In 1402, a Norman-led expedition under Jean de Béthencourt and Gadifer de la Salle set out from La Rochelle to begin conquering and settling the Canary Islands for the Crown of Castile. This marked the start of a long, uneven conquest that mixed private profit, religious aims, and royal rivalry in the Atlantic.
After arriving in the Canaries in mid-1402, Béthencourt and de la Salle began the military takeover of Lanzarote. The operation was a private venture but carried out with authorization from Henry III of Castile, setting a pattern where nobles and entrepreneurs often acted first and the Crown later consolidated control.
In 1404, the conquerors founded Betancuria on Fuerteventura, creating a lasting administrative and settlement hub. Establishing towns and fortifications helped shift conquest from short raids to permanent European occupation and governance.
Béthencourt traveled to Castile to seek support and returned with enhanced status after doing homage to Henry III of Castile. This tied the conquest more clearly to Castilian authority, even though much of the early campaigning still depended on private financing and settlers.
Between roughly 1404 and 1405, Castilian-aligned forces extended control beyond Lanzarote, completing the conquest of Fuerteventura and then El Hierro. These early gains formed a core of occupied islands, but resistance and limited resources prevented quick conquest of the entire archipelago.
Béthencourt ultimately returned to Europe and left day-to-day rule to relatives and deputies, including Maciot de Béthencourt. This transition mattered because it turned the early conquests into a continuing lordship (a feudal-style jurisdiction) rather than a one-time expedition.
In 1418, Maciot de Béthencourt sold rights to the conquered islands, with authorization, to Enrique de Guzmán, Count of Niebla. The sale shows how the conquest was still treated as transferable property claims, even as the Castilian Crown’s interest in direct control grew.
In 1478, Castile began a Crown-driven phase of conquest (often called the realenga phase, meaning directed by the monarchy) with the invasion of Gran Canaria. This shift brought larger resources and clearer royal objectives, but the campaign still faced strong local resistance and internal disputes among the invaders.
In 1479, the Treaty of Alcáçovas ended a phase of Castile–Portugal conflict and included Atlantic terms. It recognized Castilian possession of the Canary Islands, helping remove a major diplomatic obstacle to finishing the conquest of the remaining islands.
By April 1483, Gran Canaria’s resistance collapsed after decisive fighting and the surrender at Ansite, concluding the island’s conquest. The fall of Gran Canaria provided Castile a stronger base for later campaigns against La Palma and Tenerife.
In late 1488, an indigenous uprising on La Gomera killed the island’s lord, Hernán Peraza the Younger, prompting a harsh Castilian response. The repression is widely treated as the moment that secured Castilian control over La Gomera in practice, not just in claims.
On 29 September 1492, Alonso Fernández de Lugo began the conquest of La Palma by landing at Tazacorte. The campaign showed Castile’s move toward finishing the archipelago conquest with better organization, but it also faced determined local resistance in difficult terrain.
By 3 May 1493, La Palma’s conquest was completed after most local leaders submitted and the last major holdout was defeated. This victory freed Fernández de Lugo to focus on Tenerife, the largest and most resistant island still outside Castilian rule.
On 31 May 1494, Guanche forces on Tenerife defeated Fernández de Lugo’s invading army at the First Battle of Acentejo. The defeat forced the invaders to regroup, demonstrating that conquest was not inevitable and could be reversed by local military advantages and knowledge of terrain.
In November 1494, Castilian forces won the Battle of Aguere near present-day La Laguna. Fighting on a more open plain reduced the defenders’ terrain advantage and helped the invaders recover from the earlier Acentejo defeat.
On 25 July 1496, the Peace of Los Realejos marked the final surrender of Tenerife’s remaining Guanche leaders to Fernández de Lugo. With Tenerife’s fall, the Spanish conquest of the Canary Islands (1402–1496) reached its endpoint, opening a new phase of sustained Castilian colonization and administration across the entire archipelago.
Spanish conquest of the Canary Islands (1402–1496)