Guanches

The Guanches were the indigenous inhabitants of the Canary Islands, located in the Atlantic Ocean some to the west of modern Morocco and the North African coast. The islanders spoke the Guanche language, which is believed to have been related to the Berber languages of mainland North Africa; the language became extinct in the 17th century, several generations after the completion of the conquest of the Canary Islands by the Catholic Monarchs of Spain.

It is believed that the Guanches may have arrived at the archipelago some time in the first millennium BC. The Guanches were the only indigenous people known to have lived in the Macaronesian archipelago region before the arrival of Europeans. There is no accepted evidence that the other Macaronesian archipelagos (the Cape Verde Islands, Madeira and the Azores) were inhabited.

After the commencement of the Spanish conquest of the Canaries, starting in the early 15th century, many natives were killed by the Spanish or died of exposure to new pathogens during the social disruption. Elements of their original culture survive within Canarian customs and traditions, such as Silbo (the whistled language of La Gomera Island), as well as some lexicon of Canarian Spanish. Some scholars have classified the destruction of the Guanche people and culture as an example of colonial genocide.

Though etymologically an ancient, Tenerife-specific term, the word Guanche is now used mostly to refer to the pre-Hispanic Indigenous inhabitants of the entire archipelago.

Historical background

thumb|Guanche rock carvings in La Palma

Prehistory

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-6000 BC). There are ties between the Guanche language and the Berber languages of North Africa, particularly when comparing numeral systems.

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, including expeditions dispatched from Mogador by Juba.

Based on Roman 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 and 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. 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 endemic species, such as reptiles and mammals exhibiting insular gigantism; one example is believed to be Canariomys bravoi, the extinct giant rat of Tenerife.

Pliny the Elder, a 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. If this account is accurate, it may suggest that the Guanche were not the only inhabitants, or the first ones;

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); Genoese, Portuguese, and 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, 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. Petroglyphs attributed to other Mediterranean civilizations have also been found on some of the islands. In 1752, Domingo Vandewalle, a military governor of Las Palmas,

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.

During the 14th century, the Guanche are presumed to have had other contacts with Balearic seafarers from Spain. This is based on the Balearic artifacts found on several of the Canary Islands.

Castilian conquest

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. 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.

However, while there are recognizable Berber words (particularly with regards to agriculture) within the Guanche language, no Berber grammatical inflections have been identified; there is a large stock of vocabulary that does not bear any resemblance to Berber whatsoever.

Other strong similarities to the Berber languages are reflected in their counting system, while some authors suggest the Canarian branch would be a sister branch to the surviving continental Berber languages, splitting off during the early development of the language family and before the terminus post quem for the origin of Proto-Berber.

System of beliefs

Religion and mythology

thumb|Chieftains' batons from La Palma|224x224px

Little is known of the religion of the Guanches. There was a general belief in a supreme being, called Achamán in Tenerife, Acoran in Gran Canaria, Eraoranhan in Hierro, and Abora in La Palma. The women of El Hierro worshipped a goddess called Moneiba. According to tradition, the male and female gods lived in mountains, from which they descended to hear the prayers of the people. On other islands, the natives venerated the sun, moon, earth, and stars. A belief in an evil spirit was general. The demon of Tenerife was called Guayota and lived at the peak of Teide volcano, which was the hell called Echeyde; in the first and Tibicenas in the latter, which lived in deep caves of the mountains, emerging at night to attack livestock and human beings.

thumb|Mount Teide on Tenerife

In Tenerife, Magec (god of the Sun) and Chaxiraxi (the goddess mother) were also worshipped. In times of drought, the Guanches drove their flocks to consecrated grounds, where the lambs were separated from their mothers in the belief that their plaintive bleating would melt the heart of the Great Spirit.

thumb|Guanche idol in the [[Museo Guanche, Tenerife|254x254px]]

{| class="wikitable"

|+Principal gods of Tenerife

!God

!Role

|Achamán

|The supreme god of the Guanches on the island of Tenerife; he is the father god and creator.

|Chaxiraxi

|The native Guanche goddess known as "supporter of he who holds the world [Abreu (ca. 1590, III, 13) d. 1676: 90r]."

|Achguayaxerax/Xerax or Chijoraji

|A divine child, son of Chaxiraxi and "supporter of Heaven and Earth." [Abreu (ca. 1590, III, 13) d. 1676: 90r].

|Magec

|The god of the Sun and the light, and also thought to be one of the principal divinities.

|Achuguayo

|The "Supreme Being," according to oral tradition. [Bethencourt Alfonso (1911) 1994b: 260].

|Achuhucanac

|Rain god, identified with the supreme god (Achamán).

|Guayota

|The principal malignant deity and Achamán's adversary, who dwells inside Mount Teide.

{| class="wikitable"

|+Mythical beings

!Being

!Role

|Maxios

|Benevolent minor gods or genies; domestic spirits and guardians of specific places.

|Tibicenas

|Demons in the form of black dogs, these were children of Guayota, the malignant deity.

