The Guanches of Tenerife – Who Were They and How Did They Live?

The Guanches – Who Were Tenerife’s Ancient Inhabitants?

Before the Spanish arrived on Tenerife, the island had its own inhabitants, rulers, beliefs and way of life. The Guanches lived in caves, raised goats and sheep, mummified their dead, left symbols carved into the rocks and divided the island into nine kingdoms known as menceyatos. Their world was watched over by Achamán, while Teide – Echeyde – was associated with stories of the powerful Guayota.

But where did the Guanches actually come from? How did they reach the island when, by the time the Europeans arrived, they no longer used boats that allowed them to travel freely between the islands? What did they look like, what did they eat, what did they believe in, and why do we know so much about their dead yet still so little about some aspects of their beliefs?

And most importantly – did the Guanches really disappear after the conquest of Tenerife?

Let us get to know the people whose traces you will encounter far more often than you might expect as you explore the island.

🌊 How Did the Guanches Reach Tenerife?

To answer this question, we first need to look at a map. Tenerife lies more than 300 kilometres off the coast of Africa. Someone therefore had to sail here. The Guanches were not a population that had lived on the island “forever” – their ancestors came from North Africa, and modern DNA studies confirm their close links with ancient populations from this region, particularly the Amazigh world, formerly referred to as Berber.

When did this happen? Here, the answer is less straightforward. The dating of the earliest settlement of the Canary Islands is still the subject of research. The Museum of Nature and Archaeology (MUNA) in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, which is involved in the study and protection of the island’s archaeological heritage, points out that the settlement of the archipelago may have taken place in several stages. Modern radiocarbon dating, meanwhile, indicates that permanent settlement of the Canary Islands most likely began during the first centuries AD. A major genomic study of the archipelago’s ancient inhabitants published in 2023 suggests colonisation around the 3rd century AD.

Nor do we know why they left Africa. Various factors may have played a part: the search for new land and resources, but also changes taking place in North Africa under the influence of the Punic and Roman worlds. MUNA points to these possibilities, but none of them can currently be presented as the single, certain reason for the migration.

The most intriguing question, however, is: how did they get here?

They must have had boats or received help from people who did. Crossing the Atlantic was not something that could have happened by accident, particularly with all the equipment needed to establish a permanent settlement. The first inhabitants brought livestock, seeds and the knowledge required to begin life on the islands. One hypothesis considered by researchers even suggests that Mediterranean sailors may have been involved in the settlement of the archipelago. We do not know, however, who exactly organised these crossings or what the vessels that reached Tenerife looked like.

And this is where the story becomes truly mysterious.

When Europeans reached Tenerife many centuries later, the Guanches were no longer a seafaring society. What is more, genetic research shows that after the archipelago was settled, contact between the inhabitants of the individual islands was very limited. The populations developed largely separately, and clear genetic differences emerged between the eastern and western islands.

💡 And here lies one of the greatest mysteries of the Guanches: their ancestors had to cross the ocean to reach Tenerife, yet their descendants lost either the ability – or the need – to make such journeys.

Why? Perhaps the first settlers were brought to the islands by others and never possessed the technology needed to build large vessels themselves. Perhaps seafaring skills disappeared over successive generations. Certain resources and conditions needed to build larger boats were also lacking. For now, we have no answer that fully resolves this mystery.

But we do know the result: for many generations, Tenerife became the Guanches’ entire world. And it was within this isolation that the culture encountered by Europeans at the end of the Middle Ages began to develop.

👉 And since similar settlers also reached the other Canary Islands, another question arises: were the Majos of Lanzarote and the Guanches of Tenerife actually the same people?

🏝️ Guanches, Majos and Others – One History or Different Peoples?

The Guanches on Tenerife, the Majos on Lanzarote and Fuerteventura, the Canarios on Gran Canaria, the Benahoaritas on La Palma, the Gomeros on La Gomera and the Bimbaches on El Hierro. Each island had its own community and its own name for its inhabitants. This is why referring to all the indigenous inhabitants of the Canary Islands as “Guanches”, although very common, is not precise – the Guanches were the inhabitants of Tenerife.

Were they, then, completely different peoples? No. All these communities shared roots reaching back to North Africa. This is confirmed by archaeological finds and linguistic evidence, as well as by modern DNA studies. Their ancestors were linked to ancient Amazigh populations, formerly referred to as Berbers.

Their shared origins can also be seen in their way of life. On different islands, people raised goats and sheep, used animal skins, made pottery without a potter’s wheel, ground grain, used caves, made tools from stone and bone and left rock carvings. If you already know the story of the Majos of Lanzarote, many aspects of Guanche life may therefore seem familiar.

But the ocean gradually separated them. Genetic studies of the archipelago’s ancient inhabitants indicate that after the islands were settled, the movement of people between them was very limited. For centuries, the communities therefore developed largely independently, adapting their way of life to the conditions of each particular island. Over time, differences emerged in culture, social organisation, rituals, pottery and even in the genetic profiles of the individual populations.

When the conquest of Tenerife began at the end of the 15th century, the Guanches did not even form a single unified state. The island was divided into nine menceyatos, ruled by menceyes. On Lanzarote and Fuerteventura, society was organised differently.

💡 You could therefore say that the Majos and the Guanches were distant relatives. Their ancestors came from the same North African world, but subsequent generations grew up on different islands. The Atlantic caused their shared history to branch off along several separate paths.

And there is a certain paradox in this. Today, a ferry from Tenerife to La Gomera takes around 50 minutes. For the islands’ ancient inhabitants, a few dozen kilometres of ocean could mark the boundary between two different worlds.

👤 What Did the Guanches Look Like?

When the Guanches are depicted today, we often see tall, fair-haired people with light skin and blue eyes. This image did not come entirely from nowhere – early European writers did indeed mention people among the inhabitants of the Canary Islands who had fair skin, hair and eyes. The problem begins when this description is turned into the appearance of a typical Guanche.

The Guanches did not all look alike. Studies of human remains from Tenerife reveal a diverse population, which fits well with their North African origins. So rather than imagining a single “Guanche type”, it is better to think of people who varied in their physical build and appearance. Earlier attempts to divide them into rigid “racial types” have largely been abandoned by modern biological anthropology.

