The Castilian conquest of The Canary Islands

We have spoken a bit about The Guanches, however to know a little more history it is necessary to speak about the conquest  of the islands. 

The islands had previously been visited by the Greeks and Romans, visits that were interrupted by the fall of the Roman Empire. During the Middle Age, the islands were not  isolated. After Lanceloteo Maloce that stayed in 1312, there were more news about the islands. (Lanceloteo stayed in Lanzarote, and the name of the island is due to him).    

Initially  Aragonese, Castilian, Portuguese and  Genoeses competed for control the island, finally the dispute was between Castilian and Genoeses. 

This conquest was conceived as a company, which did not come out very profitable due to greater resistance that had The Guanches, knowledgeable about the islands, and the Castilians were not adapted to a place with so much elevation, as the case of the western islands .

The first islands in being conquered were Lanzarote, Fuerteventura, El Hierro and La Gomera. They called Islas de Señorio (like gentleman´s islands)  due to the fact that they were conquered by the nobility, without any contribution of the Crown and for own benefit.  The conquest of Lanzarote, Fuerteventura and El Hierro is known as Betancuria's conquest or Norman conquest,islands conquered by Jean de Bethencourt and Gadifer de la Salle. La Gomera was conquered by the Castilian nobility.

Ancient inhabitants of the islands. 

Gran Canaria, La Palma and Tenerife were conquered directly by the Crown, Los Reyes Católicos (The Catholic´s Kings) who provided everything for the conquest. The conquest lasted almost one hundred years, exactly from 1402 to 1496. 

During the first conquests, several trips were realized describing to the other islands, to see the people who live there, the orography of every island, and the place where they could anchor. 

Tenerife was the last island of being conquered, as Realengo island,  was conquered by Alonso Fernandez de Lugo, who chose the island of Tenerife to be established and as payment for the conquest.

The two sides were formed by The Guanches during the conquest of Tenerife. On the one hand, it was the peace side (bando de paz) that was formed by  the Menceyato de Güimar, Adeje, Abona and Anaga, coinciding with the south of the island. This side was in the Castilians favored, hurled their help. On the other hand, the war side (bando de guerra) was composed by  Tegueste, Tacoronte, Taoro, Icode and Daute, who offered their friendship, but they rejected the acceptance of the Christianity and submission to the authority of the Reyes Católicos. This reject unleashed the battle. 

Apart from the Castilians, also there were Canary. They were recruited after the conquest of Gran Canaria to become part of the Spanish troops. 

The first battle was realized in Acentejo's ravine, belonging it these days to the municipality of La Mantaza de Acentejo, where The Guanches won the battle and Castilians lost much of the troop (the name of the municipality, Matanza de Acentejo (Killing of Acentejo) is due to this battle. The main objective of The Castilians were going to Taoro, for that reason The Guanches waited in that ravine. Fernandez de Lugo was saved and returned to Gran Canaria to prepare a new assault and to obtain more financial resources. The Guanches destroyed the fort that these had constructed when they arrived on the island.

To be back on the island, they reconstructed the fort and there took place Aguere's battle, where the Mencey Bencomo died, the strongest  person of the resistance. The mistake was presenting battle in a flat zone, where the Castilians had the advantage.

Battle

After this fact, an epidemic decimated The Guanches, it was known as La Gran Modorra (the Great drowsy). The majority of the population was left weak due to this epidemic. This fact could have affected the resistance.  

The Castillians continued entering towards the north, Taoro's direction again. This time The Guanches were waiting in a ravine near the current municipality of  La Victoria de Acentejo (Acentejo´s Victory), just a few meters of the Ravine of La Matanza. In this occasion the Castilians won,battle known as La Victoria de Acentejo (Acentejo's Victory, reason why the municipality  is named), being able to facilitate the access to Taoro's Valley.(nowadays, this place is El Valle de la Orotava)

The Menceyes gave up fighting, not having another option, neither they chose the death or the surrender. Some of them chose to die, as Bentor,  Bencomo´s son, which  threw  down La Ladera de Tigaiga (Tigaiga's hillsides). To remember this event there is a statue at the entry of the village Icod del Alto, in the municipality of Los Realejos, Valle de la Orotava.

The Menceyes were baptized and  was not heard from them. Some population was taken as slaves, and others lived on the island. 

Inhabitans of the islands.

When the conquest finished, the land was given out. Alonso Fernandez de Lugo had the majority of them, and the rest was distributed according to the help contributed in the conquest. Colons were coming during these centuries, like example  Portuguese, Castilians, Genoeses, etc, due to the need of populate of the islands. They were given a piece of  land , having to live and work in their whole life.

La Laguna was the  first city in being born, which supported the capital of the island and for three centuries it was La Capitania General de Canarias (General Captaincy of the Canary Island) too. Until  1833 Santa Cruz  was named as the capital of the island, granting both titles. In 1927 the capital of the islands is shared, being born the two provinces. 

The conquest

*The photos were taken at Naturaleza y el Hombre museum (nature and man´s museum). 

The Guanches

We have named the ancient inhabitants of the island, for that reason we dedicate that gap for them. At present, it is possible to visit the places where they lived, the tools that they used and see the mummies.

