The Cabildo de Tenerife is the governing body and capital of the Spanish island of Tenerife, the largest of the seven Canary Islands in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Africa with a population of 886,033. Tenerife comes from "tene," signifying mountain, and "ife," which means white; the "r" was added by the Spanish. The Guanches were the first known inhabitants of the Canary Islands, having migrated to the archipelago around 1000 BC or earlier. They are thought to share common origins with North African Berbers.

Tourism is the most prominent industry in the Canaries and it is one of the major tourist destinations in the World. In 2005, more than nine million tourists visited the island of Tenerife, with many coming from the UK, Germany and Spain. Although, tourism dominates the Tenerifian economy, industry and commerce contribute 40 percent of the non-tourist economy. Key industrial sectors include energy, construction and the production of crude oil. While, agriculture contributes less than 10 percent of the island's GDP, bananas are a particularly important crop, as more than 90 percent of them are produced for the international market.

In January 2008, the Sister Cities program lead a goodwill mission to Tenerife to celebrate the 15th anniversary of the Sister Cities affiliation between Cabildo of Tenerife and Miami-Dade County.

The purpose of the mission was to further strengthen government, cultural and educational ties between the two communities, and to discuss plans for future joint undertakings. Direct flights between Miami and Tenerife are now available in part, as a result of the Sister Cities mission.

Spain was Miami-Dade County's 27th trading partner in 2008. The amount of trade with Spain totaled $891,503,355, with total exports of $427,678,617 and total imports at $463,824,738. Miami-Dade has enjoyed a Sister City relationship with Tenerife since 1992.