There is, however, one thing we can measure quite accurately – their height. Research carried out by the Instituto Canario de Bioantropología indicates that men were around 171 centimetres tall on average, while women averaged around 160 centimetres. They were therefore not giants, as some popular stories sometimes suggest. There were, of course, taller individuals: among the remains studied are men who stood around 175–176 centimetres tall.

Their appearance was also shaped by the way they lived. The Guanches walked long distances across Tenerife’s steep volcanic terrain and were involved in activities such as herding. Studies of their skeletons allow researchers to reconstruct not only their height and physical build, but also the stresses caused by everyday activity, injuries and aspects of their health. Interestingly, MUNA considers them to have been well adapted to Tenerife’s environment as a population and generally shows no evidence of severe malnutrition.

Nor did they dress in the fanciful “caveman costumes” that sometimes appear in modern illustrations. Their main clothing material was animal hide, particularly goatskin. It was carefully prepared, cut and sewn. One characteristic garment was the tamarco – a type of hide cloak. Leather leg coverings and footwear were also used.

💡 What About the Fair-Haired Guanches?

The safest way to put it is this: yes, there were Guanches with fair hair and light-coloured eyes, but this does not mean that all – or even most – of them looked this way. This is particularly important because, for many years, fair-haired Guanches were used as evidence to support various theories about their European origins. Modern genetic research, however, clearly indicates that the main ancestral roots of this population lie in north-western Africa.

🏠 Why Did They Live in Caves?

When we hear that the Guanches lived in caves, it is easy to imagine them leading a very primitive life. On Tenerife, however, a cave was simply a very practical home. The volcanic island offered thousands of natural hollows and caves, particularly in the walls of ravines and coastal cliffs. Instead of building a shelter from scratch, people could make use of one already created by nature.

They did not, however, choose just any hole in the rock. The size of the cave, ease of access and proximity to water and grazing land all mattered. The latter was particularly important for a society whose way of life depended heavily on livestock. Settlement was concentrated mainly along the coast and at mid-altitudes, and many residential caves were located in the rocky walls of ravines.

A cave had another major advantage: the rock provided protection from the sun, rain and wind, while temperatures inside remained more stable than outside. All that was needed was to organise the interior appropriately. In such places, archaeologists find hearths, fragments of pottery, stone tools, animal bones and traces of food preparation. Some caves may have been used by both people and animals – recent research at Cueva de Los Cabezazos in Tegueste suggests that one part of the cave may have served as living space while another was used as an animal enclosure.

This does not mean, however, that all Guanches always lived exclusively in caves. Archaeologists have also found remains of small huts. These were built from stones laid without mortar, with roofs made from wood and branches. Far fewer traces of such structures have survived on Tenerife, however, which is why the cave has become the most characteristic image of a Guanche home.

Interestingly, not every cave was a home. Some were used as living spaces, others for livestock or storage, while still others were reserved for the dead. Archaeologists have discovered entire complexes where residential caves existed alongside separate burial caves. At El Calabazo, for example, seven residential spaces and two funerary ones have been identified.

💡 Was It Dark and Empty Inside a Cave?

Not necessarily. Much of everyday life probably took place near the entrance and outside the cave, where there was daylight and ordinary tasks could be carried out. Inside, people stored essential items, food and hides, prepared sleeping areas, while fire provided warmth and made it possible to cook. In its reconstructions of life in a Guanche home, MUNA draws attention to this division of space according to different activities and to the importance of the domestic hearth.

🔥 What Did an Ordinary Day in the Life of a Guanche Look Like?

We do not know the daily routine of any particular Guanche, but archaeology allows us to reconstruct their everyday life surprisingly well. And it probably looked very different from the life of someone who spent most of their time inside a cave. Much of the day was spent outdoors – tending animals, on grazing land, cultivating crops and working around the household hearth. MUNA points out that many everyday activities took place close to the dwelling rather than in its darkest interior.

For many Guanches, the day primarily involved looking after herds of goats and sheep. Livestock farming was the foundation of their economy. Animals provided milk, meat, hides and bones, which were used to make tools. Herders moved their animals between grazing areas, and some of these movements were seasonal – during the summer, livestock could also be taken high into the mountains, including the area around Las Cañadas.

Not everyone, however, did the same work. On the more fertile northern side of the island, growing cereals and gathering wild plants played a greater role, while pastoralism was more dominant in the drier south. Crops had to be harvested, food prepared, water collected, hides worked, tools repaired and objects needed by the family made.

One such object might have been a clay vessel. The Guanches did not use a potter’s wheel. Vessels were shaped by hand, smoothed using simple tools made from stone, wood or bone, and then fired. They were used, among other things, for storing and preparing food and for milking animals.

The hearth was an important part of the home. Fire made it possible to cook food, keep warm on cooler days and provide light after dark. And here we have a fascinating detail: we even know how the Guanches could start a fire. They rapidly rubbed a wooden stick against a specially prepared piece of softer wood until an ember was produced. This is not merely something described by early chroniclers – archaeologists on Tenerife have found wooden implements bearing traces of friction and charring consistent with this technique.

One of the most important foods – gofio – could also be prepared around the hearth. Grain, primarily barley, was roasted and then ground using stone querns. The resulting flour was mixed with ingredients such as water, milk or fat. To this day, MUNA uses the grinding of gofio with stone querns to demonstrate what everyday domestic tasks among the Guanches may have looked like.

💡 Did All Guanches Live in the Same Way?

No. And this is worth emphasising. A herder’s day in the dry south of Tenerife could look very different from that of someone living in the more fertile north, or from the life of a member of the elite. Studies of their diet even reveal differences between the north and south of the island and between different social groups.

So instead of imagining a single “typical day in the life of a Guanche”, picture a morning in one of Tenerife’s caves several hundred years ago. Someone leads the goats out, someone lights a fire, while someone else grinds roasted barley between stones, prepares hides or makes a clay vessel. Children watch the adults and learn the skills on which their own lives will depend in just a few years.

There were no shops, metal tools or objects brought over from a neighbouring island. Almost everything they needed had to be found, raised, grown or made from what Tenerife provided.

And perhaps this is the best way to understand everyday Guanche life: the island was not simply the place where they lived. It was their larder, their workshop and their home.

🐐 What Did They Eat and Where Did Their Food Come From?

