A legendary people

The Canary Islands went down in history with many legends and unsolved mysteries. One even suspected the sunken continent Atlantis, which is said to have been located west of Africa and the last remains of which could be the Canary Islands.

Around 40 BC According to the Roman writer Pliny, an expedition led by the Moorish king Juball is said to have discovered the islands.

The explorers told of big, bad dogs guarding the islands. The Canary Islands probably derive their name from these dogs (lat. Canis: dog) and not, as is often assumed, from the canaries. This is because they got their name from the archipelago.

Arab and European adventurers got lost here in the Middle Ages. They found a strange race of people with blue eyes, blond hair and mysterious origins: the Guanches.

They are still puzzling science today. It is likely that they belonged to a nomadic tribe from northern Africa who became native to the islands during the great migrations. What is astonishing, however, is that - although they lived on the islands - they had no idea about shipbuilding and thus there was no connection between the islands.

There is also reason to think that the Guanches were a simple shepherd and peasant people, but embalmed their dead according to the Egyptian model, which in turn suggests a highly developed culture. Their language could not be classified in any of the known language groups.