„los Guanches“ of Candelaria
The Guanches are a stonage culture who lived on the Canary Islands. It is supposed that they were coming from the north of Africa by ship or boats and that they brought all their stock with them, but this theory never has been proofed. The Guanches are probably related to the African Berbers. Some of the words that were passed down through the centuries are related to the Berber language.
The Guanches lived in all over the Canary archipel but it seems they did not have connections between the ilands. What they all had in common with each other was the language. The word Guanche means the native people from the Canaries. Some words of this language are even found in todays language or dialect.
By the 14th century the islands were conquered by the Europeans and they discorvered the Guanche society. Many Guanches were killed or enslaved. The concquerors described the Guanches as tall and strong people, many of them with blond hair and blue eyes.
Today we find in memory of the Guanches, in front of the main square of Candelaria, statues of the last kings-guanches, callled Menceys. It´s worth to visit the Guanches of Candelaria one day and enjoy the surroundings of Candelaria on the Isle of Tenerife.
May 23rd, 2009 at 5:43 pm
Nice blog, we just keep on promting Tenerife don’t we!