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| Early Inhabitants | |
| The Guanches | |
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It is difficult to gain much firm information about the earliest inhabitants of the Canary Islands and there is some doubt about their origins. Some sources suggest that they may have come from the south of Spain whilst others suggest that they came from North Africa. The early inhabitants certainly had some resemblance to the darker skinned peoples of North Africa.
The inhabitants of the islands were known, collectively, as Guanches. The inhabitants of all seven Canary Islands spoke a similar language, but with slight variations. We are told that they had a highly developed political and social structure. One unusual, but intriguing, development in communication has been on the island of Gomera. Here, the mountains are so steep and the valleys so deep that the people of the island developed the habit of whistling to each other across the ravines. By this means they were able to 'talk' to each other. I was once priviledged to witness this 'talking' in action and was most impressed. The whistling 'language' has lived on, but with all the modern innovations, is now likely to die out.
Visit this website to gain a better insight into the way of life of the Guanches. | |
| The Island Is Discovered | |
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More became known about the island of Lanzarote and it's inhabitants as various explorers 'discovered' it. One of the first to arrive - in the 1300's - was an Italian seafarer by the name of Lancelloto Malocello. It is possible that the island's name of Lanzarote is derived from Malocello's first name. Then it was the turn of the Spanish - or, rather, a Frenchman acting on behalf of the Spanish king. Jean de Béthencourt (a nobleman from Normandy), acting for Enrique III of Castille, brought the island under Spanish rule during the first years of the fifteenth century. In his southward venture, Lanzarote was the first of the Canary Islands which he came upon.
After Lanzarote, Jean de Béthencourt later went on to subdue Fuerteventura and El Hierro. He brought settlers out from Spain, who coexisted peacefully with the Guanches. The whole conquest took only four years. Bethencourt acquired the title 'Lord of the Islands'. Following his conquest of the islands, he returned to France and was succeeded by his nephew, Maciót. Whereas Béthencourt had ruled peacefully, his nephew, Maciot, did not. Maciót traded in slaves and exploited his newly acquired land. The king of Spain, hearing of his deeds, had him removed from the island and exiled to Madeira. Maciót's scheming was still not over, however. One of his subsequent acts was to offer to sell the 'rights' to the Canary Islands to Portugal. As a consequence, a dispute ensued between Spain and Portugal which was only settled by the intervention of the Pope. After Maciót had been deposed, a series of feudal lords controlled the island. | |
| The Arrival of The Pirates | |
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A period of relative peace followed. That is - until the appearance of pirates and corsairs from the nearby North African coast.
The island was then subjected to repeated attacks and was fought over for nearly four centuries.
Great bloodshed and ruin was caused. Many inhabitants were carried off to be sold as slaves. Many of those inhabitants who were not murdered or carried off were forced to take refuge in the Cueva de los Verdes in the North.
Pirates of other nations also abounded in Canarian waters. These included Jean Florin and 'Peg Leg' LeClerc from France, together with Sir John Hawkins, John Poole and Sir Walter Raleigh from Britain. In the middle of the seventeenth century Lanzarote's population was reduced to a few hundred inhabitants. At this distance in time, and living the comparatively comfortable lives which most of us now do, it is difficult for us to imagine what their lives must have been like. Quite apart from working hard to win the means to survive, they were at times reduced to living in caves to avoid being murdered or carried off to be sold into slavery. It is hardly surprising that many of Lanzarote's inhabitants emigrated to other islands of the archipelago and to South America. There is a museum at the Castillo de Guanapay dedicated to displaying souvenirs and other records of the lives of those emigrants. |
