Wednesday, 11 January 2017 10:26

How The Spanish Conquistador Was Born In Gran Canaria in 1478

The Spanish Conquistador was born in the shade of Las Palmas' palm trees The Spanish Conquistador was born in the shade of Las Palmas' palm trees photosgrancanaria.com

Before Columbus 'discovered' America and decades before Hernán Cortez and Francisco Pizarro were even born, the Spanish Conquistador emerged from the blood and dust of the 1478 Battle For Las Palmas. 

In 1478 the Spanish arrived in Gran Canaria and founded a settlement called the Real de Las Palmas. The name came from the three tall palm trees within the original wooden walls of what is now old town Vegueta.

The Spanish barely had time to throw up a wooden stockade and a few buildings before they had to fight to keep their foothold on the island.

Hundreds of aboriginal Canarii warriors gathered around the makeshift Spanish fort. They hadn’t come to talk.

Earlier encounters and treachery had taught the Canarii that they had to push these strange invaders back into the sea before they got established.

Steel against stone

The final battle for Las Palmas lasted a whole day. Spanish soldiers, armed with steel, lead and war horses fought man-to-man against the skilled Canarii warriors with their stone and wood weapons.

While history makes clear that the outcome of the battle was inevitable, it didn’t seem so on the day. The Canarii pegged the Spanish back and stood a good chance of breaking their defences.

It took a personal cavalry charge by the garrison leader and eventual conqueror of Gran Canaria, a man called Juan Rejon, to break the Canarii’s resolve.

The Conquistador is born

The Canarii melted back into Gran Canaria’s easily defensible highlands and never fought the invaders on even ground again.

The Battle for Las Palmas taught the Spanish a lesson that they never forgot; that steel, guns and horses could defeat any enemy in the New World.

The Conquistador was born on the flat plain just outside Old Town Vegueta in 1478.

Defiance, defeat and disease

The Canarii fought on for five years and inflicted heavy casualties on the Spanish with ambushes and clever attacks before the last warriors, weakened by constant fighting and imported diseases, surrendered or killed themselves.

Their language, culture and religion was soon obliterated by the fervour of missionaries, plantation owners and slave traders.

By the time Columbus arrived in Las Palmas, the Canarii way of life was just a memory. The survivors were assimilated and their genes live on in the modern Canarian population. You see them every time you see a Canarian with red or blonde hair or pale eyes. 

The Spanish, armed with the lessons learned at Las Palmas and carrying the same viruses that finished off the Canarii, were already looking across the water for new territory.

In 1492, just nine years after the Spanish defeated the Canarii, Columbus sailed the ocean blue.

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How the Spanish Conquistador was born in 1478 in Gran Canaria Gran Canaria Info
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Tip of the day

  • Tip Of The Day: Avoid Bank Card Charges By Paying In Euros
    Tip Of The Day: Avoid Bank Card Charges By Paying In Euros

    Save money and avoid rip-off bank charges while in Gran Canaria by paying in euros when using your credit or debit card.

    Many bars and restaurants in Gran Canaria, and in almost all European holiday destinations, give you the option of paying in euros or in your home currency. Opting for your own currency, while it may seem like the safer option, can add as much as 5% to the bill as it triggers dynamic currency conversion. 

    DCC basically means that the exchange rate is calculated at point of sale rather than by your bank. It allows you to see the total cost of the transaction in your own currency but adds up to 5% to the total because it uses a terrible exchange rate. 

    Since the extra money is shared between your bank and the merchant, some places will automatically bill you in your own currency and hope you don't notice. You have the legal right to refuse and void the transaction should this happen. 

    ATMs too

    The same applies when taking money out of ATM machines in Gran Canaria (and anywhere in Europe); Always choose the local currency option to avoid losing money to poor exchange rates.

    If you opt for the local currency option, using bank ATMs is often the cheapest and safest way of getting euros in Gran Canaria. It's far safer than having a big pile of euros hidden in your room or tucked into your shorts.

    More details in this Daily Telegraph article.

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