The Canary Islands: Conquest and Survival
The five-year conquest of Gran Canaria, followed through the island’s places, people and Luisa de Betancor’s later legal record.
Part Two · 10 minutes · A film by E = MC³
Music-led film with on-screen text; no spoken narration.
Times refer to the ten-minute film. Select a chapter to read its on-screen text.
The text below follows the finished film, with its image captions and source references.
00:00 · Gran Canaria · 1478–1483
The Castilian conquest of Gran Canaria lasted five years. Resistance prolonged the campaign. For the people who lived here, its ending would change who held power over their homes, land and families.
Picture: Roque Nublo · Gran Canaria · modern view, 2012
GC-History: Campaign duration and incorporation
00:18 · Gran Canaria · Modern geographical locator
Gáldar lies in the northwest. Las Palmas is on the northeast coast. Telde is farther south on the eastern side. Keep those places separate: the campaign did not happen at a single point.
Picture: Historical explanation on modern relief · 2026
Maps: Named locations; no political boundary claim
00:48 · Agáldar · Before 1483
Under modern Gáldar, excavation has uncovered more than fifty houses and artificial caves belonging to ancient Agáldar. The invaders were entering a populated landscape with homes and a history of its own.
Picture: Agáldar settlement · Cueva Pintada excavations, 2024
Galdar: Settlement description
01:06 · Tenesoya Vidina · Luisa de Betancor
The archive identifies Luisa with the Indigenous name Tenesoya Vidina. Its account describes her capture by Diego de Herrera’s men, removal to Lanzarote and baptism as Luisa. Conquest reached her life before 1478.
Picture: AHPLP · archival description of Luisa’s capture
AHPLP: PDF page 9, archival historical description
01:28 · Aymediacoan · Luisa · Autindana
Luisa’s later legal case remembers her father, Aymediacoan, and her brother, Autindana. These people enter our story through named testimony and family memory preserved in the archive.
Picture: Family relationships · AHPLP testimony
AHPLP: PDF page 16, questions 2–4; PDF page 17, Rodríguez testimony
01:46 · 1478 · Conquista realenga
Realenga means conquest under royal authority. The monarchs and private investors backed these campaigns. Gran Canaria would come under the Crown of Castile.
Picture: Modern locator · Gran Canaria and the archipelago
Education: PDF page 12, royal conquest; page 7, distinctions
02:06 · Guiniguada · Real de Las Palmas
Juan Rejón established a military settlement beside the Guiniguada. The date became the founding date of Las Palmas. The city’s beginning was also a foothold for conquering the island around it.
Picture: Historical explanation on modern relief · 2026
LasPalmas: City history, foundation paragraph
02:36 · Las Palmas · The northeastern shore
The military settlement became the seed of today’s city. Vegueta, its historic district, grew around that beginning. A place visitors now walk through started as a base for a war.
Picture: Vegueta, Las Palmas · Bengt Nyman · modern view, 2017
LPAVisit: Real de las Tres Palmas and founding district
02:54 · Arucas · During the conquest
Doramas resisted the invaders and was killed by Pedro de Vera in the hills of Arucas. The rural park that bears his name today commemorates that resistance.
Picture: Arucas · modern townscape, not a surviving battlefield view
Doramas: Official Cabildo park leaflet, history caption
03:12 · 1478–1483 · Continued resistance
The campaign did not end with the first landing or the first victory. Indigenous resistance kept the conquest going for years. A date on a map can make a long struggle look far too easy.
Picture: Riscos de Tirajana · modern Gran Canaria landscape
GC-History: Five-year campaign due to island resistance
03:36 · 1478–1480 · A divided command
Rejón clashed with Governor Pedro del Algaba. Algaba sent him to Castile; Rejón returned and had Algaba executed. The conquest had acquired a management problem. A lethal one.
Picture: Command chronology · Government of the Canary Islands
Gambin: Indexed excerpt, printed page 216 / PDF page 8
03:54 · 1480 onward · A renewed campaign
Pedro de Vera renewed the campaign toward Gáldar, supported by Alonso Fernández de Lugo and Hernán Peraza. Remember Lugo: Tenerife is ahead.
