• The ancient Greeks already knew The Canary Islands. The original inhabitants of Tenerife were called Guanches. No one knows for sure where the first settlers came from or when they came. Modern archaeological findings suggest they came across the Atlantic from North Africa about 200 B.C. However, early navigators report Canarians as having been tall, blond-haired, blue-eyed people, perhaps of a northern European origin. There is also a romantic view that the highest peaks of Tenerife are the remains of the lost continent of Atlantis, which was the Greek philosopher Plato first wrote about.
   

• Before the arrival of the Spanish, the island was divided into nine tribal kingdoms, the names of which are still in use in modern Tenerife - Abona, Adeje, Anaga, Daute, Icod, G�imar, Tacoronte, Taoro and Tegueste.
   

• By the time Spanish forces began their conquest of the Canaries in 1402, Tenerife had already become an important trading centre due to its inter-continental location. The island's population was then around 30 000.
   

• The Spanish conquered Tenerife in 1495 by Alonso Fernandez de Lugo, who founded the town of La Laguna as his capital. La Laguna is therefore the oldest town in the Canaries and remained the capital until 1723. It was built inland, away from the robbing pirates. Tenerife began developing quickly as the major commercial trading link between Europe, Africa and the new world - America. This attracted also the unwelcome pirates, and also whole nations such as Britain. The most famous victory of the islanders was the defeat of Nelson at Santa Cruz in 1797.
   

• In the 19th century Spain was politically weak and in 1812 political and administrative power for the whole of the Canary Islands was given to Santa Cruz in Tenerife. In 1927 the Canaries were divided into two provinces, east and west. Santa Cruz remained the capital of the western province of Tenerife, La Palma, La Gomera and El Hierro, while the control of Gran Canaria, Lanzarote and Fuerteventura was given to the city of Las Palmas (Gran Canaria).
   

• Tenerife had strong economic links to the American continent and in 1920s and 1930s many of the islanders moved to America, especially to Venezuela, to find a better living there. It is said that today there are 4 million people of Tenerifean origin in Venezuela!
   

• The Spanish Civil War in 1930s was a difficult time for Tenerife. The Civil War actually started from Tenerife where Franco had been moved from Spain. So Tenerife was the first to suffer mass executions of writers, trade unionists, socialists and anyone who Franco considered a threat. On the one hand, Franco did bring new wealth to Spain and to the Canaries, but today not very many people of Tenerife think well of Franco's time.

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  Mysterious Guanche  
  The natives of Tenerife were called Guanches. They were cave men and they embalmed the dead in caves. From the mummies that have been found it can be assumed that they were of the northwest African origin. A few years ago a stone was found. It has the symbols 'Z(a)N(a)T(a)' on it, which probably has some sort of a connection to the same name with a Berber origin. But no certain answer has been found yet.
  
  The pictures on this page are from the walls of Cabildo Insular, the Tenerife Government in Sta Cruz. They tell of the Guanche and were painted in the 1960s.
   
  

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  There are only theories and speculations how the Guanches even arrived to the islands for the first time. The natives did not have any knowledge of boats or ocean travel, nor had they any familiarity with metal-working (there are no natural metal resources on the island). Stone was the main tool they had to work with and in this sense the island was living in the Stone Age at the end of the 15th century. They had no connection with the very near island of La Gomera. Another mystery is why the Guanches did not make any evolution in time despite the many visits from the Phoenicians, Carthaginians and Romans.  
  

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  What is left of the Guanches  
  There are only few things left in the Museums. Some of the things that come from the Guanches today are: The 'Gofio' which is flour made of toasted grains (earlier from barley, today from wheat and corn), Wrestling (see traditions), and Stickfighting among other sport traditions. The ceramic items were made without a ceramic wheel. 500 years ago the Spanish conqueror Alonso Fern�ndez de Lugo arrived at the bay of A�aza (today the harbour of Santa Cruz). The royal house had ordered him to conquer Tenerife. But the Guanches were very brave and fought back.

• Bencomo, the king of Raoro (today La Orotava) the mightiest of all nine kings, gathered all his warriors and lured the Spanish to the Bay of Acentejo. 2 000 soldiers of the Spanish crown fell and 'de Lugo' was seriously injured.

• This happened on the 31st of May in 1494. Since then the town of the massacre is called La Matanza (the slaughter). Today there is a huge stone wall painting by the motorway with a Guanche blowing the victory signal through a horn in the place of the massacre. One and a half years later, on the 25th of December in 1495 and after the serious plague which weakened the Guanches the Spanish crown finally conquered Tenerife.

• For a long time the extermination of a nation and all its culture was held in secret. Under the rule of General Franco it was even forbidden to talk about it. After Franco everything has changed and now even Guanche names are being registered on streets. Families with the surname 'Oramas' are proud again of their name and tell about their ancestor Juan Oramas a grandson of the King Doramas de Guanarteme who was killed in Gran Canaria.
  
  In Candelaria, the memory of the last nine Kings was kept alive by lava statues on the beach in front of the Bas�lica. Time and especially the erosion corroded and destroyed partially these statues. A few years ago the native artist Jos� Abad from La Laguna made 7 bronze statues with royal and other symbolic objects.

• After the victory over the Guanches, de Lugo built the Metropolis of San Cristobal de La Laguna in 1496 by a lake about seven kilometres away from the bay of A�aza. In 1723 the capital changed to the harbour city of Santa Cruz. This colonialist city from the late Middle ages became later the University and Bishop's city. La Laguna was the first Spanish city without city walls. The events of the Guanche Era had long been forgotten but last year the Museum of History of Tenerife was opened.
  

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