The Guanche way of life depended heavily on the animals their ancestors had brought to Tenerife – above all goats, sheep and pigs. These provided not only meat but, most importantly, milk and dairy products. Studies of bones and human remains show that animal products played a major role in the Guanche diet.

Goats were particularly valuable. They coped well with steep, dry terrain, could feed on vegetation inaccessible to people, and provided milk, meat, hides, bones and horns. Herds were moved in search of grazing land – in summer, herders also took them high into the mountains, including the area around Las Cañadas. This is why traces of the Guanches can be found not only near the coast but also in the mountains.

But the Guanches did not live on meat and milk alone. They also cultivated the land. Archaeological finds confirm the cultivation of barley in particular, as well as other crops. Written sources are not always consistent on this point – the 16th-century writer Alonso de Espinosa claimed that in his time barley and broad beans were grown on Tenerife, while other accounts also mention wheat and peas. Modern archaeobotanical research shows that the first inhabitants of the Canary Islands brought an entire range of cultivated plants with them from North Africa, although some of these gradually disappeared within the isolated communities of individual islands.

Barley was used to make a food that is still eaten in the Canary Islands today – gofio. The grain was roasted and then ground using stone querns. The resulting flour could be mixed with water, milk or fat. For the Guanches, it was one of their staple foods and could be stored relatively easily.

💡 The gofio you see today in a Canarian shop or restaurant therefore has roots stretching back to the period before the conquest of the islands. The ingredients and ways of serving it have changed, but the basic idea of roasting grain and grinding it into flour has survived for hundreds of years.

Tenerife also provided food that did not need to be cultivated. Wild fruits, seeds and roots were gathered. MUNA mentions, among other things, the fruit of the mocán and bicácaro, fern roots and Canary Island pine seeds. The fruit of the mocán was even used to make a sweet product known as chacerquén, resembling a kind of syrup or “honey”. Figs and dates were also known.

And since they lived on an island surrounded by the Atlantic, you might expect the Guanches to have eaten huge quantities of fish. But here there is a surprise.

Fish and seafood were indeed part of their diet. Archaeologists have found accumulations of shells along the coast, particularly limpets (lapas) and sea snails known as burgados. Fish living close to the rocky shore were also caught, and probably octopus and moray eels as well. However, palaeodietary studies indicate that marine foods played a much smaller role than meat and dairy products.

This may seem surprising until we remember that the Guanches were no longer a seafaring people. They mainly used what they could obtain close to the shore – in rocky coves and natural pools exposed by the ocean. They did not fish on the open sea on the scale we might expect from people living on an island.

Interestingly, not all Guanches ate in the same way. In the wetter and more fertile north, agriculture and gathering played a greater role, while in the drier south the economy relied more heavily on pastoralism. Research also points to social differences: members of the elite whose bodies were mummified consumed more meat and dairy products than people buried without mummification.

👑 Nine Menceyatos – Did Tenerife Have Nine Kings?

When the Castilians began their conquest of Tenerife at the end of the 15th century, the island was not a single state. It was divided into nine territories known as menceyatos: Anaga, Tegueste, Tacoronte, Taoro, Icod, Daute, Adeje, Abona and Güímar. Each was a separate political community with its own leader – the mencey.

Was a mencey a king? This was how Europeans most often interpreted his position, which is why both historical sources and modern publications frequently refer to the menceyatos as “kingdoms” and the menceyes as “kings”. We should not, however, imagine nine monarchs with castles, courts and an administration resembling those of Europe. Guanche society was organised around extended family and kinship groups, with the mencey acting as the highest-ranking leader of his territory. MUNA describes this system rather as a chiefdom with a clearly defined social hierarchy.

The division of the island was not random. The menceyatos generally extended from the coast towards the mountains, allowing their inhabitants to make use of different resources – coastal, agricultural and pastoral. The high-altitude area of Las Cañadas del Teide played a special role as shared territory, particularly as summer grazing land and as a reserve of resources during periods of scarcity.

Nor did the mencey rule entirely on his own. Important matters were considered at an assembly place known as the tagoror. According to early accounts, the mencey and the most important members of the community gathered there. Another object associated with the mencey’s authority was the añepa – a type of staff symbolising his position.

💡 Why Exactly Nine Menceyatos?

Tradition spoke of an earlier period when the island was united, followed by its division among the descendants of a single ruler. Here, however, we need to be cautious – the genealogies of the individual menceyes were recorded relatively late, and some of their details remain disputed. The division into nine menceyatos itself, however, is well attested in documents connected with the period of the conquest and its immediate aftermath. Interestingly, during the 20th century historians even debated whether the nine “kingdoms” might have been a later myth, but documents subsequently discovered confirmed the existence of nine territories.

And this division would become extremely important when the Castilians arrived on Tenerife. The nine menceyes did not make a single, united decision. Güímar, Anaga, Abona and Adeje formed the group known as the bandos de paces – the “peace factions” – while Taoro, Tegueste, Tacoronte, Daute and Icod belonged to the bandos de guerra and resisted the invaders.

Taoro, which included the area around today’s La Orotava Valley, played the most powerful role in the resistance. Its mencey, Bencomo, would become one of the most important figures during the conquest of Tenerife. We will return to him when we come to the Battle of Acentejo.

👀 You can, in fact, encounter the nine menceyes while exploring Tenerife. Beside the basilica in Candelaria stand nine large bronze statues representing the rulers of the island’s nine menceyatos.

⚖️ What Was Guanche Society Like?

The Guanches did not live in a society in which everyone was equal. Quite the opposite – ancestry mattered enormously, and social status was largely inherited. Modern researchers describe Tenerife in the period immediately before the conquest as a chiefdom society, clearly divided into different social ranks.

At the top of each menceyato stood, of course, the mencey. Below him was an elite associated with his lineage. Early sources use the term achimencey for those of the highest birth, related to the mencey’s lineage, and cichiquitza for the rest of the privileged class. The largest group consisted of the achicaxna – ordinary members of the community: herders, farmers and people carrying out the everyday work on which society depended. It is important to remember, however, that we know these names and divisions primarily from European accounts, whose authors described the Guanche world using concepts familiar to themselves.

