Who lived on Lanzarote before the Spanish arrived?  Where did they come from and how did they survive?  Meet the Guanche…Lanzarote´s indigenous inhabitants.

Origins of the Guanche

The Guanche were the first known inhabitants of the Canaries.  Arriving on the archipelago some twenty-five centuries ago they colonized all seven islands. It is thought that they arrived in simple craft, carried over by the currents from Africa, as they had no great seafaring knowledge - as evidenced by the fact that they didn’t even travel between the islands once settled. 

But in reality their real origins remain something of a mystery even today.

It is possible that they were in fact fleeing an Arab invasion of their original desert homeland.  As most historians believe that they originated from Berber tribesmen – who were known to have light complexions and blonde hair  - just like the Guanche.  Before,of course, the remaining Berbers were conquered and integrated by the Arabs on the African mainland. 

Some historians believe that these light skinned complexions might even be attributable to Viking roots.  As those seafaring Scandinavians certainly explored well beyond the confines of the North Sea and bore some physical resemblance to the Guanche who settled in the Canaries.

Others contend that they were of Egyptian descent – as they would mummify the bodies of their dead.  A practice that certainly hints at North African origins.

Either way, the Guanche came to rule the roost in the Canaries for a prolonged period of time – approaching some 2,000 years. 

So just how did they survive here? 

Guanche Life on Lanzarote

The main occupation of your typical Guanche on Tite roy (as they called Lanzarote) was as a shepherd.  But they were also proficient farmers - growing cereals and ploughing the land using goat horns as a tool.

As a result, they lived much as the land dictated, using caves as shelters where possible (many cave drawings survive to this day on neighbouring islands such as La Palma) or creating basic huts from stone.  As you’d expect, there was not much furniture to speak of and their beds were made of dry palm fronds and grass – with animal skins for covers.

Pottery was an important skill and central to their existence.  They would create all manner of receptacles for eating from and adorn them with small stones for decoration.  Drinking pouches were fashioned from the stomachs of young goats and various archaeological digs have also turned up items such as basic wooden bowls.

Their cloths - or tamarcos as they were traditionally known - were made from goat or sheep skin and the women wore dresses that totally covered the body.  As exposure of female flesh was considered indecent in Guanche society.  The only exception to this rule being the face.  Which was considered to be the prime sign of beauty and which women showed off to maximum effect by pulling their hair back as far as possible. 

Guanche Society
Guanche societies seemed to run along very similar lines on each of the seven Canary Islands.  At the top of each island hierarchy sat a King – who was usually ordained by a high priest and who ruled over a number of local chieftains.

Despite these similarities in social structure the laws on each island varied enormously.
As is witnessed by differing attitudes and approaches towards crime and punishment.

On Tenerife for example, murderers had all their possessions given to the family of the victim and were then banished from the kingdom to live in exile. In Gran Canaria they would simply receive the death penalty for the same crime.

On El Hierro thieves would be punished by the removal of an eye.  With a second offence resulting in the total blindness with the removal of the other.  But on La Palma theft was, bizarrely, considered an art form and hence was left unpunished.

Woe betide the lot of Guanche criminals on Fuerteventura.  Where a zero tolerance policy to crime resulted in miscreants of all types being crushed to death beneath large rocks.

In general though, the Guanche on Lanzarote were clearly fairly gentle and law abiding peoples.  As is evidenced by the fact that they offered very little in the way of resistance to the Spanish conquerors of the island in the early 1400´s.