a major theme in archipelago the novel spans an entire century on the island of ten a reef it's told from the perspective of three families of differing social classes from the bush was to the servants. in america because mother comes from tenerife for the right or the canary islands and like a second time. is on your side was a kind of european playground tearing the course of history for a really long time the spanish state wasn't interested in these islands simply because they had lots of better economy is just so this vacuum was filled by british belgian and german firms who played a dominant role on the islands economically as well as politically occupied you just have to talk to him back to me. is a microcosm reflecting the history of an entire continent the private and the political love and death colonialism and the franco dictatorship. covers it all