Canary Islanders, or Canarians (), are the people of the Canary Islands, an autonomous community of Spain near the coast of the Maghreb. The distinctive variety of the Spanish language spoken in the region is known as habla canaria (Canary speech) or as the (dialecto) canario (Canarian dialect). The Canarians, and their descendants, played major roles during the conquest, colonization, and eventual independence movements of various Latin American countries. The Canarians' ethnic and cultural presence are most palpable in Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Uruguay, and Venezuela.
History
The original inhabitants of the Canary Islands are commonly known as Guanches (although this term, in its strict sense, refers only to the Indigenous inhabitants of Tenerife). They are most probably descendants of the Berbers of Morocco and Algeria.Fregel R, Ordóñez AC, Santana-Cabrera J, Cabrera VM, Velasco-Vázquez J, Alberto V, Moreno-Benítez MA, Delgado-Darias T, Rodríguez-Rodríguez A, Hernández JC, Pais J, González-Montelongo R, Lorenzo-Salazar JM, Flores C, Cruz-de-Mercadal MC, Álvarez-Rodríguez N, Shapiro B, Arnay M, Bustamante CD. Mitogenomes illuminate the origin and migration patterns of the indigenous people of the Canary Islands. PLoS One. 2019 Mar 20;14(3):e0209125. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0209125. PMID 30893316; PMCID: PMC6426200.
At the beginning of the 15th century, the Canary Islands were conquered by Castile. In 1402, the Castilians began to subdue and suppress the Indigenous Guanche population. The Guanches were initially enslavedMatthew Wills. The Canary Islands: First Stop of Imperialism, 3 June 2023, https://daily.jstor.org/the-canary-islands-first-stop-of-imperialism/. and gradually absorbed. As a result, genetic analyses of modern Canarians show mainly a mixture of predominant European and North African genes, with low frequencies of sub-Saharan genes, sometimes with substantial variation between individuals (see Ancestry).
Following subsequent European settlement, the remaining Guanches were gradually assimilated by the settlers and their culture largely vanished. Alonso Fernández de Lugo, conqueror of Tenerife and La Palma, oversaw extensive European immigration to these two islands during a short period (from the late 1490s to the 1520s). At subsequent judicial enquiries, Fernández de Lugo was accused of favoring Genoese and Portuguese immigrants over Castilians.History of La Palma
Ancestry The overall genome of the Canary Islands shows a major Iberian contribution (62–78%), a substantial Maghrebian contribution (23–38%), and a minor sub-Saharan African input (3%). In the maternal line (mitochondrial DNA), the Iberian contribution drops to between 48% and 55% – Guanche mothers heavily influenced early interbreeding, accounting for about half of the maternal line. In contrast, the paternal line (Y Chromosome) is overwhelmingly Iberian, ranging from 83% to more than 90%.
While early immigrants from South Europe and North Africa shaped the base population of the Canary Islands, the dominant Iberian genetic ancestry was primarily Portuguese—best illustrated by surnames—followed by Galicians and Andalusians, although the latter exerted the most profound impact on the emerging dialect. This was largely because, from the late-15th century onward, the Port of Seville served as the mandatory transit point for all migrants departing for the Canary Islands (under the Spanish Crown).
Population genetics
Uniparental markers The most frequent (maternal-descent) mtDNA haplogroup in Canary Islands is H (37.6%), followed by U6 (14.0%), T (12.7%), not-U6 U (10.3%) and J (7.0%). Haplogroups H and U6 account for more than 50% of the individuals. Frequencies of sub-Saharan maternal L haplogroups (6.6%) are also consistent with the historical records on introduction of sub-Saharan female slave labour on the Canary Islands. However, small percentages ofGarcía-Olivares V, Rubio-Rodríguez LA, Muñoz-Barrera A, Díaz-de Usera A, Jáspez D, Iñigo-Campos A, Rodríguez Pérez MDC, Cabrera de León A, Lorenzo-Salazar JM, González-Montelongo R, Cabrera VM, Flores C. Digging into the admixture strata of current-day Canary Islanders based on mitogenomes. iScience. 2022 Dec 29;26(1):105907. doi: 10.1016/j.isci.2022.105907. PMID 36647378; PMCID: PMC9840145. sub-Saharan female lineages can also be found in certain North African populations (see: Trans-Saharan slave trade), and as a result, some of these L lineages could have been introduced to the Islands from the Maghreb. A 2009 study of DNA extracted from the remains of the Canary Islands' Indigenous inhabitants found that 7% of lineages were haplogroup L, which leaves open the possibility that these L lineages were part of the founding populations of the Canary Islands. Sub-Saharan female lineages have been found in frequencies of 10% or more on some of the Canary Islands.