Before the conquest, a group of people whose name is Guanches (the name refers to this population) lived on the island. It is not sure how they came, due to the fact that they did not to navigate and they did not maintain contact between the islands when the conquerors came. What is known is that they came from northern Africa, exactly they belongs to the Bereber (Berber) population. There exist many theories to explain how they came to the islands. First, the Romans left them on the islands owning the fact that they were a group of rebels. Second, they came here fleeing a tragedy. Third, due to deserfication of the Sahara, etc.   

Tool

Although it is unclear how they came, what is certain is that the first population was established on the 5th  B.C, though it was found discoveries of the 10th century B.C. these inhabitant established in each of the seven islands, nevertheless they did not have communication between them, or so it is believed. The language changed in every island, as they adapted to the environment. Along the centuries, these inabitahts received new ones, seeing clearly in the new tools and the evolution of the language. Though it was a basically spoken language, it has been found some writing finding. 

Gran Canaria is the only island that possesses painting of the pre-Hispanics (or Aborigine, though this word is used for the first inhabitants of Australia, it has been internationalized for all those cultures that were not majority in the place where they lived and gave way to a new one, by assimilation or another process). As we have mentioned, Gran Canaria possesses paintings, exactly La Cueva Pintada de Galdar (Galdar´s cave) which can be visited. The other islands have cave painting. 

The inhabitants of each island have a typical name, nevertheless Guanche has spread to all, though this name belongs to Tenerife.

All these inhabitants had contact with exterior population, often they were captived and taken as slaves to other places. For that reason, during the conquest, Castilians and the inhabitants could speak owning the fact that they have some slaves who worked as a translator.  Lanzarote; Fuerteventura, El Hierro and La Gomera where the first island to be conquered. These islands were called Islas de Señorio, because they were conquered by  by gentlemen. Whereas Gran Canaria, la Palma and Tenerife were conquered with the intervention of La Corona de Castilla ( the Crown of Castile) and them were called Realengo (is a word refers to royalty)

Tenerife was the last one to be conquered, finishing due to the surrender of the Menceyes (Tenerife´s kings), they had not got any way out. The conquest finished at 1496,  which began in 1402. After this moment, the land was divided between all those who helped economically or took part in the company of the conquest. But not only the Castilians resided, but also Portuguese, Frenchmen, Andalusians, Aragonese, etc.

When the conquerors arrived to the island, in the 15th century, the island was divided into nine menceyatos (kingdoms) and each place has a Mencey. This was due to the fact that  Tinerfe (the last king of the whole island)  had nine children and to his death they divided the island between nine. Being this division and the Mencey of each one:

There are actual municipalities which belong to more than one Menceyato, but we have made this divsion.

This population was ruled according to the Mencey, and then the population was divided by social class. The Mencey  had most of the land and livestock. The clothes also were used according to the social class, and the time of the year. When the conquerors came, the population was living in the neolithic period. They worked farming and looking after the cattle, being goats the majority animals, the clothes were realized with its skins, although when they arrived on the islands, they bring sheep, porks and dogs.

As in the rest of the world, men and women had different roles, being the men responsible for livestock, land preparation, comprise the army, make utensils etc. The women had an important role because they were the ones who ensured the transition of real power, no decision was taken without them, were responsible for planting as a symbol of fertility, etc. Although there were different tasks according to gender, there were tasks performed both sexes, such as pottery.

They had several rituals which were released between a natural symbol like dragon tree, the Teide to rain, although these rituals were lost after the conquest. They had several gods and demons. one of them was Guayota (the demon) which lived inside The Teide. One day he decided to kidnap Magec (sun god) and took within the earth. The Guanches prayed that Achaman (a superior god) rescued Magec from that place. Achaman defeated Guayota and looked up him blocked the crater. 

The rules of the society were established at a meeting concerning the Tagoror (a circular place of stones near to the settlement). These desicions were taken out by elderly people and leaders. Nowadays, there are few or almost none.  

One of the important aspects of the society, was the mummification which were practised by few cultures. Tenerife is the island which it has been found more mummies. The mumification was practised as the Egyptians, and it was realized by a specific person, people who devoted their entire lives to this job. It is believed that it is a tradition brought from Africa, since the Berberber were in touch with the Egyptians and he would adopt it to their way of life. This tradition was  not extended to everyone, only for those persons who were important.

Mummies

To make it,  they were paying particular attention drying the body and then embalming it in one or several cups of skin (from an animal). Several plants were used to dry the body and it is kept. The mummies were buried in caves, which were destined for them, and were buried with some apparels used in life too. Many caves have been plundered during the last centuries, because of this fact we find Canary mummies in different parts of the world, either they were a present or just they were stolen. 

In  relation to the caves,  they were used as houses too. Though in Lanzarote, Gran Canaria and even south of Tenerife , there are samples of some settlements made of rocks.

Nowadays, we can see in different museums the utensils that were used, vessels, necklaces, images of divinities, mummies, etc. Though Tenerife does not have any archaeological park, as it has Gran Canaria and La Palma, there are different zones  in the islands with archaeological protection where it was found diverse discoveries. Also museums of the island are the best source of knowledge, since in them there exists great collection.

Settlement

*The photos were taken at Naturaleza y El Hombre Museum (Nature and Man Museum), in Santa Cruz.