Tinerfe "the Great", legendary hero who was a guanche

mencey The Guanches were the indigenous inhabitants of the Canary Islands in the Atlantic Ocean some west of Africa. It is believed that they may have arrived on the archipelago some time in the first millennium BCE. The Guanches were the only native ...

(aboriginal king) of the island of

Tenerife Tenerife (; ; formerly spelled ''Teneriffe'') is the largest and most populous island of the Canary Islands. It is home to 43% of the total population of the archipelago. With a land area of and a population of 978,100 inhabitants as of Janu ...

(

Canary Islands The Canary Islands (; es, Canarias, ), also known informally as the Canaries, are a Spanish autonomous community and archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean, in Macaronesia. At their closest point to the African mainland, they are west of Morocc ...

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

). It is estimated that he lived at the end of the

14th century As a means of recording the passage of time, the 14th century was a century lasting from 1 January 1301 ( MCCCI), to 31 December 1400 ( MCD). It is estimated that the century witnessed the death of more than 45 million lives from political and n ...

. He was the son of mencey Sunta, who ruled the island in the days before the conquest of the Canary Islands by Castile. Tinerfe the Great lived in Adeje (like all his predecessors), approximately hundred years before the conquest of 1494. Upon Tinerfe's death, his sons divided the island into nine kingdoms. At the time of the conquest the kings of these kingdoms were: *

Acaimo Acaimo or Acaymo was a Guanche ''mencey'' of Tacoronte, on the island of Tenerife at the time of the Spanish conquest in the 15th century. He formed an alliance against the Spaniards with the ''mencey'' Beneharo and the ''mencey'' Bencomo. Biog ...

or Acaymo (mencey (''king'') of

Menceyato de Tacoronte Tacoronte was one of nine menceyatos guanches (native kingdoms) in which the island of Tenerife (Canary Islands, Spain) was divided at the time of the arrival of the conquering Spaniards. It occupied an area significantly greater than the current ...

). *

Adjona Adjona, also written Adxoña or Atxoña was the Guanche mencey (king) of the Menceyato de Abona at the time of the conquest of Tenerife in the fifteenth century. Adjona normally lived in Vilaflor, in the territory of Abona, although the historia ...

: (mencey (''king'') of

Menceyato de Abona Abona was one of nine menceyatos guanches (native kingdoms) that has divided the island of Tenerife after the death of mencey Tinerfe, in the days before the conquest of the islands by the Crown of Castile. Occupied by the extension of existing m ...

). *

Añaterve Añaterve was the Guanche mencey (king) of Menceyato de Güímar at the time of the conquest of Tenerife in the 15th century. Kingship and European invasion Añaterve was the king of Güímar. This territory had an evangelizing mission since the m ...

: (mencey (''king'') of

Menceyato de Güímar The Guanches were the indigenous inhabitants of the Canary Islands in the Atlantic Ocean some west of Africa. It is believed that they may have arrived on the archipelago some time in the first millennium BCE. The Guanches were the only nativ ...

). *

Bencomo Bencomo (; 1438 – 1495) was the penultimate ''mencey'' or king of Taoro, a Guanche ''menceyato'' on the island of Tenerife. He fought in the First Battle of Acentejo, a victory for the Guanches against the invading Castilians, after having refu ...

: (mencey (''king'') of

Menceyato de Taoro Taoro was one of nine Guanche menceyatos (native kingdoms) in which the island of Tenerife (Canary Islands) was divided at the time of the arrival of the conquering Spaniards. Taoro was considered the most powerful aboriginal kingdom on the islan ...

). *

Beneharo Beneharo was a Guanches, Guanche king of Menceyato de Anaga on the island of Tenerife. Beneharo made peace in 1492 with Lope de Salazar, who had been sent by the governor of Gran Canaria Francisco Maldonado. After a slave raid shortly after again ...

: (mencey (''king'') of

Menceyato de Anaga Anaga was one of the 9 menceyatos guanches (native kingdoms) in which was divided the island of Tenerife (Canary Islands, Spain) before the arrival of the conquering Spaniards. The area of the menceyato is now part of the municipalities of Sant ...

). * Pelicar: (mencey (''king'') of

Menceyato de Icode Icod or Icode was one of nine menceyatos guanches (native kingdoms) that had divided the island of Tenerife (Canary Islands, Spain) after the death of mencey Tinerfe. It occupied a part of the extension of the existing municipalities of El Tanque ...

). * Pelinor: (mencey (''king'') of

Menceyato de Adeje Adeje was one of the 9 menceyatos guanches (native kingdoms) that had divided the island of Tenerife (Canary Islands, Spain) before the arrival of the conquering Spaniards and occupied the present day towns of Guía de Isora, Adeje, Santiago de ...

). * Romen: (mencey (''king'') of

Menceyato de Daute Daute was one of nine menceyatos guanches (native kingdoms) that was divided the island of Tenerife (Spain) after the death of King Tinerfe, in the period before the conquest of the islands by the Crown of Castile. Occupied by the extension of th ...

). *

Tegueste Tegueste is a town and a municipality of the northeastern part of the island of Tenerife in the Santa Cruz de Tenerife province, on the Canary Islands, Spain. It is surrounded by the municipality of San Cristóbal de La Laguna. The town Tegueste ...

: (mencey (''king'') of

Menceyato de Tegueste Tegueste was one of nine Guanches, Guanche menceyatos (native kingdoms), which ruled Tenerife on the Canary Islands before the Castilian conquest. It occupied the whole extent of the current municipality of Tegueste along with other sites that tod ...

In the toponymy of the island

The eighteenth-century historians

Juan Núñez de la Peña Juan Núñez de la Peña (May 1641 – January 3, 1721) was a Spanish historian. Born in San Cristóbal de La Laguna, he studied Latin and the humanities in the college of San Agustín de La Laguna and was subsequently ordained priest. He worke ...

and Tomás Arias Marín de Cubas, among others, state that the name of the island of Tenerife could come from Tinerfe.El nombre de Tenerife. Joaquín Caridad Arias
/ref>

References

Bibliography

* Abreu y Galindo, J. de, ''Historia de la conquista de las siete islas de Canarias'', en A. Cioranescu (ed) Goya ediciones, Tenerife, 1977 . * Arias Marín de Cubas, T. ''Historia de las siete islas de Canaria'', edición de Ángel de Juan Casañas y María Régulo Rodríguez; proemio de Juan Régulo Pérez; notas arqueológicas de Julio Cuenca Sanabría. Real Sociedad Económica de Amigos del País, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, 1986 * Bethencourt Alfonso, J. ''Historia del pueblo guanche: Tomo II. Etnografía y organización socio-política'', Francisco Lemus Ed. La Laguna, 1991 . * Espinosa, Fray A. de, ''Historia de Nuestra Señora de Candelaria'', en A. Cioranescu (ed) Goya ediciones, santa Cruz de Tenerife, 1967 . *

Torriani The House of Della Torre (Torriani or Thurn) were an Italian noble family who rose to prominence in Lombardy during the 12th–14th centuries, until they held the lordship of Milan before being ousted by the Visconti of Milan, Visconti. History T ...

, L. ''Descripción e historia del reino de las Islas Canarias'', en A. Cioranescu (ed) Goya ediciones, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, 1978 {{ISBN, 84-7181-336-X. * Viana, A. ''La Conquista de Tenerife'', en A. Cioranescu (ed) Aula de Cultura de Tenerife, Cabildo Insular, 1968-1971. People from Tenerife Military personnel killed in action Guanche Guanche people