The F-Word Part 8: The Wise Women of the Canaries

  The Canary Islands have gone through times of prosperity and economic hardship. Right now is a downturn for most of Spain's provinces, as well as much of Europe. But once upon a time they were nothing to do with Spain and relatively autonomous. I've been trying to learn as much of the history as I can from local publications and internet research but the material is sparse.

  Fuerteventura has a population of around 103,000. When I think that I used to live in a suburb near London that had twice that in the space of a few square miles, it seems incredible. However unemployment is beginning 2013 at 33.7% for the 2.3 million residents of the seven sister islands:

 

In the three weeks after we arrived and had no internet I took to researching everything I could about the island the old fashioned way books, newspapers and magazine articles. I tried to piece together some of the history of the islands and their connection to the rest of the world.

 

We knew already that there were archaelogical discoveries of ancient civilisations from our trip to the little fishing hamlet Pozo Negro or Black Well. On our first visit here in January 2012 this was one of the isolated communities we fell in love with; a cluster of white houses encircling a pebble beach scattered with a few fishing boats and a couple of tiny locally run seafood restaurants overlooking the sea. On the winding road approaching Pozo Negro there is a museum off to the left with dozens of ruined structures where it is believed the earliest known inhabitants resided from Africa. The Saharan sandstorms from Africa and strong Atlantic winds have eroded and destroyed most of the early remnants of human civilisations and little is known about them. Although it is a volcanic island, there hasn't been any volcanic activity here for about 5000 years. There is though plenty of seismic activity and lots of low level earthquakes in the vicinity. El Hierro suffers the most and has had 7 small earthquakes already in March and 4000 earthquakes and tremors were recorded in 2011.

 

Still despite extremes of weather and the storms that have regularly cut off power and closed schools and ports over the last couple of weeks, some remnants of ancients civilization remain. The rest must be pieced together through the limited historical evidence that exists. Prior to the the Norman and Spanish conquerors who discovered the Canaries in the 1400's there wasn't a great deal of contact between the islands and the rest of the world. Ancient texts describe the islands as being inhabited by mystical creatures such as "dragons, cyclops and sea monsters" and others as the location of the lost city of Atlantis, possibly swallowed by the sea as the plates beneath shifted causing volcanoes and earthquakes. There were no papryus recordings or scrolls and the only remaining 'written' histories come from rare cave paintings preserved from the elements and glyphs, although very few have been discovered. Pliny the Elder wrote in the first century that explorers found no inhabitants on the island but ruins of great buildings.

 

It is believed that the first inhabitants around 1B.C. were from North Africa and were extraordinarily tall blonde people (perhaps the Nephilim, the offspring of so-called fallen angels, gigantic in stature). They originally dwelt in the caves which provided the most protection and shelter from the fierce winds and harsh sun. In some of these caves mummies have been discovered where goat skins, furs and salt have been used to preserve the bodies.

 

The earliest written histories specific to the Canaries describe two great women,  Tamonante and Tibiabin. Tamonante counselled and governed the early tribes, settling disputes and determining justice. Tibiabin  was a prophetess/soothsayer/witch according to these texts and used 'demons or natural judgment' to prophesy and was worshipped as a goddess, who also presided over ceremonies and rituals as a priestess. They were sought as wise women by the male leaders. At one point Tibiabin predicted the arrival of "powerful people" by sea "in white houses" and she advised the tribal leaders to welcome these foreign visitors rather than recieve them with hostility, promising benefits to the land if handled diplomatically. The tribal leaders refuted this counsel and when shortly after Europeans arrived to capture the peoples as slaves they defended their islands as best they could.

 

Initially their defense was successful. When Norman baron Jean de Bethencourt invaded in 1402, his army of soldier/sailors were both badly organised and poorly disciplined, little better than pirates. Consequently the Canarians were given some victories benefiting from their knowledge of the land, it's elements and the secret long distance form of communication which still exists today. "Silbo Gomero" is a form of phonetic whistling which enabled them to communicate over greater areas and helped them resist the early conquistadors. It is preserved as a cultural language and is currently being revived and taught in some local schools.

 

However the conquerors continued to press the islands especially as they became of note as an important trading post between Africa, Europe and the Americas. Tenerife was the last island to fall to the "Guanches" in 1495. It had taken almost a century for the indigenous populations to be captured and converted to Christianity with many thousands of fatalities along the way. And today they remain under the government of Spain, although with their own president.

 

It's difficult to say whether the advice of the two wise women, had it been heeded could have changed the course of history. It is probably likely that the Conquerors with their great wealth and resources would have succeeded anyway, but I admire their attempt to strategically approach these invaders with peaceful methods in any case.