It is well known that the Canary Islands have a volcanic origin, however it is not clear the source of such volcanism. Different theories have been proposed since the 70's, however, still today there is a controversy on the exact mechanism for the origin of the canarian volcanism. First we need an introduction of some concepts about volcanoes like, what are volcanic eruptions, why they happen, what is the magma and how is generated in the mantle. Afterwards, we will explore the geodynamic regime of the canarian geological region and how the islands and surrounding sea mounts have grown in the last millions of years. Finally we will go through each origin theory and discuss their inconsistencies.