Guanches: who were they and how did they live?

Let's see what the aborigines of the Canary Islands were like: their way of life, their religion, etc.

Before the Castilian conquest of the Canary Islands in the 15th century, the archipelago was inhabited by an aboriginal culture: the Guanches.

Although archaeological excavations and contacts with Europeans have allowed us to know a little about this culture, its language, religious rites and social organization, many aspects of the Guanches remain a mystery. Let's travel to the Canary Islands to discover this interesting culture.

Who were the Guanches?

The Guanches are the name given to the ancient aborigines of the the ancient aborigines of the Canary Islands, although its etymological origin refers above all to the culture that inhabited the island of Tenerife before the Castilian conquest of 1496. They have been related to the Berber peoples of North Africa.

The word guanche has an uncertain origin, although several historians, philologists and conquerors of the time point out that it comes from the language of the Guanches, the word already appearing in official documents of the time in which the conquest took place. The word Guanche is probably a syncopated form of "guanchinerfe", which would mean "man of Chinerfe", being Chinerfe the name given by the Guanches to the island of Tenerife.

Where did they come from?

The Guanches had to arrive by sea, although the first contacts between these peoples and the Europeans indicated that they had lost all knowledge of navigation. they had lost all knowledge of navigation. Unlike what is usually seen in other island cultures, they did not have any type of boat that allowed them to travel between islands, although they had to come from somewhere. The curious thing is that it was this fact that made the Guanche groups of each island differentiate themselves in a very marked way with the passage of time.

According to the archaeological sites of Icod de los Vinos (Cueva de los Guanches), the first humans to inhabit Tenerife must have lived in the 6th century B.C. Through genetic analysis, it has been shown that these populations must have been related to the ancient Berbers from the north of the island. these populations must have been related to the ancient Berbers of North Africa.. About 55% of the Guanche lineage is related to the genetics of the people of the Maghreb.

The colonization of the islands by Afro-Americans probably took place through various migrations, motivated by the desertification of the Sahara and the search for places free from the Phoenician and Roman invasion that settled on the African Mediterranean coast.

What were they like physically?

According to descriptions by early European explorers, such as Friar Alonso de Espinosa, the Guanches of the island of Tenerife had two sub-races: those from the south were brown-skinned, while those from the northern part were whiter and even blond.

Anthropological studies have divided the Guanche remains into two types, depending on their cranial shape.depending on their cranial shape. There are those who have been called cromañoids, with broad and robust faces and long and narrow skulls, and the mediterranoids, with tall faces and short skulls.

Although we are talking about a human group like any other, what is striking is that it seems that they presented a marked sexual dimorphism. The men were more robust and taller, measuring between 160 and 170 centimeters, while the women rarely exceeded 160 cm.. It should be noted that these heights varied depending on the area. There was a population that lived in the mountainous massifs of Anaga and Teno, isolated from the rest, where men were no taller than 160 cm and women were less than 150 cm, with less sexual differentiation.

Their life expectancy must have ranged between 30 and 45 years, although surely the nobles, better fed and without having to make great physical efforts, reached 65 years of age.

Characteristics of the culture of the natives of the Canary Islands.

These are the main cultural characteristics of the Guanches.

The Guanche language

The Guanche language is the set of languages spoken by the aboriginal people of the Canary Islands. This language was related to the Berber languages, and for this reason it has also been called Canarian Berber or insular Tamazight.. Inscriptions and stone engravings have been found whose signs are similar to the Tifinagh alphabet used by the Berbers, which is considered evidence of the relationship with Tamazight.

Although the language most likely died out around the 18th century, some believe it may have survived into the 19th century. Today there are no known native speakers of this language, and relatively little information on its grammar. relatively little information is known about its grammar and lexicon.o.

However, there are not few Canarian place names of Guanche origin, especially the names of municipalities, such as Gáldar, Alajeró, Timijiraque and Chipude, as well as some personal names, such as Mahey, Acoidan, Agoney, Ossinissa. Several words have also survived in the Spanish dialect spoken in the Canary Islands, such as baifo (goat breeding), gofio (toasted and ground grain), gánigo (earthenware vessel), beletén (first milk) or guirre (vulture).

What did they feed on?

The main subsistence activity of the Guanche was livestock and transhumance grazing, consisting mainly of goats and sheep.The main subsistence activity of the Guanche was livestock and transhumance grazing, consisting basically of goats and sheep. They had also introduced pigs and small breed dogs, called cancha. In some sites, remains of cats and hedgehogs have been found, and it is believed that all these animals could have been part of the aboriginal diet, rather than pets or for the production of textiles. From the cattle, in addition to eating their meat, which they ate half roasted and unaccompanied, they obtained milk or "ahof", from which they made a butter called "oche".

Agriculture was developed as a complementary practice, being rainfed and very rudimentary.. They cultivated barley, wheat and various legumes. With the cereals, once toasted and ground, they made gofio or "ahoren", which was taken mixed with water, milk or butter. With the same wheat, ground and cooked with milk and butter, they made a kind of porridge. The agricultural activity was more intense in the north of Tenerife, since that is where there are better climatic conditions. They also ate wild berries.