The differences went beyond titles. The elite enjoyed privileges, and sources indicate that members of the higher social ranks did not perform some of the physical work assigned to the rest of the population. Maintaining the status of the lineage was also extremely important. Chroniclers mention marriages within the elite that helped preserve its position.

Interestingly, social inequality can even be seen in Guanche burials. Studies of mummies and skeletons indicate that artificial mummification was primarily associated with the elite. Analyses have also revealed differences in diet – mummified individuals consumed more meat and dairy products. A person’s position during life could therefore also determine what happened to their body after death.

Important decisions did not necessarily depend solely on the mencey, however. There was also the tagoror – an assembly where matters concerning the community were discussed and disputes settled. The mencey and important members of the community took part. It was not a building resembling a modern town hall. Meetings were held outdoors, in a specially chosen place.

And where were women in all of this? Here, our knowledge is much more limited because the chronicles were written by men, who were primarily interested in menceyes, warriors and the conquest. MUNA researchers point out that women’s lives were more closely centred around the domestic sphere and the activities that ensured the survival and functioning of the family and the wider community. Their work is therefore far less visible in the sources, even though it was essential to the survival of Guanche society.

💡 Was Social Advancement Possible?

This is where things become particularly interesting, because the Guanches lived in a world in which birth carried enormous weight. Society was based on extended kinship groups, and belonging to the right lineage largely determined a person’s place in the hierarchy. This was therefore not a society in which a talented herder could simply “work his way up” and become a member of the highest elite.

🌌 What Did the Guanches Believe In?

We know far less about Guanche beliefs than we do about what they ate or where they lived. They left no books or descriptions of their gods, and the information that has survived was recorded primarily by Europeans during and after the conquest. What is more, those writers described an unfamiliar religion using concepts borrowed from Christianity. This means that when it comes to the names of deities, their roles and the stories associated with them, we sometimes have to leave a question mark.

One thing, however, seems clear: for the Guanches, the natural world was not separate from the world of belief. MUNA describes their beliefs as animistic – elements of the landscape, mountains, trees and celestial bodies may all have held particular significance. They did not build temples in the way we understand the word today. Rituals and offerings also took place at natural sites that held sacred significance.

The most important supernatural being is today associated primarily with the name Achamán. And this is where things become particularly interesting. Early accounts contain several names for a supreme being, including Achamán, Achguayaxerax/Achguayaxiraxi and Achuhurahan. We cannot therefore be certain whether these were the names of different deities or rather different names or titles for a single supreme being. One of them was interpreted as the one who “supports heaven and earth”.

📖 This is why, in my guidebook (Tenerife with Achamán), Achamán can be a character and narrator, but it is worth remembering that the way we picture him today is partly a reconstruction of a world that we can no longer recreate in its entirety.

The Sun, Moon and stars also held an important place. Modern accounts use the name Magec in reference to the Sun, although here too we should be cautious about creating an overly organised “Guanche pantheon”. What we present today as a list of deities with clearly assigned roles is often far more orderly than the information preserved in the earliest sources. MUNA does, however, confirm the importance of the Sun, Moon, stars and a supreme being in the beliefs of Tenerife’s inhabitants.

Religion was also connected with death and the ancestors. The special treatment of the bodies of the dead, burial caves and mummification show that death did not simply mean disposing of a body. Funerary rituals were an important part of the Guanche world, although – as with their deities – we do not know all the beliefs that lay behind them.

💡 The biggest mistake we can make when trying to understand Guanche religion is to turn it into an organised mythology resembling that of ancient Greece: Achamán – god of this, Magec – god of that, Guayota – god of something else. The sources simply do not allow us to be so certain.

It is far more interesting to look at their world in another way. The Sun, stars, mountains, caves and other elements of the landscape may have belonged simultaneously to the world of everyday life and to the sacred realm.

🌋 Guayota, Teide and the Imprisoned Sun

Imagine Tenerife several hundred years ago. You do not know what magma is, nor do you understand tectonics or the structure of a volcano. Towering above the island is Echeyde – today’s Teide. Sometimes the ground trembles, smoke and gases rise from the mountain, and fire may flow down its slopes. How do you explain a place that can suddenly come to life?

The Guanches called Teide Echeyde and believed that Guayota – a dangerous, malevolent being whom they feared – dwelt inside the volcano. We know this not only from later legends. Alonso de Espinosa, who described the beliefs of Tenerife’s ancient inhabitants in 1594, already mentioned Guayota and Echeyde. He did, however, describe this world using concepts familiar to Christian readers – referring to Guayota as a “demon” and comparing Echeyde to “hell”.

This is an important distinction. It does not mean that the Guanches believed in hell and the devil in the Christian sense. It was the Europeans who tried to describe unfamiliar beliefs in these terms.

But the story you are most likely to hear on Tenerife today is much more elaborate.

According to the legend, Guayota abducted Magec – the Sun – and imprisoned it inside Echeyde, or Teide. Tenerife was plunged into darkness. Terrified, the Guanches appealed for help to Achamán, the supreme being of their world. Achamán fought Guayota, defeated him, freed the Sun and restored the light. He then imprisoned the defeated Guayota inside the volcano, and its crater was said to have been sealed. In one popular version of the legend, this “plug” is the pale summit cone – the Pan de Azúcar – that crowns Teide. This version of the story is also repeated today in official materials from Teide National Park and the Government of the Canary Islands.

It is a beautiful story. But here we need to separate two things.

📜 What Did the Early Chroniclers Actually Record?

The earliest accounts confirm Guayota’s association with Teide, the sinister nature of this figure and the connection between Echeyde and a place that inspired fear, which Christian authors interpreted as “hell”. I have not, however, found the complete story of the abduction of Magec, Achamán’s battle with Guayota, the liberation of the Sun and the sealing of the crater in these early sources. This more elaborate tale appears in much later tradition and is now widely repeated as a “Guanche legend”.

That does not mean we should discard it. Legend is also part of Tenerife’s history – we simply cannot pretend that we know exactly what form the story took five hundred years ago. Perhaps it preserves elements of older tales that were never written down. Perhaps, over time, separate elements were combined and expanded. We can no longer know for certain.

And that is precisely what makes Guayota so fascinating. Here, a real volcano, ancient beliefs and later legend overlap.

🐚 Did the Guanches Make Offerings?

