Conquest of the island of La Palma

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The conquest of the island of La Palma by Castilian troops under the leadership of Alonso Fernández de Lugo began with the landing of 700 soldiers near the present-day town of Tazacorte on September 29, 1492 and ended with the capture of Tanausús, the ruler of the Aceró area, in May 1493. The subjugation of the Benahoaritas , the indigenous people of the island, took place largely without the use of military means. Only in one of the twelve domains into which the island was divided at the end of the 15th century was there resistance that caused problems for the Castilians.

Previous attempts to subjugate the island

Béthencourt and La Salle

In the course of their attempts to subdue the population of the Canary Islands, Jean de Béthencourt and Gadifer de la Salle landed several times on the island of La Palma between 1402 and 1405. There were contacts with the population, but probably not violent clashes. A longer stay of the two French on the island is rather unlikely.

Peraza family

In 1445 Guillén de Las Casas transferred his rights to the Canary Islands to Hernán Peraza (el Viejo) and his children Inés and Guillen Peraza de Las Casas. At that time, only the islands of Lanzarote, Fuerteventura and El Hierro were secured territories of the Crown of Castile. Guillén Peraza de las Casas landed at the end of 1447 with five hundred men from Seville, Lanzarote and Fuerteventura near what is now the city of Tazacorte. The aim of the attack on the indigenous people was probably not to gain control of the area. Rather, it was one of the many acts of piracy that took place on the islands during the reign of the Peraza family. Natives were captured and sold as slaves on the Spanish peninsula. The soldiers, who could not cope with the mountainous terrain and could not fight in their usual order of battle, were attacked from all sides by the Benahoaritas with spears and stones. After Guillén Peraza was fatally injured in the head by a stone, the attack was called off.

Conquest by troops from Castile

prehistory

Dominions on the island of La Palma in 1492
1 Aridane, 2 Tihuya, 3 Tamanca, 4 Ahenguareme, 5 Tigalate, 6 Tedote, 7 Tenagua, 8 Adeyajamen, 9 Tagaragra, 10 Tagalgae, 11 Tijarafe, 12 Aceró

In the context of the Castilian War of Succession and the associated disputes between Castile and Portugal, the Canary Islands took on a new meaning. In order to secure the rights of the Crown of Castile, Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand of Castile considered it necessary that the islands not yet subject to be conquered. Therefore, Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand had a legal opinion clarified who, according to Castilian law, is the owner of the conquered islands and to whom the rights to the unconquered islands are entitled. On the basis of this report, Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand agreed with Diego García de Herrera and Inés Peraza in October 1477 to return the rights to the as yet unconquered islands of Gran Canaria , La Palma and Tenerife to the Crown of Castile.

In 1478, Castilian troops began to conquer the island of Gran Canaria. At times more than 1,000 soldiers were deployed. The conquest was successfully completed after five years in 1483. In the Treaty of Alcáçovas of 1479 and the papal bull Aeterni regis , Castile's right to the Canary Islands was confirmed. A conquest of the islands of La Palma and Tenerife was no longer urgently necessary to defend against Portuguese claims.

Preparation for conquest

Between the end of 1491 and April 1492, the governor of Gran Canaria Francisco Maldonado and Pedro de Valdes prepared the conquest of the islands of Tenerife and La Palma. To this end, they sent Francisca de Gazmira, a woman from La Palma, as a mediator to the rulers of the tribes of the island, to induce them to be baptized and to submit to the rule of the Crown of Castile. Francisca de Gazmira returned from her trip to La Palma with four or five of the twelve rulers of the island to Gran Canaria. They were informed and baptized about the course of the conquest of the island of Gran Canaria. They returned to La Palma with the result that they convinced other residents of the island that a resistance against the Castilians would not be very successful.

