The Spanish Conquest (1402–1496)
The conquest of the Canaries was an almost century-long process — and far less straightforward than the Spaniards had expected. It began in 1402 when the Norman nobleman Jean de Béthencourt subdued the eastern islands Lanzarote, Fuerteventura, and El Hierro on behalf of the Castilian crown. The sparsely populated, flat islands offered little resistance.
The western islands were a completely different story. Gran Canaria resisted for over 80 years: Several Spanish expeditions failed miserably against the resilient Canarians and the challenging terrain. It wasn't until 1478 that Juan Rejón began a systematic conquest that lasted five bloody years. The last Guanarteme of Gáldar, Tenesor Semidán, became an ally of the Spaniards after his baptism (as Fernando Guanarteme) — an act that remains controversial to this day.
Tenerife was the last island to fall. In the Battle of Acentejo (1494), the Guanches under Mencey Bencomo almost completely annihilated a Spanish army — the worst defeat of the conquistadors in the Canaries. It wasn't until 1496 that Alonso Fernández de Lugo achieved final subjugation. For the Guanches, the conquest was a catastrophe: Diseases (especially the plague), enslavement, and forced conversion drastically decimated the population. Yet they did not disappear without a trace — their DNA lives on in today's Canarians, and genetic studies show that up to 40–60% of the mitochondrial heritage of the Canary population traces back to the Guanches.
