History of Tenerife: From Gofio to Bananas

Tenerife’s ancient history is a subject of academic debate.  Estimates of when the island was first inhabited range from 3000BC to two millennia later.  As early as the second century AD the existence of the Canary Islands was known to the Greeks, Phoenicians and Romans, explaining why the islands are often identified with the Atlantis legend. 

It is generally agreed that the genetic origin of the islanders has its roots in the Berbers of North Africa, although some theories are more exotic.  When the islands were visited by the Europeans, they met a tall, fair haired race of Neolithic people, which has led some to suggest that there may be a Celtic, Germanic or even Scandinavian genetic root.  These early inhabitants were called Guanches, a tribal society that relied on limited farming, herding, hunting and gathering for their subsistence with a staple diet of gofio (which is still found today).  Many mummies have been found, showing that the Guanches embalmed their dead.  Combined with the existence of the pyramids at Guïmar, this has proved an intriguing riddle to some historians such as the famous Thor Heyerdahl, who eventually made his home here. The Guanche Chiefs were known as Menceyes, and at the time of the Spanish invasion, there were nine Guanche tribes in Tenerife.

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Although the Spanish conquest of the Canaries began in 1402, the mountainous terrain proved difficult and Tenerife was not subdued until 1496. Some Guanches were sold into slavery, or perished in epidemics introduced by the Europeans, while others assimilated with the new arrivals.  After the conquest, the Spanish economic model was based on single crop cultivation, initially with sugar cane and, later, wine.

Both Gran Canaria and Tenerife had separate governors, setting the precedent for the divide that exists to this day.  Las Palmas de Gran Canaria and Santa Cruz de Tenerife became stopping points for the Spanish conquerors, traders and missionaries on their way to the New World, bringing great prosperity to some social sectors of the islands. Tenerife became quite wealthy and soon the island was attracting merchants and adventurers from all over Europe.  Architecture from this time can still be seen in the north of the island, notably in Santa Cruz, La Laguna, La Orotava and Puerto de la Cruz.

This wealth invited attacks by pirates and privateers.  Perhaps Tenerife’s most famous assailant was Nelson.  He attacked Santa Cruz in 1797 with a British fleet but was repulsed, losing almost 400 men and his right arm.

Price crashes in the sugar market in the nineteenth century caused various severe recessions.  These and further economic hardship led to mass emigration during the nineteenth and first half of the twentieth centuries. From 1840 to 1890 as many as 40,000 Canary Islanders emigrated to Venezuela alone (although many of them ended up staying in Puerto Rico due to the long journey).  Cochineal and, later, bananas were introduced as cash crops to try to provide some economic stability.

There was great rivalry between the elites of the cities of Las Palmas and Santa Cruz for the capital of the islands, which led to the division of the archipelago into two provinces in 1927.  The same rivalry exists today as the two cities squabble for precedence over each other in almost every sphere.