The Crown of Castile conquered the Canary Islands place between 1402 and 1496 in two periods: the Conquista señorial, carried out by Castilian nobility in exchange for a covenant of allegiance to the crown, and the Conquista realenga, carried out by the Spanish crown itself during the reign of the Catholic Monarchs. It has been described as the first instance of European settler colonialism in Africa, as well as a genocide due to the brutal treatment of the Islands' indigenous Guanches which contributed to their extinction as a distinct group.
Introduction
The ties between the Canaries and the Mediterranean world which had existed since antiquity were interrupted by the decline and fall of the Western Roman Empire. Although these linkages were weakened, they were not totally severed, and the Canaries' isolation was not total. During the Middle Ages, the first reports on the Canaries come from Arabic sources, which refer to some Atlantic islands which may have been the Canaries. What does seem clear is that this knowledge of the islands did not signify the end of the cultural isolation of the native inhabitants.
Visits to the archipelago began to increase after the end of the 13th century for reasons including:
- The economic expansion of some European states, such as the Republic of Genoa, the Crown of Aragon, the Kingdom of Castile, and the Kingdom of Portugal. These states were already engaging in maritime trade along the Moroccan coast.
- Development of new navigation techniques (compass, astrolabe, stern rudder, cog-caravel) and the development of cartography: a portulan map by Angelino Dulcert of Majorca, from 1339, is the first to show some of the Canary Islands, and this date might in fact coincide with the effective rediscovery of the islands by the Genoese seaman Lanzarotto Malocello. The first expedition to visit all the islands of the archipelago took place two years later, in 1341, under the command of fellow Genoese seaman and explorer Niccoloso da Recco, at the service and on behalf of Portuguese king Afonso IV.
- Ideological and political motives: the monarchies of Southern Europe entered an expansive phase. In the case of the Iberian monarchies, their territorial expansion was spurred by the reconquista ("reconquest") of Moorish southern Spain (al-Andalus). For this reason, territorial expansion represented a reinforcement of royal power, imbued with crusader and missionary spirit.
Pre-Conquest
In the 14th century, a variety of forces competed for control of the Canaries: Genoese, Majorcan, Portuguese and Castilian. In the following century, Castile and Portugal were the primary contenders.
Genoese phase
The first visit by a European to the Canary Islands since antiquity was by Genoese captain Lanceloto Malocello traditionally dated 1312 (but probably a little later, between 1318–1325). Malocello's motives were unclear – it is believed he might have been searching for traces of the Vivaldi brothers who had disappeared off Morocco, around Cape Non back in 1291. Malocello made landfall (possibly shipwrecked) on Lanzarote island, and remained there for nearly twenty years. Malocello may have attempted to erect himself as a ruler among the aboriginal peoples and been eventually expelled by them.
According to some sources, shortly after his return to Europe, in 1336, Malocello led a return expedition to the Canaries, sponsored by the Portuguese crown. However, the existence of this expedition has been dismissed by most modern historians, as being based on later forged documents.
Evidently drawing from the information provided by Malocello, in 1339 appeared the portolan map by Angelino Dulcert of Majorca showing the Canary island of Lanzarote (named Insula de Lanzarotus Marocelus and marked by a Genoese shield), as well as the island of Forte Vetura (Fuerteventura) and Vegi Mari (Lobos). Although earlier maps had shown fantastical depictions of the "Fortunate Islands" (on the basis of their mention in Pliny), this is the first European map where the actual Canary islands make a solid appearance (although Dulcert also includes some fantastic islands himself, notably Saint Brendan's Island, and three islands he names Primaria, Capraria and Canaria).
In 1341, a three-ship expedition sponsored by King Afonso IV of Portugal, set out from Lisbon, commanded by Florentine captain Angiolino del Tegghia de Corbizzi and Genoese captain Nicoloso da Recco, and employing a mixed crew of Italians, Portuguese and Castilians. Cruising the archipelago for five months, the expedition mapped thirteen islands (seven major, six minor) and surveyed the indigenous inhabitants, the 'Guanches', bringing back four natives to Lisbon. (This expedition would become the basis of later Portuguese claims of priority on the islands.)
Cerda lordship
European interest in the Canaries picked up quickly after the 1341 mapping expedition. The descriptions of the primeval Guanches, in particular, drew the attention of European merchants, who immediately saw the prospect of new and easy slave-raiding grounds. In 1342, at least two Majorcan expeditions, one under Francesc Duvalers, another under Domenech Gual, assembled by private merchant consortia with a commission from Roger de Robenach (representative of James III of Majorca) set out for the Canary Islands. Some speculate as many as four or five expeditions were commissioned in Majorca in 1342. The results of these expeditions are uncertain.
The Catholic Church was also drawn by the news. In 1344, the Castilian-French noble Luis de la Cerda (Count of Clermont and Admiral of France), then serving as a French ambassador to the papal court in Avignon, submitted a proposal to Pope Clement VI, offering the Church the more palatable vision of conquering the islands and converting the native Canarians to Christianity. In November 1344, Pope Clement VI issued the bull Tuae devotionis sinceritas granting the Canary islands in perpetuity to Luis de la Cerda and bestowing upon him the title of sovereign "Prince of Fortuna". The pope followed this up with another bull, in January 1345, giving the projected Cerda-led conquest and conversion of the islands the character of a crusade, granting indulgences to its participants, and papal letters were dispatched to the Iberian monarchs urging them to provide material assistance to Cerda's expedition. The Portuguese king Afonso IV immediately lodged a protest, claiming priority of discovery, but conceded to the authority of the pope. Alfonso XI of Castile also protested, claiming that, by the ancient Visigothic dioceses and prior reconquista treaties, the islands fell within the Castilian jurisdiction and 'sphere of conquest', but nonetheless recognized Cerda's title.
