crops was sugar cane, and there are still two sugar making plants there now. The construction of the Pinto reservoirs gave rise to the spread of banana tree growing, which required a lot of water. This was the origin of the significant hydraulic infrastructure in place today, with pools, irrigation channels and water distribution boxes.

St. Patrick is the district’s patron saint, and the first stone of St. Patrick’s Church was laid in 1960.

The district’s cultural activities have been boosted by the St. Patrick’s Residents’ Association, created in 1979.