History and Timeline of Tenerife

The Canary Islands are relatively young by geological standards, only about 30 million years or so old. The volcanoes that form the backbone of the island string rising at about the same time the Atlas mountains were formed.

Tenerife's famous volcanic mountain, Mount Tiede, is Spain's tallest peak and third tallest volcano in the world after the two in Hawaii and it is believed that Tenerife actually started out as three separate islands. During a time of great volcanic activity the old central volcano and the great mountain range melted together to form what we see today. The top of the volcano collapsing into its own crater forming Las Cañadas which is one of the largest collapsed craters in the world at 17km long.

The last stage of the major volcanic activity in Tenerife took place about 500,000 years ago. This was when the 'Pico Viejo' (old peak) erupted first followed by the higher 'Pico del Teide'.

The existence of the Canary Islands was known as far back as 427 - 347BC. Plato spoke of Atlantis, a continent that sunk beneath the sea in a great cataclysm that left only the mountain peaks above water and many think he was referring to here. The oceans surrounding the Canaries were supposedly inhabited by all kinds of monsters and giant whirlpools ready to devour any daring crews. The few Phoenicians, Greeks and Romans who reached these isles and managed to return home, told tales that surrounded the Canary Islands in a mist of legend and magic.

The Canary Islands were supposedly where the legendary Garden of Hesperydes is, where Hercules had to perform one of his 'Twelve Labours'.

The islands gained a mythic reputation passed on from one classical writer to another as this Garden of Eden earning its later nickname of the 'Fortunate Islands'.

Carbon dating has placed the earliest settlement found on Tenerife at around 200BC. Clues include ancient skulls of the original inhabitants and perhaps more conclusively the European conquerors 15^th century descriptions of a "highly beautiful, white race, tall, muscular and with a great many blondes amongst their numbers". These natives were the Guanche. Guan Chenech meant Man from Chenech which was the Guanche name for Tenerife and over time the term Guanche has come to mean all native peoples from the Canary Islands.

The natives on other islands however had their own names for Tenerife for example on La Palma the inhabitants called it Ten-er-fez or 'white mountian' after Teides snow covered peak. Ten, teno, dun, duna = mountain and er-efez = white.

In 77AD the name 'Canaries' was mentioned by Plutarque and Pline the elder and then the islands were largely forgotten from memories until the 13^th century when they were rediscovered by a Genovese fleet under Lancelot Malocello.

By the time Europeans began to look towards Tenerife as 'unconquered' and 'unowned' land Tenerife was actually divided into nine tiny fiefdoms. In Candelaria the memory of the last nine kings was kept alive by lava made statues in front of the Basilica but sadly time and tide has all but destroyed these now.

In 1341 a detailed survey was carried out by Nicolas de Recco of Genoa and in 1402 Jean de Béthencourt from Normandy occupied the islands of El Hierro, La Gomera, Fuenteventura and Lanzarote on behalf of King Henri III. Tenerife and Gran Canaria resisted occupation.

In the 1400's several papal bulls were awarded, reversed and reawarded for the rights of the Canary Islands to various people. Firstly in 1433 to Portugal and then in 1436 to the crown of Castille. In 1479 Portugal recognised the rights of the Castilians to the Canaries in return for Castilian recognition of Portuguese sovereignty over Fez and Guinea.

Between 1492 and 1502 explorer Christopher Columbus stopped four times in the Canary Islands but never in Tenerife, on his way to America. He mainly went to nearby La Gomera where rumour has it his mistress lived.

In 1494 Alonso Fernandez de Lugo arrived from the occupied Gran Canaria and landed at Añaza Beach, which is now Santa Cruz's harbour, not only with Spanish troops but with a large number of natives from Gran Canaria who had been converted to Christianity.

On May 3^rd of that year a mass was said on the beach and 'de Lugo' founded the Royal City of Santa Cruz de Tenerife (Holy Cross of Tenerife) by erecting a large wooded cross.

His first order of business was then to subdue the last bastion of resistance of the Guanches. Güimar, Anaga, Abona and Adeje (which included the mountains of Los Gigantes) submitted peacefully. There was no sense of a common kingdom among the nine Guanche fiefdoms, wars broke out frequently between the neighbouring tribes, and Taora and Raoro (La Orotava) refusing to accept the invaders allied themselves with Daute, Icod, Tacoronte and Tegueste and formulated a plan of counterattack.

When 'de Lugo' and his force pushed forward into the interior of the island, crossing the Aguare Valley and arriving at the North shore to find the area completely deserted he arrogantly believed he would not face resistance from the 'ignorant' natives and pressed on to Taoro.

On May 31^st 1494 the Spanish troops blindly walked into the ravine of Acentejo or 'pouring waters' and were attacked from the slopes. In spite of the Spaniards overwhelming advantage of cannons and blunderbusses over stones and spears and full body armour over naked skin they suffered a terrible defeat. Four out five soldiers were killed and 'de Lugo' wounded, nearly fatally bade a hasty retreat, harried all the way to the coast by the Guanche where he was forced to set sail back to Gran Canaria.

The Guanche had won for the moment and built a town on the site where the massacre occurred which to this day is called La Matenza (the slaughter) de Acentejo.

Humiliated Alonzo Fernàndez de Lugo sold all his properties in Gran Canaria in order to fund a new exhibition to Tenerife and in 1495 he landed again in Añaza where he rebuilt the destroyed fort of Santa Cruz before moving on. More cautious this time he approached gradually and took the time to build another fort on his way to the interior, the fort of Gracia or Grace.

A second terrible battle took place at the site where the University of La Laguna now stands and this time the Guanche were destroyed, their mistake, to fight on the plain where the completely unknown to them cavalry decimated them.

The Spaniards advanced into the North again and another terrible war took place once again at La Mantaza but this time, learning his lessons from the past 'de Lugo' was victorious and founded the town of 'La Victoria (the victory) de Acentejo.

The conquerors then arrived at the Arautava Valley (La Orotava) where they met the last of the hardcore Guanche resistance. But fate was to conspire against the Guanche and an epidemic the Spaniards named 'Guanche Drowsiness' broke out and decimated an already broken population, killing the Guanche by the hundreds. Historians believe it was probably a European illness that the Spaniards immune system could deal with but that the Guanches had no defence against.

In the town of Los Realejos the Guanches finally surrendered on Christmas day 1495 and Tenerife was annexed to the Crown of Castile. However, some small pockets of resistance still remained and skirmishes continued spasmodically for several years afterwards.