Yes. We know that the Guanches performed rituals during which they left offerings in places considered to have special significance. They did not have temples resembling those we know from ancient Greece or Rome. A ceremony might take place at a rock, on a mountain, in a cave or at another distinctive feature in the landscape.

Among the most unusual traces of such practices are small hollows carved into the rock and connected by channels. Archaeologists interpret some of these as ritual sites where liquids were poured into the hollows and allowed to flow along the carved grooves. The liquid may have been milk, water or something else presented as an offering, although after several hundred years it is not always possible to determine exactly what was used. Sites of this kind have been discovered in areas including Masca and La Abejera.

Offerings may have been connected with very specific needs – a request for rain, protection of livestock or a secure food supply. In a society dependent on pastoralism, a prolonged drought could spell disaster. Early accounts describe a ritual performed during periods of drought in which lambs were separated from their mothers so that their bleating accompanied pleas directed towards supernatural forces. One early source also mentions animals being bled as an offering, although researchers treat the details of such accounts with caution.

Things become particularly interesting high in the mountains. In small crevices and hollows among the lava of Las Cañadas del Teide, archaeologists have discovered hidden deposits containing pottery, hides and stone objects, among other things. MUNA suggests that some of these finds may have been connected with offerings intended to provide protection from the dangers associated with volcanic eruptions. This is an archaeological interpretation rather than a certainty – but when considered alongside the significance of Teide in the Guanche world, it is particularly fascinating.

💡 Did They Sacrifice Humans?

Here, we need to draw a clear line. There is no basis for presenting human sacrifice as a normal religious practice among the Guanches. We do find evidence of violence between people – including numerous skull injuries – but these primarily point to conflict rather than ritual killing.

Perhaps the most interesting point is that an offering did not have to be something spectacular. It might have been a portion of milk poured onto a rock, an object left in a crevice in the lava, or a ritual performed when the rains failed. For people entirely dependent on what the island could provide, a plea directed towards the forces governing nature could concern the most fundamental thing of all – survival.

🗿 Guatimac – a Tiny Figurine and a Great Mystery

If you have already seen the cover of our Tenerife with Achamán guidebook, you may have noticed the small figurine hanging around Achamán’s neck. I did not invent it from scratch. It was inspired by one of the most mysterious objects associated with Guanche culture – the Guatimac.

The original Guatimac really is tiny – only about 6 centimetres tall. Made from fired clay, it has a simplified, human-like form and a hole through which a cord could have been threaded. Everything therefore suggests that the object may have been worn around the neck. Today, it is kept at the Museo Arqueológico del Puerto de la Cruz.

The story of its discovery is just as intriguing as the figurine itself. According to information recorded by the 19th-century researcher Juan Bethencourt Alfonso, the Guatimac was found in 1885 in a crevice inside a cave in the Barranco de Herques, in the Fasnia area. It was reportedly wrapped in a piece of hide. There is, however, an important point to bear in mind: this was not a modern, documented archaeological excavation. Bethencourt Alfonso learned about the circumstances of the discovery from information passed on to him, so researchers today treat the details of the find with caution.

Bethencourt Alfonso believed that the Guatimac was a pectoral worn by people who performed religious functions and attributed magical or ritual significance to it. The problem is that no other surviving object directly comparable to it is known from Tenerife. We therefore cannot say with certainty who or what the figurine represents, what it was used for or whether it really was an amulet connected with Guanche religion.

And it is precisely this uncertainty that makes the Guatimac so fascinating. We have before us a genuine object from the period before the conquest of Tenerife – but no explanation left behind by the person who made and wore it.

💡 So Why Does Achamán Wear the Guatimac in My Guidebook?

This is my own artistic interpretation rather than a historical reconstruction. There is no evidence that the Guatimac represented Achamán or that a figurine like this was associated with him in any way. What is more, we do not even know how the Guanches imagined Achamán, or whether they gave him human form at all.

The figurine around Achamán’s neck in the guidebook is therefore a deliberate combination of legend and a genuine archaeological artefact. I wanted the guidebook’s narrator to carry a small element that truly comes from the world of Tenerife’s ancient inhabitants. It is not a copy of an invented “divine amulet”, but an object inspired by the authentic Guatimac.

📖 So when you see Achamán on the cover of the guidebook or on the Tenerife with Achamán page, take a closer look at his neck. This small pendant was inspired by a real figurine discovered on Tenerife more than 140 years ago. And its meaning – like so many elements of the Guanche world – is something we still cannot fully decipher.

⚰️ Why Did the Guanches Mummify Their Dead?

The Guanches did not bury their dead in the ground. Bodies were placed primarily in natural burial caves, sometimes individually but more often alongside other deceased members of the community. The entrance to such a cave could be sealed with a stone wall. Some bodies were left without any special preservation, while others underwent an extraordinary process – mummification, known as mirlado.

Why did they do this? We do not know for certain. The way the body was treated, however, suggests that preserving it after death held both ritual and social significance for the Guanches. Mummification was not performed on everyone. Research indicates that it was linked to social hierarchy, although men, women and children were all mummified – including very young children.

The process itself was extremely careful and took around 15 days. The body was washed and treated with substances including animal fat and materials of plant and mineral origin, before being dried. Early accounts mention exposure to the sun, while research also points to the use of heat and smoke. Finally, the body was wrapped in specially prepared and sewn goat or sheep hides.

This work was carried out by specialists. Alonso de Espinosa wrote that a man’s body was prepared by men and a woman’s by women. Once the process was complete, the dried and prepared body was known as a xaxo.

💡 Did the Guanches Remove Organs Like the Ancient Egyptians?

This is one of the more surprising aspects of Guanche mummification. Some early descriptions claimed that they did. Modern studies of surviving mummies, however, including CT scans, have found no evidence that the internal organs or brain were removed. The Guanche method was therefore very different from the one we know from ancient Egypt.

Equally interesting is the fact that this practice probably did not arrive on Tenerife with the first settlers from Africa. Dated mummies indicate that mummification appeared on the island after it had already been settled and continued for many centuries, until the time of the conquest. It therefore appears that the Guanches developed their own method of preserving the dead on Tenerife itself.

Conditions on the island also worked in their favour. Dry air and the stable microclimate of some caves helped preserve bodies for hundreds of years. This is why some mummies have survived in remarkably good condition, with skin, hair and even fragments of soft tissue still preserved.

