History of Fuerteventura

Some people think Fuerteventura is still like stepping into the past - but the island started off being inhabited by primitive pagan people.

The first settlers are thought to have arrived here from North Africa and the word Mahorero or Maho is still used today to describe the people of Fuerteventura. It stems from the ancient word 'mahos' meaning a type of goatskin shoe worn by the original inhabitants who lived in caves and underground dwellings. Some of these have been discovered and excavated and relics of early tools and pottery have been discovered.

More evidence of the North African link comes in pre-hispanic place names which resemble the language of the Berbers in Africa.

Most native Canarians though refer to their ancestors as Guanches although this strictly refers to a a tribe from Tenerife.

In the 11th century BC, the Phoenician settlers arrived in Fuerteventura and Lanzarote. In 850 BC, the island was mentioned by Homer in the Odyssey, the Canary Islands as Insulae Fortunatae.

Fuerteventura was known as Herbania after the Berber word "bani" for wall. A low wall stretched across the narrowest point of the island at La Pared which means wall in Spanish.

This enabled the two rival kingdoms of Maxorata in the north - which was ruled by a king called Guize - and Jandia in the south - ruled by Avoze - to live in relative peace.

The two kings, though, relied heavily on advice from mother and daughter fortune tellers Tibiabin and Tamonante who turned traitors on the kings leading to their downfall and the island being colonised by Europeans.

Boys and girls names still exist today based on some of these old traditional names.

The diet of these early people was mainly goats' meat. milk, cheese and fish. These pagan people regarded Mount Tindaya as a sacred mountain.

They were constantly on guard against pirates looking for slaves. Their pagan rituals included worshipping Mount Tindaya which is still called today the Holy or Sacred Mountain and has ancient religious symbols carved into it. Controversially, there are plans to cave a giant cube into it.

These ancient islanders used large sticks to run and leap ditches and ravines - traditional Canary Island games are based around this.

A number of Spanish and Portuguese expeditions occurred in about 1340 around the island and the island became inhabited by Maurs.

The French conqueror Jean de Bethencourt took the island in 1405 giving his name to the former capital, Betancuria. Jean Bethencourt, a Norman navigator, arrived with his ally Gadifer de Salle to conquer Lanzarote. On Fuerteventura, the locals put up a little resistance but finally surrendered due, in no small measure, to the part played by the mother and daughter fortune tellers. Bethencourt founded Betancuria, the former capital of Fuerteventura. Today, many roads still carry his name.  . Fuerteventura itself is believed to have been named from Bethencourt's exclamation "Que forte aventure!" ("What a grand adventure") although another less romantic explanation is that the name simply means "strong wind".

Military rule over the island began in 1708. During this time The village of La Olivia was a place of some importance. Its most impressive tourist attraction is the House of the Colonels (Casa de los Coroneles) where the military governors used to live.

Early trade opened up in 1852 when the free trade zone was extended by Isabella II to the Canary Islands and the military rule over the island ended in 1859.

Puerto de Cabras - now Puerto del Rosario - became the new capital took as Fuerteventura's capital in 1835. The name was changed over 50 years ago by the ruling middle classes who felt that Puerto de Cabras - Port of Goats - was humiliating. Today there is a campaign to change the name back to Puerto de Cabras. The names of both Puerto Cabras and Puerto Del Rosario would live on. The main city, now known as Puerto Del Rosario, would be given back its original name and the name Puerto Del Rosario would go to the surrounding area.

The Canary islands had the right to self-govern in 1912. In 1927, Fuerteventura and Lanzarote became part of the province of Gran Canaria.

By the 1940s the island had an airport just west of Puerto del Rosario on the road to Tindaya and the remains of the old arrivals and departures halls still stand today.

Tourism came in the mid-1960s when the  present airport at El Mattoral was built and the first tourist hotels were built on the sand dunes at Corralejo

Other pages