Picture: Agaete valley · Marianne Perdomo Machín · modern view, 2007
Education: PDF page 12, Gran Canaria section
04:12 · Late campaign · Tenesor Semidán
Tenesor Semidán ruled Gáldar as its guanarteme. The campaign against this northwestern center would soon turn on the capture of the ruler himself.
Picture: Agáldar · detail of excavated dwellings, 2024
Education: PDF page 12, guanarteme and capture
04:32 · 1481 · The northwestern coast
Pedro de Vera opened a second front at Agaete. A new fort, Casa Fuerte, was built around August–September 1481. Alonso Fernández de Lugo took command. The Castilians now had another base in the north.
Picture: Historical explanation on modern relief · 2026
Agaete: Municipal Casa Fuerte history: 1481 second front, fort and command
05:02 · Late campaign · Fernando Guanarteme
Tenesor was captured, taken to Castile and baptized Fernando Guanarteme. He became a valuable Castilian ally. Indigenous resistance and Indigenous cooperation both shaped the island’s conquest.
Picture: Gáldar · photograph, c.1890–1895 · later town context
Education: PDF page 12, capture, baptism and alliance
05:20 · Gran Canaria · The conventional endpoint
The conquest’s conventional end date is 29 April 1483. The island came under Castilian rule. Ending the campaign settled the question of political control; it did not finish the lives of the people who survived.
Picture: Historical explanation on modern relief · 2026
Aguimes: PDF page 3, campaign dates; GC-History: Incorporation in 1483
05:50 · Gran Canaria · After 1483
Luisa would still be alive and defending her standing in 1528. The record itself carries people across the conquest’s dividing line. A conquered population was not simply erased from the island’s next chapter.
Picture: Agaete · later sugar-mill and aqueduct remains, photographed 2026
AHPLP: PDF page 16, living-party language; page 17, testimony
06:08 · Gáldar · Testimony in 1528
Adán de Azedo repeated a story he had heard from elders and conquerors: Aymediacoan had protected Christian captives. Decades later, that memory was still being told in defense of his daughter.
Picture: AHPLP · published transcription of the later-copy record · Adán de Azedo
AHPLP: PDF page 17, Adán de Azedo’s answer to question 4
06:30 · Earlier Gran Canaria · Recalled in 1528
According to the testimony, Castilian Christians captured at Agüimes faced being burned alive. Aymediacoan defended them and brought them to his own land so they would not be harmed.
Picture: Historical explanation on modern relief · 2026
AHPLP: PDF page 17, Adán de Azedo’s answer
06:52 · 1528 · Evidence in a status dispute
The story presented Aymediacoan as a protector of Christians. That mattered in a Christian court assessing his daughter’s position. We are hearing both a remembered act and the family’s argument about why it counted.
Picture: AHPLP · published transcription of the later-copy record · question about Aymediacoan
AHPLP: PDF page 16, question 4; page 17, answer. The film’s interpretation is editorial.
07:10 · Gáldar · 1528
Cristóbal Rodríguez said he had known Luisa’s brother Autindana. He recalled the island’s elders describing him as one of its foremost Indigenous nobles. Here is a named person remembering another named person.
Picture: AHPLP · published transcription of the later-copy record · Cristóbal Rodríguez
AHPLP: PDF page 17, Cristóbal Rodríguez’s response to question 2
07:32 · Rodríguez’s recollection of Luisa
Rodríguez also said he had known Luisa for more than forty years. He had consistently seen her treated as a woman of leading lineage—and still regarded her that way in 1528.
Picture: AHPLP · published transcription of the later-copy record · more than forty years
AHPLP: PDF page 17, Cristóbal Rodríguez’s answer
07:54 · Catalina de Guzmán · Another witness
Catalina de Guzmán described Luisa’s recognized standing before the island was conquered and afterward. Her testimony connects two political worlds through one woman’s remembered place in society.
Picture: AHPLP · published transcription of the later-copy record · Catalina de Guzmán
AHPLP: PDF page 17, Catalina de Guzmán’s response
08:14 · 31 August 1528 · Gáldar
Luisa and her sons challenged moneda forera, a royal tax. Their defense invoked ancestry and established hidalgo standing: privileged noble status in law. Family memory now had a practical job to do.
