La Matanza de Acentejo lies on the northern strip of Tenerife, on the mid-altitude slopes that descend from the Las Lagunetas highlands toward the sea, an area that in pre-Hispanic times formed part of the region of Acentejo, a fertile, wooded territory within the menceyato (kingdom) of Tacoronte. Those ravine-cut slopes, today planted with vines, were the scene of one of the most remembered episodes of the conquest of the Canary Islands and of the whole of Guanche military history.

The town's name comes from the First Battle of Acentejo, fought in May 1494. The conqueror Alonso Fernandez de Lugo, who had landed at Anazo and was advancing toward the kingdom of Taoro, led his troops into the rugged Acentejo ravine. There the Guanche warriors ambushed him, taking advantage of the broken terrain and the dense woodland. The result was a Castilian defeat of enormous scale: the chronicles speak of hundreds of dead and a chaotic retreat, so much so that the place became known as "La Matanza" ("The Slaughter"). It was one of the greatest defeats suffered by a Castilian force outside the Iberian Peninsula.

A key figure in that battle was the achimencey (war leader) Tinguaro, brother of Mencey Bencomo of Taoro and military chief of the area. His Guanche name was Chimenchia (or Himenechia); it was the poet Antonio de Viana who, in his 1604 epic poem, popularized him as Tinguaro, so it is worth distinguishing the historical fact from the later literary recreation. Tinguaro commanded the vanguard that surprised the Castilians in the ravine, while Bencomo arrived with the bulk of the army. A year later, in 1495, fortunes reversed at the Second Battle of Acentejo, a Castilian victory that gave its name to the neighbouring town of La Victoria de Acentejo: thus two adjoining villages preserve in their names the memory of the defeat and the triumph of the conquest.

After the island was incorporated into the Crown of Castile, the territory was gradually settled by farmers and the village grew around the Christian faith. The small early hermitage of the 16th century became a parish independent from El Sauzal in 1614-1615, dedicated to El Salvador (The Saviour). Enlarged in the 17th century, the church was destroyed by fire in June 1936 and rebuilt in the following decades, with the new temple reopened in 1942. La Matanza became an independent municipality in the 19th century under the Constitution of 1812 and was granted the title of villa (town) in 1985.

The local economy has always revolved around the land. Vine-growing is its hallmark: the municipality belongs to the Tacoronte-Acentejo Designation of Origin, the first wine D.O. in the Canary Islands, famed for its high-altitude reds. Alongside the vineyards survive the traditional crops of potatoes, vegetables, fruit and the chestnut groves of the highlands. This farming vocation has its great showcase in the Farmers', Wine and Crafts Market, opened in 1999 and now one of the most visited in the north of the island.

Today La Matanza de Acentejo is a municipality of just over nine thousand inhabitants that blends its rural roots with a quiet, authentic tourist appeal. Its viewpoints overlooking the northern coast, such as Mirador de La Vica, its history-laden ravines, its good food washed down with local wine, and its deeply rooted patron-saint festivals make this village an ideal destination for anyone seeking the most genuine Tenerife, far from the bustle of the south and very close to the Guanche past.