Agreements between the Crown of Castile and Alonso Fernández de Lugo

Alonso Fernández de Lugo was involved in the conquest of the island of Gran Canaria from 1481. He received extensive land and water rights during the subsequent division of the island. From 1483 he lived as a landowner in well-secured circumstances. After the death of his wife, he looked for a new military challenge. He appeared before Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand in the encampment of Santa Fe and proposed an agreement that they would issue as Capitulaciones . In the Capitulaciones Alonso Fernandez de Lugo was obliged to conquer the island of La Palma in the course of a year under his leadership, with troops organized and financed by him. On June 8, 1492, Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand Alonso granted Fernandez de Lugo the right to conquer the island. He was given judicial power and jurisdiction in civil and criminal matters, the right to resolve all disputes, and the power to expel people from the island and prohibit any person from entering. On July 13th of the same year the kings also granted the grace of all taxes (20%) on prisoners, cattle and goods. In another document dated the same date, the Queen and King gave an assurance that they would pay 70,000 maravedies if the conquest of La Palma was completed within a year. In addition, Alonso Fernandez de Lugo was appointed governor of the island for life. Alonso Fernández de Lugo did not have the necessary resources himself. He set up a trading company with Juanote Berardi, a Florentine merchant, and Francisco Riberol, a Genoa merchant. They shared in the costs and profits, as was the custom among traders.

landing

On September 29, 1492 Alonso Fernandez de Lugo landed with an army of about 900 men on the west coast of the island of La Palma. Part of the troop were natives of the island of Gran Canaria. They were able to advance to the south of the island without fighting. This lack of resistance is attributed to the fact that the rulers of the districts of Aridane, Tihuya, Tamanca and Ahenguareme were baptized in Las Palmas and therefore cooperated with the Castilians. The first armed clash took place in Tigalate with the indigenous people who, defeated, withdrew to Timibúcar in the Tedote district. The conquest of the island continued without any major armed incident. At the end of winter only the Aceró district remained, in the Caldera de Taburiente under the rule of the indigenous people.

Fight against Tanausú

In the spring of 1493, the conquest of Acerós, the dominion of Tanausú began. Alonso Fernandez de Lugo and his troops penetrated through the pass of Adamacansis, where he could easily be repulsed by the indigenous people. Then he tried to advance through the other access of the Caldera de Taburiente, the Barranco Axerjo, into the valley basin (caldera is the Spanish term for basin). Here, too, the Benahoaritas were able to repel the attackers. Since the residents were self-sufficient within their area , a siege seemed pointless. Therefore, Lugo had to rely on negotiations. To this end, Juan de La Palma, a distant relative of Tanausus, should arrange a meeting between the two leaders. Tanausú accepted the offer on condition that the Castilian troops retreat to Los Llanos. The meeting took place at the Fuente del Pino. Lugo, who used peaceful means when it was possible and treason when he could, made use of the latter by posting parts of his troops at the Adamacansis passage with orders to cut off Tanausu's retreat. Tanausú had so far been certain that Alonso de Lugo was a nobleman who kept his promises. The result of this betrayal was that Tanausú and his people were captured, not without their valiant struggle.