And this is precisely why the mummies can tell us far more today than simply how the Guanches buried their dead. Researchers can identify traces of disease, diet, smoke from domestic hearths, injuries and even parasites.

👀 You can see genuine Guanche mummies at MUNA in Santa Cruz de Tenerife. And when you look at them, it is worth remembering that they are not merely museum exhibits. They are people who lived on Tenerife long before the arrival of the Spanish – and the way their bodies were treated is one of the few surviving clues to how the Guanches understood death.

✍️ Could the Guanches Write?

For a long time, the answer seemed simple: the Guanches did not have writing. They left behind no books, chronicles or documents, and their history was passed down orally. This view can still be found in many descriptions of Tenerife’s ancient inhabitants.

However, archaeologists have discovered something on the island that makes us look at the question differently – symbols carved into rocks that are inscriptions written in the Libyco-Berber alphabet. This writing system originated in North Africa, the very region from which the ancestors of the Guanches came.

There are far fewer inscriptions of this kind on Tenerife than on some of the other islands in the archipelago – particularly El Hierro and Lanzarote. They usually consist of short sequences of symbols carved directly into the rock. And this is where the greatest mystery begins: we can identify the alphabet, but that does not mean that we can read every inscription written in it.

What is more, research published in 2024 by researchers from the Universidad de La Laguna produced some fascinating results. They analysed seven Libyco-Berber inscriptions from Tenerife and identified not only recognisable linguistic elements but also features found in Guanche place names. One of the inscriptions may be associated with an image of a Christian nature. If this interpretation is correct, it would suggest that writing may still have been used on Tenerife during the period of contact between the Guanches and Europeans, perhaps right up until the conquest of the island.

So, could the Guanches write?

At least some of them apparently could. We should not, however, imagine a society in which writing was used to keep chronicles, record laws or exchange everyday messages. We have no evidence for this. Very few inscriptions have survived, and we still do not know who made them, exactly what they referred to or how many Guanches were able to understand their meaning.

💡 These small symbols carved into the rocks are yet another clue leading us back to Africa. The Libyco-Berber alphabet connects the ancient inhabitants of the Canary Islands with the Berber peoples of North Africa – just as their language and the results of modern genetic research do.

📜 Source: Irma Mora Aguiar and Renata Ana Springer Bunk, Estudio de las inscripciones líbico-bereberes de la isla de Tenerife (2024). The researchers analysed seven Libyco-Berber inscriptions discovered on Tenerife. Their study suggests that knowledge of this writing system may have survived on the island until the period of contact with Europeans.

👉 Study / Universidad Universidad de La Laguna

🪨 Two Worlds – How Different Were the Guanches from the Europeans?

When the Castilians arrived on Tenerife at the end of the 15th century, two worlds met that had developed under completely different conditions for centuries. The technological gap was enormous. The Europeans arrived in ocean-going ships, used iron tools, swords, crossbows and firearms, fought on horseback, built towns and participated in trade networks linking distant parts of Europe and Africa.

The Guanches lived on a single, isolated island and relied primarily on what they could find there. They had no metallurgy. They made blades from materials including obsidian – natural volcanic glass – while other tools were also made from stone and bone, and weapons primarily from wood. Pottery was shaped by hand, without a potter’s wheel. They built neither towns nor monumental temples, while natural caves served as homes, storage spaces, burial places and shelters for animals. Their economy was based mainly on pastoralism, supplemented by agriculture and the use of the island’s wild resources.

Perhaps the most surprising fact, however, is that the ancestors of the Guanches came from North Africa, from a world in which metal was already known. After settling in the Canary Islands, however, they found themselves in an environment without easily accessible deposits of metal ores. Over time, they therefore had to base their technology on other materials. Archaeologists even speak of a process in which earlier skills were adapted to the resources available on the islands.

The same was true of seafaring. Their ancestors must have crossed the sea to reach the archipelago, but by the time the Europeans arrived, the Guanches no longer possessed boats that allowed regular travel between the islands. For successive generations, Tenerife had become an almost closed world.

It is this isolation that helps us understand the enormous difference between the two societies. For centuries, the inhabitants of Europe and North Africa had exchanged goods, knowledge and technologies. The Guanches did not participate in these developments. This does not mean, however, that their society was “primitive”. It had its own political organisation, social hierarchy and specialised crafts, and was extremely well adapted to the conditions on Tenerife. Obsidian could be worked into exceptionally sharp tools, while archaeological research shows that the extraction and processing of certain raw materials were well organised.

💡 The difference was therefore not that one group was “more intelligent” and the other “less developed”. The Castilians belonged to a society that benefited from technologies developed and exchanged by many cultures. The Guanches had lived in isolation for centuries and developed solutions that were sufficient for life on their island.

When these two worlds met at the end of the 15th century, the Castilians’ technological advantage seemed overwhelming. Metal weapons against wooden spears. Horses against people fighting on foot. Crossbows and firearms against stones.

And yet, during the first major attempt to conquer northern Tenerife, it was the Guanches who crushed the Castilian army.

⚔️ Why Was Tenerife So Difficult for the Spanish to Conquer?

When Alonso Fernández de Lugo landed on Tenerife in 1494, he may have had good reason to believe that the conquest would not take long. The previous year, he had completed the conquest of La Palma. Tenerife, however, proved to be the last island in the archipelago to fall under Castilian rule, and the first major campaign ended in disaster for the conquerors.

The Guanches had no swords, crossbows, firearms or horses. They fought primarily with wooden spears and staffs, as well as stones, which they could throw with great accuracy and effectiveness. Their greatest advantage, however, was something else – they knew their island. They knew the paths, where they could move quickly through the mountains and, above all, how to make use of the steep ravines, where European cavalry lost much of its advantage. Official materials from the Government of the Canary Islands identify knowledge of the terrain and skill in using stones and slings as important elements of Guanche resistance.

The Castilians discovered just how effective this could be during the First Battle of Acentejo in 1494. Fernández de Lugo’s forces were marching through the northern part of the island towards the La Orotava Valley. Near the Barranco de Acentejo, the Guanches, led by Bencomo, mencey of Taoro, used the terrain to their advantage and attacked their opponents in a place particularly unsuited to the Castilian style of warfare. The invading army was crushed, and the wounded Fernández de Lugo withdrew from Tenerife with the survivors, returning to Gran Canaria.

