Vikings reach Canary Islands and meet the Guanche

Could Norse sailors discover the Canary Islands ? Would their naval abilities and tchnology allow that ? What would their relationship with the Guanche people be ? Would there be raids or could there be even a constructive relationship and trade ?
 
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They certainly could sail there. They sailed to Morocco and Spain and the canaries are as close to them as Iceland is to Norway.

But well there's no reason to go there, they wouldn't know they were there, and nothing there worth going back for if they did find it.

It's not close enough to settle in and it's not rich enough to want to raid or trade with. If you're going to the med, there's so many more tempting targets to sail to.
 
The Canaries would at first make nice stops for water and food. Later they would be great bases for trade or raids. The Guance, I suspect, would be subjugated if the Norse decided to make a serious effort.
 
The Canaries would at first make nice stops for water and food. Later they would be great bases for trade or raids. The Guance, I suspect, would be subjugated if the Norse decided to make a serious effort.

I mean, that's exactly how the Aragonese, Portuguese and Spanish expeditions used it. Stop-overs (while exploring Africa) and shortly thereafter capturing people into slavery. But it wasn't a very straightforward process even then: the first extended contacts were made in the late 13th c., the first feudal charters were given in the early 15th, and it was finally wholly conquered only in the very late 15th c.

So I could see the Norse taking Guanches into slavery, for example, to be sold in the Mediterranean or taken back home to work the farms.

Incidentally I like using the Canaries as an example of medieval overseas colonial efforts simply because they're among the very few examples that we have and are relatively well-documented.
 
The Canaries would at first make nice stops for water and food. Later they would be great bases for trade or raids. The Guance, I suspect, would be subjugated if the Norse decided to make a serious effort.

The Norse could probably take one island, but subjugating the whole Canaries would be very tough. The Spanish had a much harder time conquering them than the Aztecs and Incas. The conquest took almost a hundred years and in the First Battle of Acentejo Spain suffered a crushing defeat with 1,000 killed. There was nothing close to this in the conquest of the New World.

I still don't understand how the Guanches did it, AFAIK they were armed with wood weapons.
 
The Canaries would at first make nice stops for water and food. Later they would be great bases for trade or raids. The Guance, I suspect, would be subjugated if the Norse decided to make a serious effort.

But it's not on the way to anywhere. Like where are they heading where they'd have to stop at the canaries?

And again bases to attack who?

You'd need a reason for the vikings to be really focused on raiding west africa and well why? It's a long long way from where the norse are operating, of an unfamiliar climate and not as rich, as densley populated or as vulnerable as closer lands. (Yes Ghana was very rich, but Ghana was in land, it wasn't orientated towards the seas, it traded overland and had it's bases in land.)
 
The Canaries would at first make nice stops for water and food. Later they would be great bases for trade or raids. The Guance, I suspect, would be subjugated if the Norse decided to make a serious effort.

The Norse could probably take one island, but subjugating the whole Canaries would be very tough. The Spanish had a much harder time conquering them than the Aztecs and Incas. The conquest took almost a hundred years and in the First Battle of Acentejo Spain suffered a crushing defeat with 1,000 killed. There was nothing close to this in the conquest of the New World.

I still don't understand how the Guanches did it, AFAIK they were armed with wood weapons.

AFAIK The Canaries have a very dry climate and and uneven distribution of water, not a very interesting piece of land to settle IMHO. Madeira has a nicer climate, but it's way too isolated from the African coast.
 
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