Consequences of the conquest

The lack of resistance from the Benahoaritas, who submitted to the representatives of the Crown of Castile without a fight and were baptized, was bad business for Alonso Fernández de Lugo. Except Tanausú that on the way to the peninsula by refusing food suicide committed, only the fighters of Acero could be sold as slaves. When the contracts were signed with the project sponsors, it was assumed that the sale of captured aborigines as slaves would offset a large part of the costs. The sale of aborigines who were baptized or were about to be converted was prohibited by a royal declaration on September 20, 1477. Because the Castilians, after an uprising of the indigenous people against their treatment, described them as unwilling to convert, Alonso Fernández de Lugo believed that he had the legitimation to enslave around 1,200 Benahoaritos and to confiscate 20,000 head of cattle. Francisca de Gazmira, who had convinced the rulers of some districts of Las Palmas to be baptized before the conquest, lodged several complaints with Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand against the fact that Alonso Fernández de Lugo used the same violence against all residents of La Palma, despite the express prohibition of the enslavement of the baptized.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Le Canarien: Retrato de dos mundos I. Textos . In: Eduardo Aznar, Dolores Corbella, Berta Pico, Antonio Tejera (eds.): Le Canarien: retrato de dos mundos (=  Fontes Rerum Canarium ). tape XLII . Instituto de Estudios Canarios, La Laguna 2006, ISBN 84-88366-58-2 , p. 107 (Spanish).
  2. ↑ Alejandro Cioranescu, Elías Serra Rafols (ed.): Le Canarien: crónicas francesas de la conquista de Canarias (=  Colección de textos y documentos para la historia de Canarias . Volume 8 ). Instituto de Estudios Canarios, La Laguna, Las Palmas 1959, p. 1233 (Spanish, [1] [accessed July 28, 2016]).
  3. ↑ Juan Álvarez Delgado: Primera conquista y cristianización de La Gomera . In: Anuario de estudios . No. 6 , 1960, ISSN  0570-4065 , p. 470 (Spanish, [2] [accessed August 25, 2017]).
  4. ↑ Juan de Abreu Galindo: Historia de la conquista de las siete islas de Gran Canaria . Valentín Sanz, Santa Cruz de Tenerife 1632, p. 263 (Spanish, [3] [accessed March 22, 2017] reprinted 1940).
  5. ↑ Juan Álvarez Delgado: Juan Machín, vizcaíno del siglo XV, gran figura histórica de Madera y Canarias . In: Anuario de Estudios Atlánticos . No. 7 , 1961, ISSN  0570-4065 , p. 178 (Spanish, [4] [accessed November 30, 2017]).
  6. ↑ Manuel Lobo Cabrera: La conquista de Gran Canaria (1478-1483) . Ediciones del Cabildo de Gran Canaria, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria 2012, ISBN 978-84-8103-653-4 , p. 57 (Spanish).
  7. ^ Ana del Carmen Viña Brito: Conquista y repartimiento de la isla de La Palma . Búho, Santa Cruz de Tenerife 1997, ISBN 84-88807-02-3 , p. 22 (Spanish).
  8. ↑ Alejandro Cioranescu: Una amiga de Cristóbal Colón, Doña Beatriz de Bobadilla . Confederación de Cajas de Ahorros, Santa Cruz de Tenerife 1989, ISBN 84-505-8354-3 , p. 141 (Spanish).
  9. ^ Mauro S. Hernández Pérez: Contribución a la Carta Arqueológica de la isla de la Palma (Canarias) . In: Anuario de Estudios Atlánticos . No. 18 , 1972, ISSN  0570-4065 , p. 554 (Spanish, [5] [accessed January 16, 2018]).
  10. ^ Ana del Carmen Viña Brito: Conquista y repartimiento de la isla de La Palma . Búho, Santa Cruz de Tenerife 1997, ISBN 84-88807-02-3 , p. 19 (Spanish).
  11. ^ Mauro S. Hernández Pérez: Contribución a la Carta Arqueológica de la isla de la Palma (Canarias) . In: Anuario de Estudios Atlánticos . No. 18 , 1972, ISSN  0570-4065 , p. 553 ff . (Spanish, [6] [accessed January 16, 2018]).
  12. ^ Mauro S. Hernández Pérez: Contribución a la Carta Arqueológica de la isla de la Palma (Canarias) . In: Anuario de Estudios Atlánticos . No. 18 , 1972, ISSN  0570-4065 , p. 556 (Spanish, [7] [accessed January 16, 2018]).
  13. ↑ Antonio Rumeu de Armas: La política indigenista de Isabel La Catolica . Instituto Isabel la Católica de Historia Eclesiástica, Valladolid 1969, p. 37 (Spanish, [8] [accessed March 28, 2016]).
  14. ^ Elías Serra Ráfols: Los últimos canarios . In: Revista de Historia Canaria . No. 128 , 1959, ISSN  0213-9472 , pp. 17 (Spanish, [9] [accessed January 18, 2018]).
  15. ^ Ana del Carmen Viña Brito: Conquista y repartimiento de la isla de La Palma . Búho, Santa Cruz de Tenerife 1997, ISBN 84-88807-02-3 , p. 24 (Spanish).

literature

  • Mauro S. Hernández Pérez: Contribución a la Carta Arqueológica de la isla de la Palma (Canarias) . In: Anuario de Estudios Atlánticos . No. 18 , 1972, ISSN  0570-4065 , p. 537-641 (Spanish, [10] [accessed January 16, 2018]).
  • Ernesto Martín Rodríguez: La Palma y los auaritas . Ed .: Antonio Tejera Gaspar (=  La prehistoria de Canarias . Volume 3 ). Centro de la Cultura Popular Canaria, La Laguna 1992, ISBN 84-7926-086-6 (Spanish).
  • Ana del Carmen Viña Brito: Conquista y repartimiento de la isla de La Palma . Búho, Santa Cruz de Tenerife 1997, ISBN 84-88807-02-3 (Spanish).

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