{"id":724,"date":"2026-10-08T09:29:23","date_gmt":"2026-10-08T09:29:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tenerifeessential.com\/2026\/10\/08\/from-the-archipelago-to-the-slave-markets\/"},"modified":"2026-10-08T09:54:03","modified_gmt":"2026-10-08T09:54:03","slug":"from-the-archipelago-to-the-slave-markets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tenerifeessential.com\/en\/2026\/10\/08\/from-the-archipelago-to-the-slave-markets\/","title":{"rendered":"From the archipelago to the slave markets"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>The forgotten fate of the indigenous people of the Canary Islands<\/strong><\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>When we think of the Canary Islands today, it is usually the sun, relaxation and volcanic landscapes that spring to mind. Yet in the 15th and 16th centuries, the archipelago was the scene of a dark chapter in European history. A recent historical study sheds light on how the indigenous peoples were systematically abducted, sold on European markets \u2013 and became the model for the later transatlantic slave trade.    <\/strong><\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The conquest of the Canary Islands by the Crown of Castile in the 15th century radically altered the lives of the Amazigh population living there (often collectively referred to as the Guanches). Those who did not fall victim to the conquerors or submit to them often found themselves caught up in the machinery of a highly profitable human trafficking trade. A comprehensive study by the historian Roc\u00edo Jim\u00e9nez D\u00edaz (University of Teramo, in collaboration with the public universities of Las Palmas and La Laguna) now sheds light in detail on what happened to the abducted women, men and children.  <\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Valencia and Seville: The epicentres of human trafficking<\/strong><\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Research in historical archives shows that two Spanish cities in particular served as the main hubs for the indigenous peoples of the Canary Islands: <strong>Valencia<\/strong> and <strong>Seville<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Valencia served primarily as a hub for onward sales throughout the Mediterranean region. Owing to the high supply and the fact that goods were redistributed, selling prices here were often lower. <\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Seville was closely linked to the main ports of entry. Here the prisoners were directly integrated into the Spanish aristocracy or used to settle debts. a14&gt; economy integrated or ceded to settle the conquerors\u2019 debts of debts of the conquerors ceded. <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The demographics of the commodity that was the human being were shocking: The majority of the enslaved people were between <strong>14 and 25 years<\/strong> old \u2013 at the prime age for physical forced labour. However the records also provide evidence of the sale of children under 13 years of age in Valencia as well as older people over 35 years of age in Seville. <\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>The blueprint for the transatlantic slave trade<\/strong><\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">One of the most historically significant aspects of the study is the continuity of the methods. The logistics, the legal justifications, the trade routes and the bureaucratic record-keeping that were trialled in the Canary Islands served as a direct <strong>dress rehearsal<\/strong> for the European powers. <\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Just a few decades later, these very same mechanisms were applied to the African continent to force millions of people across the Atlantic to the Americas. The Canary Islands thus served as a testing ground for a system that was to shape the global economy for centuries to come. <\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>The Erasure of Identity<\/strong><\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Why is this chapter so largely absent from the collective memory? One of the main reasons lies in the systematic stripping away of identity. <\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As soon as the indigenous islanders arrived on the mainland, they were subjected to forced baptism. Their original names were replaced by common Spanish-Christian names. Within a short space of time, those affected lost not only their freedom, but also their language, their faith and their cultural roots. From then on, they appeared in the official archives merely as nameless possessions \u2013 a circumstance that makes it extremely difficult for historians today to trace their history.   <\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>El borrado de la identidad<\/strong><\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In her work, the researcher Jim\u00e9nez D\u00edaz also calls for a shift in linguistic thinking when dealing with history. Instead of the blanket term <em>\u2018slave\u2019<\/em>, she advocates the term <strong>\u2018enslaved person\u2019<\/strong> (<em>persona esclavizada<\/em>). The difference may seem subtle, but it is essential: the term \u2018slave\u2019 reduces a person to a condition or a characteristic. The phrase \u2018enslaved person\u2019, on the other hand, emphasises that this is a human subject upon whom a status has been imposed through external violence and injustice. It shifts the focus back onto the perpetrators and restores the victims\u2019 human dignity in the writing of history.    <\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Conclusion and Outlook<\/strong><\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The reassessment of the Canarian indigenous population shows once again, just how closely the history of small islands is linked the major global upheavals of the modern era is interwoven with. The fate of the enslaved Guanches is not a local marginal phenomenon, but rather the prelude to one of the saddest chapters of global modernity. <\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>What do you think?<\/strong> Were you familiar with this aspect of Canarian history ? ? What role should the examination of such historical interconnections in our contemporary culture of remembrance play? Please share with us your views in the comments!  <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The forgotten fate of the indigenous people of the Canary Islands When we think of the Canary Islands today, it is usually the sun, relaxation and volcanic landscapes that spring to mind. Yet in the 15th and 16th centuries, the archipelago was the scene of a dark chapter in European history. A recent historical study [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[132],"tags":[133,134,135],"class_list":["post-724","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-canary-islands-once-upon-a-time-and-now","tag-conquest","tag-enslavement","tag-slave-markets"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tenerifeessential.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/724","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tenerifeessential.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tenerifeessential.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tenerifeessential.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tenerifeessential.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=724"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/tenerifeessential.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/724\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":729,"href":"https:\/\/tenerifeessential.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/724\/revisions\/729"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tenerifeessential.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=724"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tenerifeessential.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=724"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tenerifeessential.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=724"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}