Picture: Legal explanation · AHPLP proceedings
AHPLP: PDF page 9, description; page 16, opening and status questions
08:36 · 1528 · Pledges taken for the tax
A mantle. A firearm. A worked hand towel. Officials had seized these belongings from Luisa and her sons. Their argument about the past was also a demand to get their property back.
Picture: AHPLP · published transcription of the later-copy record · the seized goods
AHPLP: PDF page 17, question 9
08:56 · 1529 · The archive’s reported outcome
Judgment maintained the family’s existing hidalgo status and ordered the goods restored. Luisa’s recognized place before the conquest had helped support her family’s defense afterward. The war’s consequences had outlived the fighting.
Picture: AHPLP · archival summary of the 1529 order
AHPLP: PDF page 9, reported judgment; pages 16–17, status case
09:18 · Tenerife · 1494–1496
Gran Canaria’s conquest was over. Tenerife’s was still to come. In the next part, we follow that campaign—and the later record of Juan Dara, a Gran Canarian eventually described as a conquistador.
Picture: Conquest chronology · modern explanatory map
MHA: Museum conquest chronology, 1494–1496; Ara: PDF page 19 / printed page 20, 1540 lease
09:42 · The Canary Islands: Conquest and Survival · Part Two
A film by E = MC³. Music: Nunca · Marcheur · Moon Farewell. The story continues in Part Three: Tenerife Fights Back.
Picture: View from Riscos de Tirajana · modern landscape
Credits: Companion source list
The archival evidence is a modern official publication of a later-copy record. The film distinguishes witness recollection, archival description and modern historical explanation.
Official archival publication containing a modern edition and transcription of a later-copy record; the 1528 original manuscript was not inspected.
Municipal archaeological-site description.
Modern explanatory maps used for geographical orientation. They do not show documented troop routes or historical boundaries. · Mapzen terrain data · Elevation-data attribution
Official island history consulted through indexed content.
Government educational publication; relevant PDF pages 7 and 12–13 inspected.
Official city history consulted through indexed content.
Official city tourism history.
Chronology discussed in an indexed passage, printed page 216 / PDF page 8. The full article was not inspected for this film.
Municipal history, PDF page 3, used for the campaign dates.
Published study consulted at PDF page 19 / printed page 20. The quoted 1540 instrument was not inspected in its original manuscript.
Credits for the film’s text, photographs, maps, diagrams and music are listed below.
Museum account of the Tenerife conquest chronology.
Official park leaflet’s history caption consulted through indexed content.
Municipal history of Casa Fuerte and the second front at Agaete.
Wiguez feat. Maria-Lea; remix by Frannabik & A.way
Music provided by NoCopyrightSounds
Free download / stream · Watch the official release
In the film: 00:00–04:06
Wiguez; remix by The Clamps
Music provided by NoCopyrightSounds
Free download / stream · Watch the official release
In the film: 03:55–07:21
Wiguez, Alltair, Josh Levoid & P-One
Music provided by NoCopyrightSounds
Free download / stream · Watch the official release
In the film: 07:10–10:00
Track windows overlap at the transitions. NCS usage policy
Photographs and archival material retain their individual credits and rights statements. Inclusion in this film does not grant a new blanket reuse license.
Cap1000; CC0; Wikimedia Commons.
2012-10-07 15:40:42 · Film: 00:00
Cropped, framed or slowly panned; explanatory overlays added.
Historical map reconstruction using Mapzen Terrain Tiles / USGS / EU Copernicus, Natural Earth coast and GeoNames; Agaete municipality for Casa Fuerte location.
Film: 00:18
Cropped, framed or slowly panned; explanatory overlays added.
Photo by https://thebrainchamber.com (Thebrainchamber1); CC BY-SA 4.0; Wikimedia Commons.
2024-04-24 13:18:59 · Film: 00:48, 04:12
Cropped, framed or slowly panned; explanatory overlays added.
Archivo Histórico Provincial de Las Palmas / Gobierno de Canarias. Selected publication of the Luisa de Betancor family proceeding.
