Seven islands peopled since the first millennium BC by settlers of North African Berber origin, cut off from the mainland since: the Majos of Lanzarote and Fuerteventura, the Canarii of Gran Canaria, the Guanches of Tenerife, the Gomeros, the Benahoaritas of La Palma and the Bimbapes of El Hierro.
They farm barley and wheat, herd goats and sheep, live in caves and stone villages, work stone, wood and pottery but no metal, and have no boats fit for the open sea. On 1 January 1200 no outsider rules or visits them as far as is known; al-Idrisi (about 1154) tells of Andalusi adventurers from Lisbon who reached an island of fair-haired people and were sent back to the African coast, a tale partly fanciful. European ships come only in the fourteenth century (Lancelotto Malocello about 1312, the voyage of 1341), and the conquest begins in 1402.
Who rules
- Name
- Not known for 1200
- Title
- No common ruler: each island under its own chiefs
- Confidence
- low
No name of any island chief is known for 1200. The political picture known (the nine menceyatos of Tenerife, the two guanartemes of Gran Canaria, the two kingdoms of Fuerteventura) comes from the conquest period (1402-1496) and is generally later than 1200 (en.wikipedia Guanches; es.wikipedia Aborigenes canarios).
What the realm holds
- Lanzarote
- Fuerteventura
- Gran Canaria
- Tenerife
- La Gomera
- La Palma
- El Hierro
The realm that morning
Free and unknown to the world.
Wealth
Barley, wheat (Gran Canaria), goats, sheep, figs; dragon-tree resin; shellfish.
Military
Island warriors with stones, wooden spears and swords, and shields.
How they decide
Island by island: chiefs whose rank passes in noble lineages (through the female line on Gran Canaria), councils of nobles and elders (the tagoror of Tenerife), priests and holy women. The details come from accounts written two centuries later.
Tribute
None to outsiders.
Relations
None outside the archipelago. Madeira, Porto Santo and the Savage Islands, further out, are uninhabited.
Places of note
- Madeira (uninhabited): Uninhabited, wooded island; first settled by the Portuguese from 1420
- Porto Santo (uninhabited): Uninhabited
- Savage Islands (uninhabited): Uninhabited rocks between Madeira and the Canaries
Where the sources disagree
Evidence: No written source of 1200. Archaeology and accounts of the fifteenth-century conquest; al-Idrisi's twelfth-century tale.
On the map: Drawn from the island provinces (mrk-prov-*).
Sources and studies
Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.