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The Fortunate Isles

Castillo de las Coloradas, in the resort of Playa Blanca (Walk 4, Lanzarote)

Myths and legends speak of ‘The Fortunate Isles’, or ‘Isles of the Blessed’, lying somewhere in the Atlantic, enjoying a wonderful climate and bearing all manner of fruit. The rebel Roman general Sertorius planned to retire there, while Plutarch referred to them many times. Pliny, though, warned ‘these islands, however, are greatly annoyed by the putrefying bodies of monsters, which are constantly thrown up by the sea.’ Maybe these scribes knew of the Canary Islands, or maybe they were drawing on older Phoenician or Carthaginian references. Some would even claim that the islands were the last remnants of Atlantis.

The Gaunches, often described as a ‘stone age’ civilisation, settled on the Canary Islands well over 2000 years ago, and Cro-Magnon man was there as early as 3000BC. No-one knows where the Guanches came from, but it seems likely they arrived from North Africa in fleets of canoes. Although technologically primitive, their society was well-ordered, and they had a special regard for monumental rock-forms in the mountains.