Later-copy record; modern official edition · Film: 01:06, 08:56
Historical document reproduced in the official archival publication
Cropped, framed or slowly panned; explanatory overlays added.
E = MC³ research film
Film: 01:28
New explanatory diagram, 2026
Cropped, framed or slowly panned; explanatory overlays added.
Original film map composition using Natural Earth land geometry and GeoNames place coordinates.
2026-10-21 map composition · Film: 01:46
Natural Earth data: public domain; GeoNames data: CC BY 4.0. Original map composition has no separate public license assigned.
Cropped, framed or slowly panned; explanatory overlays added.
Historical map reconstruction using Mapzen Terrain Tiles / USGS / EU Copernicus, Natural Earth coast and GeoNames; Agaete municipality for Casa Fuerte location.
Film: 02:06
Cropped, framed or slowly panned; explanatory overlays added.
Bengt Nyman from Vaxholm, Sweden; CC BY 2.0; Wikimedia Commons
2017-01-16 13:33 · Film: 02:36
Cropped, framed or slowly panned; explanatory overlays added.
Roberto Afonso Perera; CC BY-SA 3.0; Wikimedia Commons
2007-09-13 · Film: 02:54
Cropped, framed or slowly panned; explanatory overlays added.
Rvr; CC BY-SA 4.0; Wikimedia Commons
2026-02-15 15:50:12 · Film: 03:12
Cropped, framed or slowly panned; explanatory overlays added.
E = MC³ research film
Film: 03:36
New explanatory diagram, 2026
Cropped, framed or slowly panned; explanatory overlays added.
Marianne Perdomo Machín; CC BY-SA 3.0; Wikimedia Commons
2007-09-20 · Film: 03:54
Cropped, framed or slowly panned; explanatory overlays added.
Historical map reconstruction using Mapzen Terrain Tiles / USGS / EU Copernicus, Natural Earth coast and GeoNames; Agaete municipality for Casa Fuerte location.
Film: 04:32
Cropped, framed or slowly panned; explanatory overlays added.
FEDAC · Montaña de Gáldar · photograph 000667
1890–1895 · Film: 05:02
Historical repository image; no new public reuse permission asserted.
Cropped, framed or slowly panned; explanatory overlays added.
Historical map reconstruction using Mapzen Terrain Tiles / USGS / EU Copernicus, Natural Earth coast and GeoNames; Agaete municipality for Casa Fuerte location.
Film: 05:20
Cropped, framed or slowly panned; explanatory overlays added.
Treyntaarrobas; CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons.
1/1/2026 · Film: 05:50
Cropped, framed or slowly panned; explanatory overlays added.
Archivo Histórico Provincial de Las Palmas / Gobierno de Canarias. Selected publication of the Luisa de Betancor family proceeding.
Later-copy record; modern official edition · Film: 06:08, 07:10, 07:32, 07:54, 08:36
Historical document reproduced in the official archival publication
Cropped, framed or slowly panned; explanatory overlays added.
Historical map reconstruction using Mapzen Terrain Tiles / USGS / EU Copernicus, Natural Earth coast and GeoNames; Agaete municipality for Casa Fuerte location.
Film: 06:30
Cropped, framed or slowly panned; explanatory overlays added.
Archivo Histórico Provincial de Las Palmas / Gobierno de Canarias. Selected publication of the Luisa de Betancor family proceeding.
Later-copy record; modern official edition · Film: 06:52
Historical document reproduced in the official archival publication
Cropped, framed or slowly panned; explanatory overlays added.
E = MC³ research film
Film: 08:14
New explanatory diagram, 2026
Cropped, framed or slowly panned; explanatory overlays added.
Original film map composition using Natural Earth land geometry and GeoNames place coordinates.
2026-10-21 map composition · Film: 09:18
Natural Earth data: public domain; GeoNames data: CC BY 4.0. Original map composition has no separate public license assigned.
Cropped, framed or slowly panned; explanatory overlays added.
Rvr; CC BY-SA 4.0; Wikimedia Commons
2025-05-25 16:24:43 · Film: 09:42
Cropped, framed or slowly panned; explanatory overlays added.
.jpg){kind=link}
.jpg){kind=link}
