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After centuries of solemnly Europeans "re-discovered" the Fortunate Islands in the first half of the XIVth century. They found living there a people who later came to be known as the Guanches, and who are still the object of great mystery. They had to have arrived by sea and they arrived with their domesticated animals: goats, sheep, pigs and dogs. They brought with them wheat and barley. They came from North Africa, originating from the same stock as the Berbers of the Atlas mountains. The ancestors of the Guanches arrived by sea, colonized the islands... and then "forgot" how to sail! When the Europeans landed on the Canaries, they discovered a stone age culture based on shepherding, fruit gathering and a very limited agriculture. This same base was common to all the islands, but each island had developed into its own microcosm to the point where even the language had differentiated into distinct dialects. The islands were cut off one from the other as the natives did not know the art of navigation. They fished only in coastal tidal pools. This is one of the great enigmas of the Guanches. How was it possible for a race of people to reach the shores of these tiny islands by sea, live surrounded by ocean with - on several islands - enormous forests of tall trees for raw material and yet ignore the sea, living as it were with their back turned to it? Several possible answers to this mystery have been offered. Perhaps the people of the Canaries were simple shepherds who had been transported to the islands by a sailing people and later forgotten and left to fate. Other explanations might be found in the extraordinary difficulty of navigating the oceans surrounding the Canaries due to the strong currents flowing to the West and the trade winds blowing as strongly almost year round.

Linguistic Heritage
Though most vocabulary had been forgotton, even in todays life some words can be tracked directly to aboriginal heritage, most visible in some of the islands' name. Guanche was the name by which the natives of Tenerife called themselves. Guan Chenech meant "Man from Chenech", or man from Tenerife. With the passage of time, the term Guanche became identified with all the native peoples of the Canaries.

The names of the different islands and of their inhabitants (for those that are known) are as follows:

Appearance
According to the tales of the European conquerors, the Guanches were a "highly beautiful white race, tall, muscular, and with a great many blondes amongst their numbers" Their great height must be understood in relation to the average height of Europeans at that time. As for the presence of blondes, even today after many centuries of invasions and intermarriage, a heritage of blond hair and blue eyes is easily found among modern day Berbers of the Atlas region in Africa.

Political Organization
According to old legends and traditions, the island of Tenerife was once governed by a single Mencey or king called Tinerfe the Great. It appears he lived in the region of Adeje in the southwestern corner of the island. After his death, the island was divided up between his sons and grandsons. The fact is that, upon the arrival of the Europeans, Tenerife had 9 independent Menceys. Their minuscule kingdoms were called Anaga, Tegueste, Tacoronte, Taoro, Icod, Daute, Adeje, Abona and Güimar. These kingdoms (or Menceyatos) extended from the seashore high up the slopes of the central mountain chain. The very tops of these central mountains, including Teide, seem to hab been common mountain land used by the shepherds of the various Menceyatos to pasture their herds during the summer months when the vegetation in the coastal areas dried up and grew scarce. This upper region was essential to the desert Menceyatos in the South of the island (Adeje, Abona and Güimar), where the lack of rainfall makes the annual transfer of the herds to the mountains a necessity. In contrast, the "rich" neighbors to the North seemed to be able to allow themselves the luxury of raising small, but flourishing, crops of wheat, barley, peas and beans alongside their herds. Anaga was a special Menceyato. It occupied the eastern peninsula of the island and included all the area from the coast right up to the top of the land mass which forms it. The Guanches used the word Guañac (gwan-yac) to refer to what Europeans call "Fatherland", State or Republic. Although all the Menceys were independent and supreme lords over their lands, one of them - the Mencey of Taoro - appeared to have played the role of first among equals. The capital of his lands was located in the Valley of Arautava or Arautapola, today known as the Valley of Orotava. His territory, which centuries later is still praised as a sort of paradise, seems to have been the heart of Tenerife during the war for conquest. The Mencey of Taoro was given the special honorific title of Quevehi, "Your Majesty", "Your Highness".
The warriors of the Guanches obeyed a Sigoñe (military chief), and were armed with a banot (wooden spear) and stones, many of which were polished down to have sharp edges. They were genuine masters at throwing these missiles. They also had teniques, or stones wrapped in leather held in place by thongs, which they used as deadly bludgeons. They proved their strength and prowess by defeating and destroying nearly all of the Castillian expeditionary force in 1494 at a place in Northern Tenerife which they called Acentejo (Running Waters) and where later was founded the village of "La Matanza de Acentejo" (the Massacre of Acentejo). Warriors went naked to war, although normally they wore tamarcos, capes of goat skin to protect them from the cold of the mountains. On some islands they also wore skirts made from palm fibers. Depending on the season, the activity and the social class, other pieces of clothing had been worn: xercos (pigskin shoes or sandals), huirmas (pieces of leather worn like sleeves to protect the arms), guaycas (leather leggings covering the area between the ankle and the knee), and the ahico (a type of leather shirt).

Society
Although Guanche society was patriarchal, the role of women was very important. On several islands, inheritance rights had been passed down from the mother and women were responsible for the transfer of royal power. Such was the case on Gran Canaria where Queen Atidamana is still remembered. Similarly, when finally Gran Canaria surrendered to the Castillian troops, they did so bringing out a young girl, the daughter of the last Guanarteme (King of the island), to present her with the highest honors to their new overlords. She represented the power and legitimacy of the people’s sovereignty. In other instances, the women were so fierce during combat, or in encouraging and helping their men in combat that the conquistadors spoke of the "the amazons" of the island of La Palma. Or they told legendary tales of Guacimara, royal princess of Anaga (Tenerife) who took part in the struggle against those who tried to land on the beaches of Añaza. Women also played an important role in stories mixed with legend which tell of the heroism displayed by princesses and aristocrats who preferred to throw themselves from the cliffs rather than be taken captive by the Europeans. This ritual suicide, symbol of love for freedom, was practiced not only by women, but also by some men of the royal families, and was preceded by the cry Vacaguaré! (I want to die!). Women in Lanzarote and Fuerteventura, however, seem to have played a more submissive role, where they were given as a sign of hospitality to guests to accompany them to bed. Nor did women have an easy time in times of scarcity or overpopulation. When the population reached greater numbers that what was felt the land could sustain, female infanticide was practiced on the islands of La Palma and Gran Canaria. They killed all new born female babies unless it was the first born of the family. In this case, the child was respected as the perpetuator of the family line.