Editing Guanches (section)

== Historical background ==
[[File:La Palma-gravures.jpg|thumb|Guanche rock carvings in La Palma]]

=== Prehistory ===
{{See also|Canary Islands in pre-colonial times}}
[[File:Museodelanaturalezayelhombre02.jpg|250px|thumb|Guanche pottery exhibit ([[Museo de la Naturaleza y el Hombre]], [[Tenerife]]).]]
Genetic and linguistic evidence show that North African peoples made a significant contribution to the aboriginal population of the Canaries, notably, following [[desertification]] of the [[Sahara]] (post-[[6th millennium BC|6000 BC]]). There are ties between the Guanche language and the Berber languages of North Africa, particularly when comparing [[numeral system]]s.<ref name="Bynon J. 1970, pp 64–77"/><ref name="Dalby, 1998"/> Research into the genetics of the Guanche population has led to the conclusion that they share an ancestry with Berber peoples who immigrated from [[Northwest Africa]].{{sfn|Rodríguez-Varela et al.|2017}}<ref name="Maca">{{cite journal |doi=10.1038/sj.ejhg.5201075 |title=Ancient mtDNA analysis and the origin of the Guanches |year=2003 |last1=Maca-Meyer |first1=Nicole |last2=Arnay |first2=Matilde |last3=Rando |first3=Juan Carlos |last4=Flores |first4=Carlos |last5=González |first5=Ana M. |last6=Cabrera |first6=Vicente M. |last7=Larruga |first7=José M. |journal=[[European Journal of Human Genetics]] |volume=12 |issue=2 |pages=155–62 |pmid=14508507 |doi-access=free}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Walker |first1=Lawrence R. |last2=Bellingham |first2=Peter |title=Island Environments in a Changing World |page=162 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2011 |isbn=9780521519601}}</ref>

The islands were visited by a number of other peoples and representatives of distant civilizations during recorded history; the [[Numidians]], [[Phoenicians]], and [[Carthaginians]] all knew of the islands and made frequent visits,<ref>{{cite book |last=Galindo |first=Juan de Abreu |title=The History of the Discovery and Conquest of the Canary Islands |publisher=Adamant Media Corporation |isbn=1-4021-7269-9 |page=173 |chapter=VII |date=1 January 1999}}</ref> including expeditions dispatched from [[Mogador]] by [[Juba II|Juba]].<ref>{{cite web |first=C. Michael |last=Hogan |title=Mogador: promontory fort |website=The Megalithic Portal |editor-first=Andy |editor-last=Burnham |date=2 November 2007 |url=http://www.megalithic.co.uk/article.php?sid=17926 |archive-url= |archive-date=}}</ref>

Based on Roman [[Artifact (archaeology)|artifacts]], found on and near the island of [[Lanzarote]], the Romans visited the Canary Islands during their occupation of mainland North Africa between the [[1st century|1st]] and [[4th century|4th centuries AD]]; the artifacts found show that the Romans engaged in trade with the people of the island. However, there is no evidence of them ever settling on or invading the Canaries.<ref>{{cite journal |first=Andrew L. |last=Slayman |title=Roman Trade With the Canary Islands |journal=Archeology Newsbriefs |publisher=Archaeological Institute of America |volume=50 |number=3 |date=May–June 1997 |url=http://www.archaeology.org/9705/newsbriefs/canaries.html |archive-url= |archive-date=}}</ref> [[Archaeology]] of the Canaries seems to reflect diverse levels of technology, with items differing widely from the [[Neolithic]] culture that would have been encountered by the Spanish, at the time of their conquest.

Scholars believe that the original settling by humans on the islands likely resulted in the [[extinction]] of uniquely-adapted [[Endemism|endemic]] [[species]], such as [[reptile]]s and [[mammal]]s exhibiting [[Island gigantism|insular gigantism]]; one example is believed to be ''[[Canariomys bravoi]]'', the extinct giant rat of Tenerife.

