CANARY ISLES. 



Canary 



Isles. 



they immediately proceeded to build a castle, and to 

 throw up a fortification around their camp. The 



' Canarians, among whom considerable differences had 

 existed, respecting the usurpation of some of their 

 chiefs, seeing the determination of the Spaniards to 

 settle in the island, laid aside all private animosities, 

 and, uniting their forces, advanced to the expulsion 

 of the enemy. They encountered the Spaniards with 

 the fury of men whose liberty and religion were at 

 stake; and displayed, in every attack, the most he- 

 roic and obstinate resistance. For three hours the 

 battle continued without any apparent advantage on 

 either side ; but the Canarians were unable to with- 

 stand the fire-arms of the Spaniards, and were com- 

 pelled to retreat, which they did in good order, with 

 the loss of 300 men killed, and their bravest chief 

 Adargoma, who w^as wounded and taken prisoner. 

 After this battle, which was called the battle of Gui- 

 niguada, the natives, in some measure terrified by the 

 sight of the horses, which had appeared for the first 

 time in the island, did not attempt to engage the 



^Spaniards again on level ground, but retiring to 

 the mountainous parts of the country, contented 

 themselves with continually harassing the enemy, in 

 their marches, and foraging excursions. This species 

 of warfare continued for nearly six years, during 

 which time the Spaniards had received frequent re- 

 inforcements. The Canarians were determined to 

 persist rather than submit. In many of their con- 

 flicts they had come off victorious ; and their cou- 

 rage had been roused, and their hatred inflamed, by 

 the bad faith of the enemy, who had trepanned about 

 200 of their subjected countrymen out of the island, 

 under pretence of sending them to the reduction of 

 Teneriffe, and carried them to fight against the 

 Moors in Barbary, where they all perished. Jealou- 

 sies and contentions had also existed among the Spa- 

 nish officers, and before the object of the expedition 

 was accomplished, three different governors had been 

 sent out to Grand Canary. Their progress, however, 

 though slow, promised them a successful conclusion ; 

 the greatest part of the island was in their possession ; 

 and the natives were reduced to their last strong hold. 

 Six hundred Canarian warriors with about a thousand 

 women and children, had assembled at the mountain 

 of Ansite, a place deemed impregnable, with the re- 

 solution of losing their liberty only with their lives. 

 But by the persuasion of one of their converted 

 chiefs, who had been taken prisoner, and had em- 

 braced the Christian faith, they were induced to lay 

 aside all thoughts of resistance, and to submit to the 

 Spaniards, upon condition of their being protected 

 in the possession of their liberties and effects, and 

 that especial regard should be paid to the rank and 

 dignity, -of their nobles. This event happened on the 

 29th of .April 1483, which day is now annually held 

 as a great festival throughout the island of Grand Ca- 

 nary, where the standard which was then in the Spanish 

 camp, and which is deposited in the church of St 

 Anna, is carried in solemn procession. On the 20th 

 of February 1487, this island was incorporated into 

 the crown of Castile, with the title of kingdom, and 

 declared free from certain duties. In the same year 

 it was erected into a bishopric by Pope Inno- 

 cent VIII. ; and its patronage was given to the king 



of Spain, and his successors for ever. In 1499, a 

 body of laws and charters was sent over to Grand 

 Canary for the government of its inhabitants; and, 

 in 1515, the Emperor Charles V. bestowed on Pal- 

 mas, the capital of the isla.'d, the title of noble and 

 royal city of Palmas. 



After the reduction of Grand Canary, many of the 

 Spaniards preferring an active military life to one of 

 ease and retirement, which they might have quietly en- 

 joyed in that island, looked to Palma and Tene;iffe 

 as the scenes of farther conquest. Among these was 

 Captain Alonzo de Lugo, who had served with much 

 reputation in the Canarian war, and who, by his in- 

 terest at court, procured a grant of the conquest of 

 the two islands from their Catholic Majesties. With 

 a fleet properly equipped, and well supplied with 

 men, ammunition, &c. necessary for the undertaking, 

 he sailed for Palma, and on the 29th ot Septem- 

 ber 1490, landed at the port of Tassacorta, on the 

 west side of the island. Having fixed and strongly 

 fortified his camp, and also built a chapel, which he 

 dedicated to St Michael, he proceeded to the subju- 

 gation of the inhabitants. This, in part, he ea< ly 

 effected, especially with those of the south west quar- 

 ter of the island, whom he reduced, not by fore of 

 arms, but by promises and presents. The natives, 

 however, in the north-east side, refused all his offers. 

 They had formerly suffered very injurious treatment 

 from the Spaniards of Ferro, and, suspecting their 

 present intruders of the like intentions, no promises 

 could induce them to submit. They retired to one of 

 their strong holds among the mountains, which the 

 Spaniards called the cauldron, from its resemblance 

 to that vessel, and here they defied all the skill and 

 valour of their adversaries. But finding that the 

 Spaniards had come to settle in the island, and were 

 determined upon their reduction, they at last agreed, 

 that if the Spaniards would retire to the foot of the 

 mountain, they would come next day and make their 

 submission. Alonzo de Lugo complied, but at the 

 same time suspecting that it was merely a stratagem 

 to dislodge him from his present position, he left an 

 ambush to cut off their retreat, in case they should 

 follow him, and afterwards wish to return to the 

 cauldron. When the natives appeared, according to 

 the agreement, they found the Spaniards armed, and 

 in order of battle, and, apprehensive of some treach- 

 erous design, they refused to proceed. But Tanause, 

 their chief, assured them, that as he had Alonzo's 

 promise, they had nothing to fear. The faith of the 

 Spaniard, however, was of too accommodating a na- 

 ture to allow the present opportunity to escape, and 

 not being yet assured of their real intentions, fell 

 upon them with all his forces, when a very bloody 

 skirmish ensued, which ended with the death or cap- 

 tivity of all the natives. Tanause, who was among 

 the prisoners, was sent over, wjth several of the other 

 chiefs, to Spain, along with the agreeable tidings of 

 the conquest. He bitterly complained against Alon- 

 zo for his breach of promise, and took it s<i much to 

 heart, together with his being sent out of the island, 

 that he obstinately refused all manner of nourishment, 

 and starved himself to death. 



The conquest of Teni-riffe was not so easily ac- 

 complished, and the reverses vrhieh Alonzo met with in 



Canary 

 Isles. 



