The Indigenous people of the Canary Islands weren’t completely ‘wiped out’ by the Spaniards in the 15^th century but have in fact survived until today- but this story is not the one being told. By Barry Lord.

Alonso Fernandez de Lugo presenting the native kings of Tenerife to Ferdinand and Isabella. Image in the interior of the ''ayuntamiento'' of San Cristobal de La Laguna, Tenerife

The Canary Islands are named for the Canari, a Berber nation in the north Atlas mountains (now in Morocco) whom the Roman historian Pliny the Elder described as the original inhabitants of the islands. Pliny was right, because white people from Africa with Berber linguistic characteristics were the people whom the Spaniards discovered when they invaded the islands, beginning in 1402. The conquest took most of the century, concluding in 1496 in Tenerife, where the fighting was hardest and longest. The Spanish troops were well trained in killing, having been transferred from the killing fields of Flanders. At the end of the Canarian fighting many went on to further slaughter in the Americas — due to the currents and winds the Canaries were the usual first stop for voyages from Spain to the Americas, including the first voyage of Columbus.

The lifestyle of the guanches, as the indigenous people were called, is classified as “neolithic”, but it was a relatively advanced neolithic culture with pottery and fishing boats, agriculture and herds of pigs, goats and sheep. They were also fierce warriors, against each other as well as the Spaniards. Spanish losses are said to have been proportionately far greater than in the Indies.

For a history or archaeology museum, there are two ways to present the story of the Canaries, as one of discontinuity, or one of continuity: Continue reading →