What were their houses like?

The Guanches usually lived in caves, or in simple handmade stone constructions.. They preferred to live in caves located on the slopes of ravines and coastal cliffs. The outermost part of the cave, with more light, was reserved as a kitchen, where mills and pots could be found. The darker part of the cave was used as a dormitory.

There were no villages in the strict sense of the word. Families and single individuals were grouped according to how the caves were arranged..

Clothing

The Guanches wore primitive but elaborate clothing. Their clothing consisted of a cape made of goat or sheep skin, tied with straps to the neck, which was called "tamarco".called "tamarco".

Women wore a sleeveless nightgown, made of two pieces of chamois skin and sewn with leather straps. The genitals were covered by a kind of loincloth, called "ahico", and it was common in both men and women. These garments were made by women, using bone punches and fish bones.

Weapons

Although isolated from the rest of the world, the Guanches were also a warrior society, although conflicts often occurred among them, especially when there had been a robbery.The weapons used were spears, maces, maces and maces.

Weapons were spears, maces, clubs and throwing stones. They used their tamarcos as shields. From a very young age they were raised in the art of war, being very skilled at throwing and dodging projectiles.

What was their society like?

Guanche society was strongly hierarchical in the form of a pyramid, with a noble class that owned the means of production, basically cattle and land, and another class, the commoners, who provided labor.The Guanche society was strongly hierarchical in the form of a pyramid, with a class of nobles who owned the means of production, basically cattle and land, and another class, the commoners, who provided labor.

At the top of the hierarchy was the Guanche king, called "mencey", in charge of the redistribution of the land.At the top of the hierarchy was the Guanche king, called "mencey", in charge of the redistribution of the means of production, from whom three other strata were close to him in terms of family ties. The high nobility was made up of his closest relatives, the achimencey, who were his successors. Then came the cichiciquitzo, a stratum that would correspond to the second class nobility. At the base of society were the achicaxna, who were the plebeians.

The social differentiation was represented by the physical aspect, with the noble men being allowed to wear long beards and hair, while the plebeians had to be shaved. the plebs had to be shaved.

The mencey was assisted by a council of nobles, who administered justice. Among the punishments employed were public floggings given with the king's rod or "añepa" and not the death penalty.. He who had committed a murder was condemned to banishment, and had to compensate the victim's family with heads of cattle.

Religion and funeral rites

The Guanche mythology is diverse, since it was very different from island to island. The main religious festivity was the Beñesmer or harvest festival.. The Guanches believed that their social organization was represented by the way the world had been created. A creator deity had first made the nobles, to whom he had given cattle and land, and then made the rest of the population, so that they would serve the former.

On the island of Tenerife they believed in AchamánHe was the god representing the good, the supreme, luck and benevolence. As a counterpart was Guayota, the demon, who lived in the interior of Echeide or hell, Guanche word from which comes the name of Teide. Magec was the sun god, being one of the main deities.

The Guanches worshipped their ancestors and, those who could afford it, mummified them.. The mummification techniques were quite similar to those used by the ancient Egyptians, extracting some of the viscera of the deceased.

They practiced sacrifices, both animal and human, although this is a little known feature of the Guanches. During the winter solstice they had the custom of slitting the throats of some of the livestock and throwing them into a bonfire until the smoke rose to the sky.

Contact with Europeans

The first contacts between Guanches and Europeans occurred in the second half of the 14th century, being visited sporadically by Mallorcan navigators. It was from the arrival of Jean IV de Béthencourt in 1402 when Tenerife was the scene of frequent incursions in search of slaves.In 1464, an attempt was made to conquer the island in search of slaves.

In 1464 an attempt was made to conquer the island for the first time. Diego García de Herrera, self-proclaimed lord of the Canary Islands, tried to subdue the Guanches, but saw that the Castilians were numerically inferior to the islanders. He signed a peace treaty with the menceys of the island, who allowed him to build a tower. The treaty was broken in 1472 and the Europeans were expelled from the island.

After several attempts by the Europeans without much success, he had an ambivalent relationship with one of the menceys, Bencomo de Taoro, the conquest of the island was completed in May 1496, when the menceys decided to surrender after having been progressively after having been progressively weakened. The act of submission was made official by means of the Peace of Los Realejos.

Bibliographical references:

• Acosta Martínez, P.; Pellicer Catalán, M. (1976). Archaeological excavations in the Arena Cave (Barranco Hondo, Tenerife). Anuario de Estudios Atlánticos (Las Palmas de Gran Canaria: Patronato de la Casa de Colón) (22): 125-184. ISSN 0570-4065
• Arco Aguilar, M. (1976). El enterramiento canario prehispánico". Anuario de Estudios Atlánticos (Las Palmas de Gran Canaria: Patronato de la Casa de Colón) (22): 13-124. ISSN 0570-4065