History of Tenerife

The Guanches were the aboriginal people of Tenerife. Ancient DNA genetic studies confirm their North African origin, related to the Berber (Amazigh) peoples of the Maghreb.

They reached the island in the first millennium BC. The oldest archaeological datings in Tenerife —at sites such as the Cueva de los Guanches, in Icod de los Vinos— are placed around the 6th century BC, although the exact date of the first settlement is still being studied.

They lived mostly in natural caves and based their economy on goat and sheep herding and on simple agriculture. They had their own religion, mummified their dead and, not having mastered navigation, evolved isolated from the rest of the world for centuries.

At the time of the conquest, the island was divided into nine menceyatos or kingdoms, each governed by a mencey: Anaga, Tegueste, Tacoronte, Taoro, Icod, Daute, Adeje, Abona and Güímar. Those in the north, with more water and pastures, were wealthier; those in the south, more arid, were larger.

After the conquest, Alonso Fernández de Lugo founded San Cristóbal de La Laguna in 1496, which would be the capital of the island for centuries. Its grid layout, designed without walls, is considered a model for the colonial cities of the Americas and earned it designation as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1999.

The economy first took off with sugar cane and, later, with wine —especially malmsey (malvasía)—, highly prized in Europe and exported across the Atlantic. Tenerife became an obligatory stop on the routes to the Americas.

The great port of that trade was Garachico, in the north. Wine and sugar left from there bound for Europe and the Americas, until a volcano changed everything in 1706. With the decline of Garachico, port activity moved to Puerto de la Cruz and, in time, the island capital passed to Santa Cruz de Tenerife, around 1723.

With Santa Cruz consolidated as the capital and main port, the 19th and 20th centuries brought an intense relationship with the Americas: thousands of Canarians emigrated, especially to Cuba and Venezuela, in ties that are still visible today in the speech, the music and the gastronomy.

In the 20th century the great transformation arrived: tourism. The mild year-round climate, the beaches and the Teide turned Tenerife into one of Europe's great destinations, without the island losing its heritage: La Laguna as a living historic city, the Carnival of Santa Cruz as one of the largest festivals in the world, and a Guanche legacy that remains very present in its identity.