The little known 'Spanish Greenwich' that marked the prime meridian before London

The little known 'Spanish Greenwich' that marked the prime meridian before London

At the far western edge of the island of El Hierro, in the Canary Islands, stands a modest monument defying the wind. On a lava field melding into the Atlantic Ocean and surrounded by an eerie silence, the memory of a glorious past remains. Once upon a time and before the establishment of Greenwich Mean Time, this remote spot was the reference point for global cartography. When El Hierro marked the prime meridian Monument that marks the prime me…