That event has left its mark on the map of Tenerife to this day. The place associated with the Castilian defeat is called La Matanza de Acentejo – matanza means “slaughter”. A few dozen kilometres away lies La Victoria de Acentejo. These two names essentially tell the entire story of the conquest of the island: first the Castilian defeat, then their victory.

💡 The Guanches did not, however, fight the conquerors as a single army.

Tenerife was divided into nine menceyatos, and their rulers made different decisions. Güímar, Abona, Adeje and Anaga reached agreements with the Castilians, while Taoro, Tegueste, Tacoronte, Icod and Daute resisted them by force. The conquest of Tenerife was therefore not simply a war between newcomers and the island’s inhabitants – the Castilians were also able to rely on support from part of the indigenous population.

After his defeat, Fernández de Lugo did not give up. He returned with new men and resources, and the subsequent battles took place in conditions more favourable to the European style of warfare. On the plain of Aguere, in the area of present-day La Laguna, cavalry could use its strength far more effectively than in a narrow ravine. The Guanches were defeated, and Bencomo was killed in the fighting. The Castilian victory in the Second Battle of Acentejo then opened the way into the northern part of the island. By 1496, resistance had been broken.

Why, then, was Tenerife so difficult to conquer? Not because the Guanches had superior weapons. They knew how to make use of something the conquerors initially lacked – an intimate knowledge of the terrain and a style of warfare adapted to the island’s landscape. Later, when the Castilians returned better prepared and were able to exploit their advantages in weaponry, horses and additional forces, the balance of power began to shift.

👀 When you travel through La Matanza de Acentejo and La Victoria de Acentejo, take a closer look at their names. They are not simply arbitrary names given to two towns. To this day, they recall two completely different moments in the same war – one of the greatest Guanche victories and one of the battles that sealed their defeat.

💀 What Really Defeated the Guanches?

The Guanches were capable of defeating the Castilians in battle – they proved that at Acentejo. Ultimately, however, they were defeated not only by swords, crossbows, horses and a larger army. During the conquest, another enemy appeared against which they had no defence – an epidemic known as the modorra or moquillo de los guanches.

The epidemic most likely broke out in the winter of 1494, after the first defeat of Alonso Fernández de Lugo’s forces, and continued until the spring of 1495. It struck northern Tenerife particularly hard – precisely the menceyatos that were putting up the strongest resistance to the Castilians. Historical sources and later research suggest that a very large proportion of the indigenous population became ill and that mortality was extremely high. Conrado Rodríguez-Maffiotte, director of the Instituto Canario de Bioantropología, estimates that the epidemic may have affected 30–50% of the Guanches and that around a third of the population may have died. These figures should, however, be treated as estimates – we simply do not have precise demographic data for the end of the 15th century.

The illness developed rapidly. Later accounts describe very high fever, a runny nose, coughing and breathing difficulties, with pneumonia and profound lethargy or loss of consciousness in severe cases. It was probably this characteristic state of drowsiness or stupor that contributed to the name modorra, a word associated with sleepiness or torpor.

The most puzzling aspect, however, was something else: the epidemic primarily devastated the Guanche population, while the Castilians suffered far less severely or did not fall ill at all. One possible explanation is that Europeans had previously been exposed to the disease and possessed at least partial immunity, which Tenerife’s isolated population lacked.

💡 What Exactly Was the Modorra?

And here we come to a mystery that has still not been conclusively solved. Modorra is not the name of a specific disease but a term used in historical sources. Attempts have been made to identify it with influenza, typhus, plague, measles and other infectious diseases. Rodríguez-Maffiotte and Mercedes Martín consider influenza the most likely explanation, pointing to the reported symptoms, the extremely rapid spread of the epidemic and its limited impact on the conquerors. Another researcher from the Universidad de La Laguna, Justo Pedro Hernández González, has suggested, following an analysis of the historical epidemiology of the modorra, that it may instead have been a form of encephalitis. We therefore cannot simply write: “The Guanches were killed by influenza.” We do not know that for certain.

📜 What do we know with greater confidence? The epidemic was real, it appeared at a crucial moment in the conquest and had an enormous impact on the island’s population. MUNA researchers indicate that, together with war and famine, it caused a dramatic decline in the Guanche population even before the conquest was complete.

So when the Castilians once again advanced against the Guanches, they were no longer fighting the same society that had previously crushed them at Acentejo. War, famine and disease had weakened the menceyatos that were resisting the invasion. Added to this were the conquerors’ military advantages and the support of some of the menceyatos that had reached agreements with them.

The answer to the question of what defeated the Guanches therefore cannot be reduced to a single word. They were defeated by war, military superiority and political divisions, but disease also played an enormous role – a threat for which their society, isolated for centuries, was unprepared.

💡 Could the Castilians Have Infected the Guanches Deliberately?

This possibility has been considered – there has even been a hypothesis that water sources were deliberately contaminated. However, no evidence has been found to confirm that the epidemic was intentionally caused. A far more likely scenario is that the disease was accidentally introduced by newcomers from the Old World. They had already been exposed to similar pathogens, while Tenerife’s isolated population was particularly vulnerable to them.

🔗 What Happened to the Guanches After the Conquest?

The conquest of Tenerife ended in 1496, but the Guanches did not disappear from the island overnight. What did disappear was the world in which they had lived until then. The nine menceyatos ceased to exist, land began to be distributed among the conquerors and new settlers, and Tenerife was incorporated into the Crown of Castile. A rapid process of creating an entirely new society began.

For some Guanches, the first years after the conquest meant slavery. Captives were sold and taken away from Tenerife, including to the Iberian Peninsula and Madeira. The trafficking of people had, in fact, begun even before the island was finally conquered. Documents survive from legal proceedings in which Guanches attempted to regain their freedom, while the Crown intervened in cases where enslavement was considered unlawful.

Even the highest-ranking Guanches could meet with a surprising fate. After the conquest, the defeated menceyes were taken by Alonso Fernández de Lugo to the court of the Catholic Monarchs. One of them, the last mencey of Icod, known after his baptism as Don Enrique Canario, was later unlawfully sold into slavery. His case was brought before royal judges, and he eventually regained his freedom.