[[Pliny the Elder]], a [[Ancient Rome|Roman]] author and military officer drawing from the accounts of [[Juba II]] (ancient King of [[Mauretania]]), stated that a Mauretanian expedition to the islands, circa [[50 BC]], found the [[ruins]] of great buildings, albeit with no population to speak of.<ref>Pliny, "Natural History" [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Plin.+Nat.+6.37&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0137 Bk 6 ch 37]</ref> If this account is accurate, it may suggest that the Guanche were not the only inhabitants, or the first ones;<ref name="EB1911" /> alternatively, this could imply that the Mauretanian expedition did not explore the islands thoroughly.{{citation needed|date=October 2011}}

Tenerife, specifically the archaeological site of the [[Cave of the Guanches]] in [[Icod de los Vinos]], has provided evidence of habitation dating to the [[6th century BC]]. This is based on the analyses of [[ceramic]]s and [[pottery]] artifacts that were found inside the cave.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://turismo.opennemas.com/articulo/cultura/protohistoria-tenerife/20140816110120000286.html |title=Protohistoria de Tenerife |language=es |trans-title=Protohistory of Tenerife |website=turismo.opennemas.com |date=16 August 2014 |archive-url= |archive-date=}}</ref>

Historically, the Guanche were the first peoples of Tenerife. Their population seems to have lived in relative obscurity and isolation up until the time of Castilian conquest (ca. the [[14th century]]); [[Republic of Genoa|Genoese]], [[Portugal|Portuguese]], and [[Castilians|Castilian]] ships may have visited the archipelago earlier for trade purposes, from the second half of the [[8th century]] onward. The Spanish gradually applied the term "Guanche" to the indigenous populations of all seven Canary Islands,<ref name="EB1911" /> with those living on Tenerife being the most important or powerful.

What remains of their language, Guanche—a few expressions, vocabulary words and the proper names of ancient chieftains, still borne by certain families<ref name="EB1911" />—exhibits positive similarities with the Berber languages.<ref name="Bynon J. 1970, pp 64–77">{{cite book |last=Bynon |first=J. |chapter=The contribution of linguistics to history in the field of Berber studies. |editor-last=Dalby |editor-first=D. |title=Language and history in Africa |location=New York |publisher=Africana Publishing Corporation |date=1970 |pages=64–77}}</ref><ref name="Dalby, 1998">{{cite book |first=Andrew |last=Dalby |title=Dictionary of Languages |date=1998 |page=88 |quote=Guanche, indigenous language of the Canary Islands, is generally thought to have been a Berber language.}}</ref> The first reliable account of the Guanche language was provided by the Genoese explorer [[Nicoloso da Recco]] in 1341, with a translation of numbers used by the islanders.

According to European chroniclers, the Guanche did not possess a system of writing at the time of conquest; their potential writing system may have fallen into disuse, or aspects of it were simply overlooked by the colonists. Inscriptions, glyphs, rock paintings and carvings are all quite abundant throughout the archipelago. [[Petroglyph]]s attributed to other [[History of the Mediterranean region|Mediterranean civilizations]] have also been found on some of the islands. In [[1752]], [[Domingo Vandewalle]], a military governor of [[Las Palmas (province)|Las Palmas]],<ref name="EB1911" /> ventured to investigate the petroglyphs. Aquilino Padron, a priest at Las Palmas, catalogued inscriptions at El Julan, La Candía and La Caleta, all on [[Hierro|El Hierro]]. In [[1878]], Dr. René Verneau discovered rock carvings in the ravines of Las Balos that resembled [[History of Libya|Libyan]]<ref name="EB1911" /> or [[Numidia]]n script, dating from the time of [[Roman Empire|Roman]] occupation or earlier. In other locations, [[Tifinagh|Libyco-Berber script]] has been identified.

=== Pre-conquest exploration ===
{{Main|Canary Islands in pre-colonial times}}
[[File:AlonsoFernandezdeLugo3.JPG|thumb|upright=1.2|Guanche kings of Tenerife surrendering to [[Alonso Fernández de Lugo]]]]
The geographic accounts of [[Pliny the Elder]] and of [[Strabo]] mention the [[Fortunate Isles]] but do not report anything about their populations.