Aboriginal priests

The Guanches had priests or shamans who were connected with the gods and ordained hierarchically:

{| class="wikitable"

!Religious authority

!Jurisdiction

!Definition

|Guadameñe or Guañameñe

|Tenerife

|spiritual advisers to the Menceyes (Aboriginal kings), who directed the worship.

|Faykan or Faicán

|Gran Canaria

|a spiritual and religious person in charge, who directed the worship.

|Maguadas or Arimaguadas

|Tenerife

Gran Canaria

|women priestesses dedicated to worship. They took part in some rituals.

|Kankus

|Tenerife

|the priests responsible for the worship of the ancestor spirits and Maxios (minor gods or genies).

Guatimac

Festivities

Beñesmen or Beñesmer was a festival of the agricultural calendar of the Guanches (the Guanche new year) to be held after the gathering of crops devoted to Chaxiraxi (on August 15). In this event the Guanches shared milk, gofio, sheep or goat meat. At the present time, this coincides with the pilgrimage to the Basilica of the Virgin of Candelaria (Patron of Canary Islands).

Among the cultural events are significant traces of aboriginal traditions at the holidays and in the current Romería Relief in Güímar (Tenerife) and the lowering of the Rama, in Agaete (Gran Canaria).

Funerals and mummies

thumb|right|250px|[[Mummy of San Andrés, in the Museo de la Naturaleza y el Hombre (Tenerife, Canary Islands)]]

Mummification was not commonly practiced throughout the islands but was highly developed on Tenerife in particular. In Gran Canaria there is currently a debate on the true nature of the mummies of the ancient inhabitants of the island, as researchers point out that there was no real intention to mummify the deceased and that the good conservation of some of them is due rather to environmental factors. In La Palma they were preserved by these environmental factors and in La Gomera, and El Hierro the existence of mummification is not verified. In Lanzarote and Fuerteventura this practice is ruled out.

thumb|Replica of a mummy burial in the cave of Parque del Drago, Tenerife|250x250px

The Guanches embalmed their dead; many mummies have been found in an extreme state of desiccation, each weighing not more than . Two almost inaccessible caves in a vertical rock by the shore from Santa Cruz on Tenerife are said still to contain remains. The process of embalming seems to have varied. In Gran Canaria, the corpse was simply wrapped in goat or sheep skins, while in Tenerife a resinous substance was used to preserve the body, which was then placed in a cave difficult to access, or buried under a tumulus. The work of embalming was reserved for a special class, with women tending to female corpses, and men for the male ones. Embalming seems not to have been universal.

Sacrifices

Although little is known about this practice among them, it has been shown that they performed both animal sacrifices and human sacrifices.

In Tenerife during the summer solstice, the Guanches killed livestock and threw them into a fire as an offering to the gods.

Child sacrifice has been seen in other cultures, especially in the Mediterranean—Carthage (now Tunisia), Ugarit in what is now Syria, Cyprus and Crete. in others the government was elective. In Tenerife all the land belonged to the kings who leased it to their subjects. In some islands, polyandry was practised; One Guanche was also found to have ancestry related to European hunter-gatherers, providing further evidence of prehistoric gene flow from Europe. It was estimated that modern Canary Islanders derive 16–31% of their atDNA from the Guanches. Furthermore, according to the phenotype analysis, these Guanche samples were showing light and medium skin, dark hair and brown eyes.

examined remains at the Late Neolithic site of Kelif el Boroud, Morocco (c. 3780–3650 BC). The Kelif el Boroud people were modeled as being equally descended from people buried at the Neolithic sites of Ifri N'Ammar, Morocco (c. 5325–4786 BC) and the Cave of El Toro, Spain (c. 5280–4750 BC). The Kelif el Boroud were thus determined to have carried 50% EEF ancestry, which may have spread with the Cardial Ware culture from Iberia to North Africa during the Neolithic. After the Kelif el Boroud people, additional European ancestry may have been brought to the region from Iberia by people of the Bell Beaker culture. Guanches were found to the genetically very similar to the Kelif el Boroud people. In a 2020 review Fregel et al. identified European Bronze Age ancestry in the Guanches, which could be explained by "the presence of Bell-Beaker pottery in the North African archaeological record," as well as observing a certain admixture "possibly related to trans-Saharan migrations".

examined the mtDNA of 48 Guanches buried on all the islands of the Canaries. They were found to be carrying maternal lineages characteristic of North Africa, Europe and the Near East, with Eurasian lineages centered around the Mediterranean being the most common. It was suggested that some of these Eurasian haplogroups had arrived in the region through Chalcolithic and Bronze Age migrations from Europe. Genetic diversity was found to be the highest at Gran Canaria, Tenerife, and La Palma, while Lanzarote, Fuerteventura and particularly La Gomera and El Hierro had low diversity. Significant genetic differences were detected between Guanches of western and eastern islands, which supported the notion that Guanches were descended from two distinct migration waves. It was considered significant that 40% of all examined Guanches so far belonged to the maternal haplogroup H.

