Conquest
The Canary Islands Conquest began with the capture of Lanzarote in 1402 r. and continued until the conquest of Tenerife in 1496 r. The first stage of the conquest, when Lanzarote was conquered, Fuerteventura, La Gomerę and El Hierro, is called the Lord's Conquest (śenorial), because at their own expense and for private profit, it was made by magnates operating under the auspices of the Castilian crown. In return for the conquest of the islands, they received them. The conquest began in 1402 r. Jean de Bethencourt, who conquered Lanzarote, Fuerteventura and El Hierro, in return for which he became their feudal lord. After that, how he failed to capture the fiercely defended Tenryfa and Gran Canaria, he returned to France, and he bequeathed the islands to his relative, who sold them to the Portuguese after a few years. Things were different with La Gomera, which, though, fell to the Spanish Peraz family – it wasn't actually conquered until 1488 r., because the colonizers and natives did their best, at least in the beginning, coexist relatively peacefully. For over 30 for years both the Portuguese claimed the rights to the islands, and the Spaniards. The dispute ended only in 1479 r., after signing the treaty, under which Portugal was granted rights to Madeira, Azores and Cape Verde, and Spain to the Canary Islands.
The second stage of the conquest was carried out at the express command of the kings of Castile, Ferdinand and Isabella. The so-called royal conquest began in June 1478 r., when Spanish troops led by Juan Rejon landed in Gran Canaria, who was replaced after three years by Pedro de Vera.
The islanders, however, defended themselves so fiercely and effectively, that Gran Canaria was not conquered until 1483 r. Alonso Fernandez de Lugo from Galicia received the right to conquer the next islands, who, after fierce fighting, won La Palma (1492-1493) and Tenerife (1494-1496).
The conquest of the islands lasted almost a century. These almost a hundred years cannot be called glorious for the conquistadors - the only ones, what the inhabitants of the individual islands experienced from the Europeans of the continent, it's a murder, rape, exploitation and repeated breaking of the word and promises given to them. The Canary Islands Conquest has become tantamount to the annihilation of the Guanche culture.