There has been much interest in the pre hispanic settlers of the Canary Islands, just where did the Guanches originate from?

Recent advances in technology have now made it possible to carry out detailed genetic studies, using indigenous and historical 17th-18th century remains and mitochondrial DNA as a female marker. 

Earlier this year the Telegraph ran an article asking if this image on Google Ocean could be the lost city of Atlantis?

The image does look remarkably like a grid of streets and in the area that Atlantis was believed to have existed. The criss cross of lines are situated 620 miles off the coast of North West Africa, close to the Canary Islands. It’s hard for us to imagine the size of the image, the rectangle shown is about the size of Wales! The image can be found at the co-ordinates 31 15'15.53N 24 15'30.53W.

This short video produced by Memoria de Lanzarote shows Arrecife changing through the 20th Century.

During the last four years there has been a team of Canarian archaeologists working on excavations around the island of Lanzarote, their findings were announced in July 2009. The group included archaeologists, historians and biologists from the University of Las Palmas in Gran Canaria and were directed by professor Pablo Atoche Peña (ULPGC). Their mission was to collect data and materials that could establish when humans first settled on the island of Lanzarote, their findings show that humans were here more than ten centuries prior to our recorded history.

The Yeoward Line was formed in Liverpool in 1894 as importers of fruit to the United Kingdom. In the early 1900’s they started operating fruit cargo and first class passenger ships from Liverpool to Spain, Portugal and the Canary Islands until 1954.

Their boats had a distinctive funnel with a black background and yellow and red stripes with a Y.

The fleet all had names beginning with A, there was Alca, Avoceta, Alondra, Aguila and Ardeola.

When Juan de Béthencourt left for Normandy, he left his nephew, Maciot in charge. Maciot de Béthencourt was at first a wise and good ruler.

Guadarfía the old king of Lanzarote surrendered and was converted to Christianity, his reward was to receive Zonzamas's castle and the surrounding area where he lived with his wife Guanamara, his daughter Teguise and son Guillén.

Teguise was a beautiful woman, she had fell in love with a local man, Tinguayo but it was not to be, she was married to Maciot and they had several sons, who are the ancestors of the Canarian Béthencourts.

Each Canary island had its own traditional costume. The clothes worn were simple but you could tell a lot about a person, for example depending on the colour of the skirt, style of blouse or hat you would know just from sight if a woman was single or married!

Clothes of a Woman:
Blouse (la camisa) was white and could be short sleeved, similar to gipsy style or long sleeved.
Leggings (el calzónes) were white and worn under the skirt.
White underskirt (el zagaljo) worn long to the ankles.
Skirt (la falda) worn over the top.
Jacket (el saco) with long sleeves.

Lanzaroteños were known for their love of music and dancing. The songs were simple and often told romantic stories about the island and people. Some of the more well known tunes are the El Sorondongo, Las Folías y La Seguidilla. Canarian musical instruments consisted of guitars, timples (a small guitar similar to a ukulele), drums, flutes and tambourines. The "canario" dance was popular throughout Europe and referred to by Shakespeare.