A 2003 genetics research article by Nicole Maca-Meyer et al. published in the European Journal of Human Genetics compared aboriginal Guanche mtDNA (collected from Canarian archaeological sites) to that of today's Canarians and concluded that "despite the continuous changes suffered by the population (Spanish colonization, slave trade), aboriginal mtDNA lineages constitute a considerable proportion [42–73%] of the Canarian gene pool". According to this article, both percentages are obtained using two different estimation methods; nevertheless, according to the same study, the percentage that could be more reliable is the one of 73%.Ancient mtDNA analysis and the origin of the Guanches
Although the Berbers are the most probable ancestors of the Guanches, it is deduced that important human movements (e.g., the Islamic-Arabic conquest of the Berbers) have reshaped Northwest Africa after the migratory wave to the Canary Islands. The "results support, from a maternal perspective, the supposition that since the end of the 16th century, at least, two-thirds of the Canarian population had an Indigenous substrate, as was previously inferred from historical and anthropological data". mtDNA haplogroup U subclade U6b1 is a Canarian-specific, localized branch of the U6b halogroup (Mediterranean Northwest Africa).Secher B, Fregel R, Larruga JM, Cabrera VM, Endicott P, Pestano JJ, González AM. The history of the North African mitochondrial DNA haplogroup U6 gene flow into the African, Eurasian and American continents. BMC Evol Biol. 2014 May 19;14:109. doi: 10.1186/1471-2148-14-109. PMID 24885141; PMCID: PMC4062890.
A 2019 genetics research article states that most lineages observed in the ancient samples have a Mediterranean distribution, and belong to lineages associated with the Neolithic expansion in the Near East and Europe (T, J, X...). The first of its kind, this phylogeographic analysis of Canarian ancient mitogenomes shows that "some lineages are restricted to central North Africa (H1cf, J2a2d and T2c1d3), while others have wider distributions, including the West North Africa and Central North Africa (both parts of the Maghreb), and, in some cases, Europe, and the Near East (U6a1a1, U6a7a1, U6b, X3a, U6c1)."Rosa Fregel et al.: Mitogenomes illuminate the origin and migration patterns of the indigenous people of the Canary Islands
Y-DNA, or Y-chromosomal, (direct paternal) lineages were not analysed in this study; however, an earlier study giving the aboriginal y-DNA contribution at 6% was cited by Maca-Meyer et al., but the results were criticized as possibly flawed due to the widespread phylogeography of y-DNA haplogroup E1b1b1b, which may skew determination of the aboriginality versus coloniality of contemporary y-DNA lineages in the Canaries. Regardless, Maca-Meyer et al. state that historical evidence does support the explanation of "strong sexual asymmetry...as a result of a strong bias favoring matings between European males and aboriginal females, and to the important aboriginal male mortality during the Conquest".
According to a 2009 study by Fregel et al., the genetic ancestry of the Canary islands' males is mainly of European origin. Nearly 67% of the haplogroups resulting from are Euro-Eurasian (R1a (2.76%), R1b (50.62%), J (14%), I (9.66%) and G (3.99%)). Unsurprisingly, the Castillian conquest brought the genetic base of the current male population of the Canary Islands. Nevertheless, the second most important haplogroup origin is North African. E1b1b (14% including 8.30% of the typical Berber haplogroup E-M81), E1b1a and E1a (1.50%), and T (3%) haplogroups are present at a rate of 33%. According to the same study, the presence of autochthonous North African E-M81 lineages, and also other relatively abundant markers (E-M78 and J-M267) from the same region in the Indigenous Guanche population, "strongly points to that area [North Africa] as the most probable origin of the Guanche ancestors". In this study, Fregel et al. estimated that, based on Y-chromosome and mtDNA haplogroup frequencies, the relative female and male indigenous Guanche contributions to the present-day Canary Islands populations were respectively of 41.8% and 16.1%.
Mitochondrial DNA A genetic study analyzing the modern-day Canarian population showed a prevalence of European maternal lineages in Canary Islanders followed by Northwest African ancestry in all Islands except La Gomera: Island/NW African mtDNASamplesize% U6% LTotal La Gomera4650.01 %10.86 %60.87 % El Hierro3221.88 %12.49 %34.37 % Lanzarote4920.40 %8.16 %28.56 % Gran Canaria8011.25 %10 %21.25 % Tenerife17412.09 %7.45 %19.54 % La Palma6817.65 %1.47 %19.12 % Fuerteventura4216.66 %2.38 %19.04 %
A mithocondrial DNA analysis of ancient, around 1000 years old, Guanche remains indirectly estimated the current maternal Northwest African lineage to be higher than European: MtDNA North African European Sub Saharan Canary IslandsNicole Maca Meyer. 2002, Composición genética de poblaciones históricas y prehistóricas humanas de las Islas Canarias 50.2% 43.2% 6.6%
A mithocondrial DNA study that analyzed the teeth of the XVIII century Canary Islanders showed more presence of Northwest African maternal ancestry than European: MtDNA North African European Sub Saharan Canary Islands http://www.nature.com/ejhg/journal/v12/n2/abs/5201075a.html 73% 21.5% 5.5%
Autosomal DNA An autosomal study in 2011 found an average Northwest African influence of about 17% in Canary Islanders with a wide interindividual variation ranging from 0% to 96%. According to the authors, the substantial Northwest African ancestry found for Canary Islanders supports that, despite the aggressive conquest by Castile in the 15th century and the subsequent immigration, genetic footprints of the first settlers of the Canary Islands persist in the current inhabitants. Paralleling mtDNA findings, the largest average Northwest African contribution was found for the samples from La Gomera.
Island N Average NW African ancestry La Gomera742.50 % Fuerteventura1021.60 % La Palma721.00 % El Hierro719.80 % Lanzarote1316.40 % Tenerife3014.30 % Gran Canaria3012.40 % Total Canary Islanders10417.40 %