Canary Islands: History and Customs of the Fortunate Islands

Luis A. Saavedra
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This podcast covers the history and customs of the Canary Islands, from before their conquest to our days. Narrated by a Canarian proud of their homeland and its history.

Episodes

  1. 06/12/2025

    Conquest of La Gomera and El Hierro; the legendary Garoé tree and Canaria turns Grand

    In this episode we go over the last adventures and misadventures of our Norman conqueror in the islands. Jean de Bethencourt obtains new troops in Normandy and reinforcements from Castile and tries one last incursion and conquest of the island of Canaria (Canary). His attempt is thwarted by the fierce resistance of the islanders, so he starts referring to it as Gran Canaria (Grand Canary). He then abandons this effort to visit the island of La Palma, and conquers La Gomera and El Hierro. Thus, his small empire now counts with the following islands: Lanzarote, Fuerteventura, La Gomera and El Hierro. We also talk about the sacred tree of El Hierro, the Garoé. We cover its legendary status over history, and the role it possibly played during the conquest efforts and settlement of the Normans and Castilians in El Hierro.

    1h 4m

  2. 12/17/2024

    The Conquest of Fuerteventura

    In this episode we continue narrating the lordly conquest of the islands supported by Castile. It is the year 1402 and Gadifer de la Salle awaits in the recently-conquered Lanzarote the arrival of his partner Jean de Bethencourt with supplies, reinforcements and ships. However, Bethencourt takes 2 years to return, sparkling conflict between the two Norman conquerors. This episode covers the end of the conquest of Fuerteventura and a new attack to Gran Canaria.

    36 min

  3. 05/16/2024

    Gran Canaria and Fuerteventura: First conquest attempts

    In this episode we continue exploring the conquest of the islands, this time going back to the 14th century and the first incursions in Gran Canaria. We then continue narrating Gadifer de la Salle's adventures in Fuerteventura, Gran Canaria and the rest of the islands right after the conquest of Lanzarote we covered in the previous episode. As always, you can contact me with any comments at canaryislands.podcast [at] gmail.com

    1h 22m

  4. 12/05/2023

    The Guanches and the Conquest of Lanzarote

    In this episode we start talking about the conquest of the Canary Islands. We start with a brief description of the time period, both in Europe and Spain, as well as the customs and life of the Guanches before the arrival of Europeans. We discuss the first contacts and finally the lordly conquest (conquista señorial) of Lanzarote at the hands of the Normands Jean de Bethencourt and Gadifer de la Salle. Their chronicles were written by the Franciscans Jean Le Verrier and Pierre Boutier, authors of "Le Canarien". Le Canarien is the first conquest chronicle of the Canaries and the first lengthy descriptions of the prehispanic Canarians.

    1h 5m

  5. 09/24/2023

    Volcanic Origin and Recent Eruptions

    This episode covers the geographical characteristics of the islands, as well as their origin. We cover multiple theories that have been proposed throughout the history of the Canaries trying to explain their origin. We also talk about historical volcanic eruptions and more recent ones.

    1h 16m

  6. TRAILER

    Trailer Canary Islands: History and Customs of the Fortunate Islands

    This is a short introduction to this podcast. This trailer mentions the main themes covered in this podcast.

    6 min

  7. 05/05/2023

    Introduction: The Canary Islands, History, Flora, Fauna, Culture and Tradition

    This first episode offers a general overview and introduction to the history and customs of the Canary Islands. We discuss their place in the world and briefly talk about their history, flora, fauna, culture and traditions, as well as their peoples and their speech. We touch on immigration and emigration through history. This podcast is the English version of "Islas Afortunadas: Historia y costumbres de las Islas Canarias", available at https://open.spotify.com/show/3IZ0bLNuKyqs3FPZwIgo3W

    1 hr

Trailer

About

This podcast covers the history and customs of the Canary Islands, from before their conquest to our days. Narrated by a Canarian proud of their homeland and its history.

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