Fuerteventura
- Fuerteventura is one of the Canary Islands on the volcanic archipelago in the Eastern Atlantic at the Northwest of Africa.
- The archipelago was formed by underwater eruptions and the thrusting up of the Atlantic Plate that could have started as far back as 20 million years ago; it was through these eruptions that Fuerteventura was born the most precise dating indicates it to be around 17 million years old.
- Originally two islands but now joined by the jable (sandunes) of the isthmus de Pared to make one.
- Fuerteventura is the longest of all the Canary Islands, with a distance of around 100kms.form Punta de la Tinosa on the north tip by Corralejo to Punta de Jandia in the south.
- It is the second largest of the Canaries and the closest of the group to Africa at 97km(60miles) from the point at Punta de la Entallada to Carbo Jubi (Cape Jubi) in the Western Sahara.
- Just off the NE end of the island lies the little Isolate de Lobos separated by a 2km strait (El Rio) with a depth of around 9-13 m, also to the NE is Lanzarote the straite of Bociana that separates Fuerteventura and the island is no more than 10km with a depth of 35-40 m.
- The distance between Punta de Jandia in the south and Punta de Grando in Gran Canaria is around 80km.
Neither the anthropology or the archaeology is widely known about the Canary islands despite extensive studies but it is believed the first in habitants of the islands were Cro-Magnons, from Mechta-el-Arbi in the Constantina region or Afalu-bu-Rhummel from the Kabilia coast near Algiers both in Algeria.
They are so called Mechta man or Mechta-Afalu and arrived in the Canary Islands at the end of the Neolithic period from the closest point at Cape Jubi to Fuerteventura aided by the ocean currents and the strong trade winds.
Other Africans followed the Mechta men some of them being proto-Mediterranean’s or their descendants from the beginning of the Bronze Age.
The term “Gaunches” is generally given to the entire aboriginal population of the archipelago. The “Gaunches” would have shared the same ethnic complexity of the Ibero-Mauritanos who occupied North Africa during the Mesolithic Age.
Therefore, it can be said that the “Gaunches” had their origins about 10,000 years prior to the present day.
It is not entirely clear how they arrived on the Island and it is not known if they arrived on their own or were brought there by others but according to most recent accounts from when the European’s arrived the natives had no vessels or boats and no knowledge of navigation.
The island was first known as Erbania referring to the wall that divided the territory between two tribes, the tribe of Ayonze in the north and the Guizein in the south, the wall was situated on the Istmo de la Pared.
It was in 1339 that a map by Angelino Dulcet appeared with the islands name given as Forte Ventura. It may have been because of this map that the existence of the Islands became known and lead the way to the many expeditions to the islands.In 1352 the missionary expedition of Arnau Roger was organized under the orders of the king of Aragon. The missionaries that came to the island were Catalonians, as well as merchants such as Bernat Merman and Pere d'Estrade. The Catalonian invasion was for a short duration and did not continue beyond 1387, the year Peter the Ceremonious died.From that time until the conquest of Bethencourt the records are very patchy and confused.
Between 1391 and 1393 the relations between Castile and Genoa got very nasty due to the commercial rivalry over North Africa and the Canary Islands. In 1393 a new enterprise began Green led many noblemen to petition the king of Castile Don Enrique III for the conquest of the Islands and it was one of these greedy noblemen Jean de Bethencourt who joined forces with another French nobleman, Gadifer de La Salle to become the first conquerors of the island.
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Neither the anthropology or the archaeology is widely known about the Canary islands despite extensive studies but it is believed the first in habitants of the islands were Cro-Magnons, from Mechta-el-Arbi in the Constantina region or Afalu-bu-Rhummel from the Kabilia coast near Algiers both in Algeria.
They are so called Mechta man or Mechta-Afalu and arrived in the Canary Islands at the end of the Neolithic period from the closest point at Cape Jubi to Fuerteventura aided by the ocean currents and the strong trade winds.
Other Africans followed the Mechta men some of them being proto-Mediterranean’s or their descendants from the beginning of the Bronze Age.
The term “Gaunches” is generally given to the entire aboriginal population of the archipelago. The “Gaunches” would have shared the same ethnic complexity of the Ibero-Mauritanos who occupied North Africa during the Mesolithic Age.
Therefore, it can be said that the “Gaunches” had their origins about 10,000 years prior to the present day.
It is not entirely clear how they arrived on the Island and it is not known if they arrived on their own or were brought there by others but according to most recent accounts from when the European’s arrived the natives had no vessels or boats and no knowledge of navigation.
The island was first known as Erbania referring to the wall that divided the territory between two tribes, the tribe of Ayonze in the north and the Guizein in the south, the wall was situated on the Istmo de la Pared.
It was in 1339 that a map by Angelino Dulcet appeared with the islands name given as Forte Ventura. It may have been because of this map that the existence of the Islands became known and lead the way to the many expeditions to the islands.In 1352 the missionary expedition of Arnau Roger was organized under the orders of the king of Aragon. The missionaries that came to the island were Catalonians, as well as merchants such as Bernat Merman and Pere d'Estrade. The Catalonian invasion was for a short duration and did not continue beyond 1387, the year Peter the Ceremonious died.From that time until the conquest of Bethencourt the records are very patchy and confused.
Between 1391 and 1393 the relations between Castile and Genoa got very nasty due to the commercial rivalry over North Africa and the Canary Islands. In 1393 a new enterprise began Green led many noblemen to petition the king of Castile Don Enrique III for the conquest of the Islands and it was one of these greedy noblemen Jean de Bethencourt who joined forces with another French nobleman, Gadifer de La Salle to become the first conquerors of the island.
They are so called Mechta man or Mechta-Afalu and arrived in the Canary Islands at the end of the Neolithic period from the closest point at Cape Jubi to Fuerteventura aided by the ocean currents and the strong trade winds.
Other Africans followed the Mechta men some of them being proto-Mediterranean’s or their descendants from the beginning of the Bronze Age.
The term “Gaunches” is generally given to the entire aboriginal population of the archipelago. The “Gaunches” would have shared the same ethnic complexity of the Ibero-Mauritanos who occupied North Africa during the Mesolithic Age.
Therefore, it can be said that the “Gaunches” had their origins about 10,000 years prior to the present day.
It is not entirely clear how they arrived on the Island and it is not known if they arrived on their own or were brought there by others but according to most recent accounts from when the European’s arrived the natives had no vessels or boats and no knowledge of navigation.
The island was first known as Erbania referring to the wall that divided the territory between two tribes, the tribe of Ayonze in the north and the Guizein in the south, the wall was situated on the Istmo de la Pared.
It was in 1339 that a map by Angelino Dulcet appeared with the islands name given as Forte Ventura. It may have been because of this map that the existence of the Islands became known and lead the way to the many expeditions to the islands.In 1352 the missionary expedition of Arnau Roger was organized under the orders of the king of Aragon. The missionaries that came to the island were Catalonians, as well as merchants such as Bernat Merman and Pere d'Estrade. The Catalonian invasion was for a short duration and did not continue beyond 1387, the year Peter the Ceremonious died.From that time until the conquest of Bethencourt the records are very patchy and confused.
Between 1391 and 1393 the relations between Castile and Genoa got very nasty due to the commercial rivalry over North Africa and the Canary Islands. In 1393 a new enterprise began Green led many noblemen to petition the king of Castile Don Enrique III for the conquest of the Islands and it was one of these greedy noblemen Jean de Bethencourt who joined forces with another French nobleman, Gadifer de La Salle to become the first conquerors of the island.
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