Those who remained on Tenerife as free people had to find their place in a new reality. They converted to Christianity, received Christian names, worked on the estates of new landowners, continued to herd livestock and cultivate the land, and also married newcomers. Particularly in the south of the island, a larger indigenous population survived, allowing some older customs to persist for longer.

And here we come to a very important point. For many years, this story was often told in simple terms: after the conquest, the Guanches were killed, sold into slavery or quickly absorbed into Tenerife’s new population. More recent research, however, reveals a more complex picture.

A study published in 2024 by the Universidad de La Laguna, tracing the lives of three Guanche families from the area of present-day El Rosario during the first half of the 16th century, indicates that the indigenous community survived the conquest to a greater extent than was previously assumed. The researchers identified families who were already functioning within the colonial world but continued to maintain ties with one another and retained an awareness of their own origins.

📜 Source: Yuliya Miteva, Entre dos mundos: la historia de tres familias guanches de El Rosario, Tenerife, después de la conquista (2024). The title itself – Between Two Worlds – perfectly captures the situation of the first generations of Guanches living in the aftermath of the conquest.

We therefore cannot say that the Guanches became extinct. It is more accurate to say that, over time, the distinct pre-Hispanic Guanche community ceased to exist. War and disease drastically reduced its population, some people were taken away from the island, while those who remained gradually became part of Tenerife’s new society.

But did they really become completely “absorbed” into it?

This is where the story becomes even more fascinating, because we do not have to rely solely on documents written five hundred years ago to look for an answer. Another trace has survived – one written into the DNA of the Canary Islands’ present-day inhabitants.

🧬 Do Modern Inhabitants of Tenerife Carry Guanche DNA?

Yes – and this is perhaps the clearest answer to the question of whether the Guanches really “disappeared” after the conquest. Their distinct society ceased to exist, but some of their descendants remained on the island, and their genetic legacy has survived to the present day.

Modern DNA studies of the Canary Islands’ population reveal a mixture of primarily European and indigenous Canarian ancestry, together with a smaller contribution from sub-Saharan Africa. A large genomic study published in 2023 estimated that, across the modern population of the archipelago as a whole, indigenous Canarian ancestry accounts for an average of around 17.8%, Spanish ancestry around 79.7%, and sub-Saharan African ancestry around 2.6%. These figures, however, apply to the population studied across the entire archipelago – we cannot automatically assume that every inhabitant of Tenerife has 17.8% indigenous ancestry. The individual islands have different histories of settlement and population mixing.

The story becomes even more interesting when researchers analyse DNA inherited through the maternal and paternal lines separately.

In maternal lineages, the genetic legacy of the islands’ ancient inhabitants is particularly strong. A study of 896 complete mitochondrial genomes from modern inhabitants of the seven main islands found that more than 60% of their maternal lineages are of indigenous origin. This does not, of course, mean that “60% of Canarians’ DNA is Guanche”. Mitochondrial DNA represents only a very small part of our genetic material and is inherited through the maternal line. It does, however, reveal a remarkable continuity of women descended from the archipelago’s indigenous population.

And this is where history begins to become visible in the genes. After the conquest, the newcomers to the islands were predominantly European men, while many indigenous women remained and had children with the new settlers. As a result, indigenous ancestry survived far more strongly in maternal than in paternal lineages. Genetic research reveals this clearly unequal contribution of women and men to the population that emerged after the conquest.

💡 Can We Say, Then, That Today’s Inhabitants of Tenerife Are Descendants of the Guanches?

Some of them certainly are. We do, however, need to choose our words carefully. Tenerife’s present-day population is the result of more than five hundred years of mixing between people of different origins. After the conquest, settlers arrived from the Iberian Peninsula, as well as Portuguese and other Europeans. People were also brought to the island from Africa, while further waves of migration followed in later centuries. A modern inhabitant of Tenerife is therefore not simply “a Guanche five hundred years later”.

But genetics also challenges the equally simplistic idea that the Guanches were completely wiped out and left no descendants.

📜 Source: in 2023, Nature Communications published a large-scale genomic study of the ancient inhabitants of all seven main Canary Islands. Comparing their DNA with that of present-day Canarians confirmed that indigenous ancestry remains part of the genetic heritage of the archipelago’s modern population. The study also confirmed the North African roots of the islands’ ancient inhabitants.

👣 Where Can You See Traces of the Guanches Today?

The Guanches left behind no great cities or temples, but traces of their presence are scattered across Tenerife. Some can be seen in museums, others in caves or carved into rocks, and some can even be found in places that will probably be on your sightseeing route anyway.

🏛️ MUNA – Santa Cruz de Tenerife

This is the best place to see authentic objects associated with the Guanches. The Museo de Naturaleza y Arqueología houses mummies and human remains of Tenerife’s ancient inhabitants, as well as pottery, tools made from stone and bone, objects made from wood and hide, and ornaments. The museum holds the largest collection relating to Guanche culture.

👑 Chinguaro – Güímar

A place associated with the menceyes of Güímar and, at the same time, with one of the most important stories from the period of the Guanches’ first encounters with Christianity – the story of the discovery of the statue of the Virgin of Candelaria. I will tell you more about Chinguaro separately when we visit Güímar.

⛪ Cueva de Achbinico – Candelaria

A cave connected both with the world of the Guanches and with the beginnings of the cult of the Virgen de Candelaria. It is one of those places where two eras of Tenerife’s history literally meet – the Guanche and the Christian.

✍️ Rock Carvings

Sites with geometric symbols, other representations and a small number of Libyco-Berber inscriptions have survived on Tenerife. Well-known sites can be found around Aripe and Fustín in Guía de Isora, although similar traces have also been discovered in other parts of the island.

🌋 Las Cañadas del Teide

Traces of the Guanches have also been found high beneath Teide – pottery, tools and remains associated with pastoralism and people spending time in the mountains. It is a good reminder that, for the Guanches, the island did not end at the inhabited coast and valleys.

👀 And this is precisely why it is worth remembering the Guanches as you explore Tenerife. You will not find all their traces in a single “Guanche town”. They are scattered across the island – in caves, in the mountains, in place names, in museum collections and in symbols carved into the rocks centuries ago.

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Guanches Tenerife