thumb|Spatial frequency distribution (%) of haplogroup H1 in western Eurasia and North Africa

Serrano et al. 2023 analysed genome-wide data from 49 Guanche individuals, whose ancestry was modelled as comprising 73.3% Morocco Late Neolithic, 6.9% Morocco Early Neolithic, 13.4% Germany Bell Beaker and 6.4% Mota, on average, with Germany Bell Beaker ancestry reaching 16.2% and 17.9% in samples from Gran Canaria and Lanzarote respectively. The mtDNA results indicated some heterogeneity, as many islands had a greater affinity with populations from Europe, while others were more akin to ancient individuals from prehistoric North Africa. Overall, they formed a cluster with Late Neolithic Moroccans and contemporary North Africans, these observations said to be consistent with other studies.|| 57% ||43% || 0

| Canary Islands|| 50.2% ||43.2% || 6.6%

| Gran Canaria|| 55% || 45% || 0

Autosomal DNA

A 2018 study of 400 adult men and women of all the islands, except La Graciosa, examined the relationship of Canarian genetic diversity with the more prevalent complex diseases in the archipelago. It detected that Canarian DNA shows distinctive genetics, resulting from variables such as the geographical isolation of the islands, environmental adaptations and the historical mixture of Pre-Hispanic population of the archipelago (coming from North Africa), with European and Sub-Saharan individuals. Specifically, the study estimated that the Canarian population, at an autosomal level, is 80% European, 17% North-African and 3% Sub-Saharan.

The table below shows the genomic proportions of North African and Sub-Saharan African ancestry by island.

{| class="wikitable"

! !! colspan="3" | North African !! colspan="3" | Sub-Saharan African

| || Minimum|| Average|| Maximum|| Minimum|| Average|| Maximum

| Fuerteventura|| 0.218 || 0.255 || 0.296 || 0.011 || 0.027 || 0.046

| Lanzarote|| 0.214 || 0.254 || 0.296 || 0.014 || 0.032 || 0.057

| Gran Canaria|| 0.155 || 0.200 || 0.264 || 0.005 || 0.032 || 0.082

| Tenerife|| 0.149 || 0.208 || 0.255 || 0.002 || 0.015 || 0.057

| La Gomera|| 0.160 || 0.221 || 0.289 || 0.013 || 0.048 || 0.092

| La Palma|| 0.170 || 0.200 || 0.245 || 0.000 || 0.013 || 0.032

| El Hierro|| 0.192 || 0.246 || 0.299 || 0.005 || 0.020 || 0.032

Archeological sites

The main and most significant archaeological sites on each island are:

Lanzarote: Zonzamas
Fuerteventura: Montaña de Tindaya
Gran Canaria: Painted Cave of Gáldar
Tenerife: Masca's solar station
La Gomera: Fortress of Chipude
La Palma: Cave of Belmaco
El Hierro: Archaeological zone of El Julan

Museums

250px|thumb|[[Zanata Stone]]

Many of the islands' museums possess collections of archaeological material and human remains from the prehistory and history of the archipelago of the Canaries. Some of the most important are:

Museo de la Naturaleza y el Hombre (Santa Cruz de Tenerife).
Museo Canario (Las Palmas de Gran Canaria).
Museum of History and Anthropology of Tenerife (Casa Lercaro, San Cristóbal de La Laguna, Tenerife).
Archaeological Museum of Puerto de la Cruz (Puerto de la Cruz, Tenerife).

New religious movement

In 2001, the Church of the Guanche People (Iglesia del Pueblo Guanche), a Neopagan movement with several hundred followers, was founded in San Cristóbal de La Laguna (Tenerife).

Notable people

Beneharo, mencey () of Taoro on the island of Tenerife
Bencomo, penultimate mencey of Taoro
Tinguaro, sigoñe () of Tenerife and half-brother of Bencomo
Dácil, princess and daughter of Bencomo. She is known as the Pocahontas of the Canary Islands; she was presented to the King of Spain with her father and was married to the first Spanish settler.
Tanausu, ruler of Aceró on the island of Benahoare
Fernando Guanarteme (born Tenesor Semidan), king who aided Spanish conquest
Maninidra, brother of Guanarteme
Acaimo, mencey of Tacoronte on Tenerife
Abenchara, queen of Gran Canaria
Francisca de Gazmira, mediator between the indigenous peoples and the Crown of Castile and defender of indigenous rights

Historical background

Prehistory

Castilian conquest

System of beliefs

Religion and mythology

Aboriginal priests

Guatimac

Festivities

Funerals and mummies

Sacrifices

Autosomal DNA

Archeological sites

Museums

New religious movement

Notable people

See also

References

Bibliography and further reading

External links