History

The “other” names of the island
Throughout history the island has received many names.  The aborigines called the island Benahoare (my land).  The island has also been known as San Miguel de La Palma, and it currently has three very popular nicknames:  La Isla Bonita, La Isla Verde and Isla Corazon.  It is also considered a possibility that the Junonia Maior listed in the text of Pliny the Elder refers to La Palma.

Aboriginal
The early inhabitants of the island were Benahoaritas, or Auaritas.  Cave Belmaco in La Palma was used as housing for Benahoritas.  Although concrete data are lacking, it is estimated that the population at that time ranged around 4,000 inhabitants.  Aborigines lived mostly on grazing goats, sheep and pigs.  The also harvested fruits and roots with which they produced a kind of flour, called “gofio,” made from fern roots, toasted amagantes and Moli.

It is believed, because of the rituals they practiced, that the Aboriginals on the island of La Palma originated from some site with Berber tribes in the northwest of the African continent.  It is unknown whether these Aborigines came by choice or otherwise.  They may have come to the island with other Mediterranean civilizations (such as the Romans or the Phoenicians).

The main feature of the Aborigine’s appearance was his height.  Many historians have pointed out that the island was the highest of the Canary Islands, reaching even to speak of giants.  Statistically however, the remains found in the deposits show that the average height of 1.70 meters for males and 1.65 meters for women.

Many historians have seen the bellicose nature of Aboriginal people.  There were often civil wars as well as small conflicts.  Many of these fights were not restricted to a canton, but often affected the whole island.  An example of a major confrontation was between Atogamtoma (lord of Tijarafe) with Tanausu (steel) or Mayantigo (Aridane).  Several authors have described the women benahoritas as having great strength and aggressiveness.

Aboriginal Palmeros also had a system of government that allowed the discussion of many problems without fights discuss many of the problems.  This institution was Tagoror.  Also within the community great importance was given to the family members, who were allowed to join into groups based on having the same blood lineage. This union may be of the first order or nuclear (as in parents and children) or retrospective or extensive (with a common ancestor).

This statement is important because it reinforces the findings by J. Alvarez Delgado that before the conquest in 1460 Benahoare had only one king.  Then this king, upon his death, divided La Palma into twelve different cantons and left it to his family. This proposition has emerged because the masters were all related to each other.  Furthermore, it is known that a family of two or three brothers could maneuver each canton into a kind of government.

It is believed that the benahorita people had a history of around 2000 years, until in 1493 Alonso Fernandez de Lugo landed on the island with the firm intention of conquest.  The first writings on the island date from the Middle Ages (the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries).  At the time of the conquest, the island was divided into twelve cantons.

Territorial division of the island of La Palma in prehispanic times
Depending on the source the data can change, however it is generally accepted that the twelve cantons, or segments, into which the island was divided and their respective masters at the time of the conquest were:

1. Aridane (Mayantigo). This covered much of the Valley Aridane (the current municipalities of El Paso and Los Llanos Tazacorte).
2. Tihuya (Chedey). It stretched from the mountain until the Tamanca.  It covered the areas currently known as Collins, Todoque Puerto Naos, La Laguna and some other spots.
3. Tamanca (Tamanca). It extended to the Charco.
4. Ahenguareme (Echentire and Azuquahe). This corresponds to the current Fuencaliente.
5. Tigalate (Juguiro and Garehagua). It appears to have also sometimes been called Mazo. It covers the territory of the municipality of Mazo today.
6. Tedote (Tinisuaga, Agacensie and Ventacayce). It corresponds to today’s  Santa Cruz de la Palma and Las Brenas.
7. Tenagua  (tied). Corresponds to Puntallana.
8. Adeyahamen (Bediesta). Corresponds to the current municipality of San Andres y Sauces.
9. Tagaragre (tedious and Autinmara). Correspond to Windward
10. Tegalgen (Bediesta). Cover the current Garafia
11. Tijarafe (Atogmatoma). Cover the existing municipalities and Tijarafe Puntagorda.
12.The twelfth canton is for the Caldera.  This Canton is called “Steel,” which means “place strong and invulnerable,” and the master was called Tanausu.

Unlike Tenerife and Gran Canaria, in La Palma there was no superstructure above these units.  In fact this system of power was not permanent, and these units or segments could be divided into smaller ones.  In the sixteenth century, sources refer to other units such as the “camp of Gazmira.”