Tegueste or Tegueste II was a

Guanche Guanche may refer to: *Guanches, the indigenous people of the Canary Islands *Guanche language, an extinct language, spoken by the Guanches until the 16th or 17th century *''Conus guanche ''Conus guanche'' is a species of sea snail, a marine ga ...

King (

mencey The Guanche were the Indigenous peoples, indigenous inhabitants of the Spain, Spanish Canary Islands, located in the Atlantic Ocean some to the west of modern Morocco and the North African coast. The islanders spoke the Guanche language, which i ...

) of Menceyato de Tegueste, reigning during the conquest of

Tenerife Tenerife ( ; ; formerly spelled ''Teneriffe'') is the largest and most populous island of the Canary Islands, an Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Spain. With a land area of and a population of 965,575 inhabitants as of A ...

in the fifteenth century. In 1494, with the arrival of the conquistadors under

Alonso Fernández de Lugo Alonso Fernández de Lugo (; died 1525) was a Spanish conquistador, city founder, and administrator. He conquered the islands of La Palma (1492–1493) and Tenerife (1494–1496) for the Castilian Crown; they were the last of the Canary Islan ...

, Tegueste allied with mencey Bencomo to reject the invasion, participating actively in the successive confrontations. Tegueste took with him about 1,200 warriors. At the beginning of 1495 a group of Castilian soldiers made an assault to the Lagoon in search of cattle. There a Guanche woman informed them of the epidemic suffered by the Guanches. The conquistadors made a recognition for the valley of Tegueste, and they made with a cattle booty in the ravine of Tejina. When they returned to La Laguna, they were surrounded by Tegueste and Zebenzuí in the place known as Las Peñuelas, where the conquerors were defeated. Gonzalo del Castillo (who directed the Castilian soldiers) was imprisoned and sent by Tegueste to Bencomo of Taoro. In the spring of 1496, after the defeats of La Laguna and Acentejo and the loss of the principal Guanche kings (Bencomo, Tinguaro and Bentor), Tegueste surrendered its menceyato to the Europeans in the act of submission known as ''Paz de Los Realejos''. That same year he was taken to the

Peninsula A peninsula is a landform that extends from a mainland and is only connected to land on one side. Peninsulas exist on each continent. The largest peninsula in the world is the Arabian Peninsula. Etymology The word ''peninsula'' derives , . T ...

by the conquering captain along with another six menceyes to be presented in the court of the

Catholic Monarchs The Catholic Monarchs were Isabella I of Castile, Queen Isabella I of Crown of Castile, Castile () and Ferdinand II of Aragon, King Ferdinand II of Crown of Aragón, Aragon (), whose marriage and joint rule marked the ''de facto'' unification of ...

. No further information is known about his fate. Some historians believe that he might have been made a slave by belonging to a side of war, while others believe that under the protection of the monarchs he could be released and under guardianship, though far from the island. It is also possible that it was the mencey that the Catholic Monarchs gave to the

Republic of Venice The Republic of Venice, officially the Most Serene Republic of Venice and traditionally known as La Serenissima, was a sovereign state and Maritime republics, maritime republic with its capital in Venice. Founded, according to tradition, in 697 ...

in 1496.{{Cite web, title=La conquista de Tenerife : 1494-1496 :: Memoria Digital de Canarias - Textos, url=https://mdc.ulpgc.es/cdm/ref/collection/MDC/id/44128, access-date=2023-01-13, website=mdc.ulpgc.es

References

External links

Los guanches
People from Tenerife 14th-century Berber people 15th-century Berber people Military personnel killed in action Guanche Guanche people Converts to Roman Catholicism from pagan religions