An account of the Guanche population may have been made around AD 1150 by the Arab geographer [[Muhammad al-Idrisi]] in the ''Nuzhatul Mushtaq'', a book he wrote for [[Roger II|King Roger II of Sicily]]. Al-Idrisi reports a journey in the Atlantic Ocean made by the Mugharrarin ("the adventurers"), a family of [[Al-Andalus|Andalusian]] seafarers from [[Lisbon]]. The only surviving version of this book, kept at the [[Bibliothèque Nationale de France]], and first translated by [[Pierre Amédée Jaubert]], reports that, after having reached an area of "sticky and stinking waters," the Mugharrarin moved back and first reached an uninhabited Island ([[Madeira]] or [[Hierro]]), where they found "a huge quantity of sheep, which its meat was bitter and inedible". They "continued southward" and reached another island where they were soon surrounded by barks and brought to "a village whose inhabitants were often fair haired with long and flaxen hair and the women of a rare beauty." Among the villagers, one spoke Arabic and asked them where they came from. Then the king of the village ordered them to bring villagers back to the continent. There they were surprised to be welcomed by Berbers.<ref>{{cite book |last=Idrisi |title=La première géographie de l'Occident |language=fr |trans-title=The first geography of the West |publisher=NEF |location=Paris |date=1999}}</ref>

Apart from the marvelous and fanciful content of this history, this account suggests that the Guanche had sporadic contacts with populations from the mainland. Al-Idrisi described the Guanche men as tall and of a reddish-brown complexion.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Hodgkin |first1=Thomas |title=On the Ancient Inhabitants of the Canary Islands |date=1848 |publisher=[[Journal of the Ethnological Society]] |page=173 |url=https://archive.org/download/jstor-3014084/3014084.pdf |access-date=16 May 2016}}</ref>

During the 14th century, the Guanche are presumed to have had other contacts with [[Balearic Islands|Balearic]] seafarers from Spain. This is based on the Balearic [[Artifact (archaeology)|artifacts]] found on several of the Canary Islands.{{Citation needed|date=April 2009}}

=== Castilian conquest ===
{{Main|Conquest of the Canary Islands|Kingdom of the Canary Islands}}
[[File:AlonsoFernandezdeLugo2.JPG|thumb|upright=1.2|[[Alonso Fernández de Lugo]] presenting the captured Guanche kings of Tenerife to [[Ferdinand and Isabella]]]]
The Castilian conquest of the Canary Islands began in 1402, with the expedition of [[Jean de Béthencourt]] and [[Gadifer de la Salle]] to the island of Lanzarote. Gadifer invaded Lanzarote and Fuerteventura.

The other five islands fought back. El Hierro and the ''[[Bimbache]]'' population were the next to fall, then La Gomera, Gran Canaria, La Palma and in 1496, Tenerife.

In the [[First Battle of Acentejo]] (31 May 1494), called ''La Matanza'' (the slaughter), Guanche ambushed the Castilians in a valley and killed many. Only one in five of the Castilians survived, including the leader, [[Alonso Fernandez de Lugo]].

Lugo later returned to the island with the alliance of the kings of the southern part of the island. He defeated the Guanches in the [[Battle of Aguere]]. The northern Menceyatos or provinces fell after the [[Second Battle of Acentejo]] with the defeat of the successor of [[Bencomo]], Bentor, Mencey of Taoro—what is now the Orotava Valley—in 1496.

Various scholars have used the term "genocide" to describe the conquest of the Canary Islands.<ref name="Adhikari"/><ref name="Conversi">{{cite journal |last1=Conversi |first1=Daniele |author1-link=Daniele Conversi |title=Cultural Homogenization, Ethnic Cleansing, and Genocide |journal=International Studies |date=2010 |doi=10.1093/acrefore/9780190846626.013.139 |isbn=978-0-19-084662-6 |url=https://oxfordre.com/internationalstudies/display/10.1093/acrefore/9780190846626.001.0001/acrefore-9780190846626-e-139 |access-date=13 February 2023}}</ref><ref name="Blench">{{cite journal |last1=Blench |first1=Roger |author1-link=Roger Blench |title=The peopling of the Canaries by the Berbers: new data and new hypotheses |journal=[[Études et Documents Berbères]] |date=2021 |volume=45-46 |pages=149–173}}</ref> [[Mohamed Adhikari]] argues that the Canary Islands were the scene of "Europe's first overseas settler colonial genocide," and that the mass killing and enslavement of natives, along with forced deportation, sexual violence and confiscation of land and children constituted an attempt to "destroy in whole" the Guanche people.<ref name="Adhikari"/> The tactics used in the Canary Islands in the 15th century served as a model for the Iberian colonisation of the Americas.<ref name="Adhikari"/><ref name="Conversi" />