http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guanches - Yes, these guys and gals (of archaic Berber descent).

With a POD of your own choosing, but no earlier than 1000 AD, try to figure out a way for the Guanche natives to survive as a distinct Canary Islands ethnicity to the modern day, alongside European settlers.

I don't mind Spain or Portugal or whoever taking over the islands and subjugating the natives as in OTL (frankly, it's bound to happen sooner or later). What I'm aiming at here is saving the Guanches from de facto extinction as an ethnicity (including their dialects, now considered dead languages with incomplete documentation).
 
Last edited:
Probably, only some form of "benign" Christianization by one of the proselytizing orders before the Castilian conquest would have preserved some semblance of their culture. The Canaries had overseas visitations from Europe at least since the 9th Century, so this could have been possible. Perhaps more regular visitation by monks and traders could have increased disease immunities -- the other big reason besides conquest was European diseases killing off many of the Guanches.

So, as relatively Euro-disease resistant, Christians that couldn't simply be dismissed as savages, the Guanche culture perhaps would have had a longer run.
 
Top