Preparations for the Cerda expedition were stalled by the opposition of the Iberian monarchs – despite their formal concessions to Cerda's title, they did not facilitate the organization of his expedition. As a result, no expedition to the Canary islands was mounted before Luis de la Cerda's death on 5 July 1348. By the terms of the 1344 contract, the lordship of Fortuna was set to expire after five years without an expedition (although Cerda's heirs, the Counts of Medinacelli would later revive their claim).
Majorcan-Catalan phase
With Cerda out of the picture, former parties resumed their adventures. However, records over the next generation are few and far-between. There are notices of three further expeditions by Majorcans (now annexed by Aragon since 1344) to the area – the famed expedition of Jaume Ferrer in 1346 (aiming to reach the "River of Gold", i.e. Senegal, on the African coast, but may have touched the Canaries on the way), the expedition of Arnau Roger to Gran Canaria in 1352, and a royal-sponsored patrol expedition by Joan Mora in 1366. There were doubtless many unrecorded expeditions, not only by Majorcans, but also likely by merchants of Seville and Lisbon. These would have been almost wholly of commercial character, many with the purpose of capturing native islanders to sell as slaves in European markets. But there was also some peaceful trade with the locals, particularly for orchil and dragon's blood, which grew wildly on the islands and were much valued as dyes by the European cloth industry.
Despite the failure of the Cerda project, the pope did not give up on his hope of converting the natives. In 1351, Pope Clement VI endorsed an expedition by Majorcan captains Joan Doria and Jaume Segarra, with the object of bringing Franciscan missionaries, including twelve converted Canarian natives (apparently seized by previous Majorcan expeditions), to the islands. Whether this expedition ever set out is uncertain, although it was most probably enveloped in Arnau Roger's expedition of 1352. Apocryphal legend relates the Majorcan missionaries succeeded in establishing an evangelizing center at Telde on Gran Canaria until they were massacred by the natives in 1354.
To encourage the missionaries at Telde the pope had erected the 'Diocese of Fortuna' in 1351, but this seems to have remained a paper appointment. Papal interest in the Canaries waned following the death of Pope Clement VI in late 1352. For the next generation, there is practically no information about the Canary islands. It is probable Majorcan-Catalan kept up their commercial interest, focused on Gran Canaria, but records are scant.
The next we hear of the Canary islands is in 1366, when King Peter IV of Aragon commissioned the captain Joan Mora to patrol the Canary islands to assert Catalan sovereignty and patrol for interlopers. Although there was still no project of conquest, interest in missionary establishments seemed to pick up again. The Avignon Pope Urban V issued a bull in July 1369 erecting the Diocese of Fortuna and appointing Fr. Bonnant Tari as bishop, and followed it up with bull of September 1369 instructing the bishops of Barcelona and Tortosa to dispatch 10 secular and 20 regular clergy to preach to the Canarians in their native languages. Whether this actually set out or just remained a paper project is also uncertain. We have a more reliable record of a Majorcan expedition in 1386 carried out by 'Pauperes Heremite', sponsored by Peter IV Aragon and Pope Urban VI. Although their exact fate is unknown, there is a later report that thirteen "Christian friars" who had been preaching in the Canaries "for seven years" were massacred in an uprising during 1391. At least five missionary expeditions would be sent (or at least planned) between 1352 and 1386.
Geographic knowledge of the Canary islands coalesced with these expeditions. Eight of the Canary islands, including La Gomera and El Hierro, are depicted in the 1367 portolan chart of the brothers Domenico and Francesco Pizzigano. A few years later, the Catalan Atlas of 1375 shows the Canaries almost completely and accurately mapped (only La Palma is missing). The eleven islands are named in the Catalan Atlas (from east to west) as Graciosa (La Graciosa), laregranza (Alegranza), rocho (Roque), Insula de lanzaroto maloxelo (Lanzarote), insula de li vegi marin (Lobos), forteventura (Fuerteventura), Insula de Canaria (Gran Canaria), Insula del infernio (Tenerife), insula de gomera (La Gomera), insula de lo fero (El Hierro). The name 'tenerefiz' is first given alongside 'Infierno' in the 1385 Libro del Conoscimiento.
Portuguese phase
During the 1370s, when Portugal and Castile were engaged in the dynastic Fernandine Wars that followed the assassination of Peter I of Castile, Portuguese and Castilian privateers were dispatched against each other, several of which made detours to the Canary islands for shelter or slave-raiding jaunts.
In the first indication of a conquest project since 1344, King Ferdinand I of Portugal granted in 1370 the islands of Lanzarote and La Gomera to the adventurer 'Lançarote da Franquia' (believed by some to be none other than the impossibly-aged Lanceloto Malocello). Lançarote da Franquia made an attempt to seize the islands and is reported to have engaged in fighting with "Guanches and Castilians" there by 1376, but it seems the effort at establishing a Portuguese foothold faltered after Lançarote's death in 1385.