Tinerfe "the Great", legendary hero who 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 ...
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 ...
(aboriginal king) of the island 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 ...
(
Canary Islands
The Canary Islands (; ) or Canaries are an archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean and the southernmost Autonomous communities of Spain, Autonomous Community of Spain. They are located in the northwest of Africa, with the closest point to the cont ...
,
Spain
Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...
). It is estimated that he lived at the end of the
14th century
The 14th century lasted from 1 January 1301 (represented by the Roman numerals MCCCI) to 31 December 1400 (MCD). It is estimated that the century witnessed the death of more than 45 million lives from political and natural disasters in both Euro ...
.
He was the son of mencey
Sunta, who ruled the island in the days before the conquest of the Canary Islands by
Castile. Tinerfe the Great lived in
Adeje
Adeje is a town and municipality in the southwestern part of the island of Tenerife, one of the Canary Islands, and part of the province of Santa Cruz de Tenerife (province), Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Spain. The town Adeje is located 4 km from ...
(like all his predecessors), approximately a hundred years before the conquest of 1494.
Upon Tinerfe's death, his sons divided the island into nine kingdoms. At the time of the conquest the kings of these kingdoms were:
*
Acaimo
Acaimo or Acaymo was a Guanche '' mencey'' of Tacoronte, on the island of Tenerife at the time of the Spanish conquest in the 15th century. He formed an alliance against the Spaniards with the ''mencey'' Beneharo and the ''mencey'' Bencomo. ...
or Acaymo (mencey (''king'') of
Menceyato de Tacoronte).
*
Adjona
Adjona, also written Adxoña or Atxoña was the Guanches, Guanche mencey (king) of the Menceyato de Abona at the time of the conquest of Tenerife in the fifteenth century.
Adjona normally lived in Vilaflor, in the territory of Abona, although the ...
: (mencey (''king'') of
Menceyato de Abona
Abona was one of nine menceyatos (native Guanches, Guanche kingdoms) that has divided the island of Tenerife after the death of mencey Tinerfe, in the days before the conquest of the islands by the Crown of Castile.
It extended over the municipal ...
).
*
Añaterve: (mencey (''king'') of
Menceyato de Güímar).
*
Bencomo
Bencomo (; 1438 – 1495) was the penultimate ''mencey'' or king of Taoro, a Guanche ''menceyato'' on the island of Tenerife. He fought in the First Battle of Acentejo, a victory for the Guanches against the invading Castilians, after having refu ...
: (mencey (''king'') of
Menceyato de Taoro).
*
Beneharo: (mencey (''king'') of
Menceyato de Anaga).
*
Pelicar: (mencey (''king'') of
Menceyato de Icode).
*
Pelinor: (mencey (''king'') of
Menceyato de Adeje
Adeje was one of the 9 menceyatos (native Guanches, Guanche kingdoms) on the island of Tenerife (Canary Islands, Spain) before the arrival of the conquering Spaniards and occupied the present-day towns of Guía de Isora, Adeje, Santiago del Teide, ...
).
*
Romen: (mencey (''king'') of
Menceyato de Daute).
*
Tegueste: (mencey (''king'') of
Menceyato de Tegueste
Tegueste was one of nine Guanches, Guanche menceyatos (native kingdoms), which ruled Tenerife on the Canary Islands before the Castilian conquest.
It occupied the whole extent of the current municipality of Tegueste along with other sites that tod ...
).
In the toponymy of the island
The 17th-century historians
Juan Núñez de la Peña and
Tomás Arias Marín de Cubas, among others, state that the name of the island of Tenerife could come from Tinerfe.
El nombre de Tenerife. Joaquín Caridad Arias
/ref>
References
Bibliography
* Abreu y Galindo, J. de, ''Historia de la conquista de las siete islas de Canarias'', en A. Cioranescu (ed) Goya ediciones, Tenerife, 1977 .
* Arias Marín de Cubas, T. ''Historia de las siete islas de Canaria'', edición de Ángel de Juan Casañas y María Régulo Rodríguez; proemio de Juan Régulo Pérez; notas arqueológicas de Julio Cuenca Sanabría. Real Sociedad Económica de Amigos del País, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, 1986
* Bethencourt Alfonso, J. ''Historia del pueblo guanche: Tomo II. Etnografía y organización socio-política'', Francisco Lemus Ed. La Laguna, 1991 .
* Espinosa, Fray A. de, ''Historia de Nuestra Señora de Candelaria'', en A. Cioranescu (ed) Goya ediciones, santa Cruz de Tenerife, 1967 .
* Torriani, L. ''Descripción e historia del reino de las Islas Canarias'', en A. Cioranescu (ed) Goya ediciones, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, 1978 {{ISBN, 84-7181-336-X.
* Viana, A. ''La Conquista de Tenerife'', en A. Cioranescu (ed) Aula de Cultura de Tenerife, Cabildo Insular, 1968-1971.
People from Tenerife
Military personnel killed in action
Guanche
Guanche people