Slavery

La Palma did not quickly offer wealth to the conquerors.  There was no gold or silver or other precious stones. The only source of wealth the Spanish conquistadors found were the Guanches – who could be used as slaves.  Despite a papal letter of 1434 in which Eugene IV declared that the trafficking of men in the island was prohibited, much of the population ended up being reduced to slavery.

Some scholars estimate that about 300 families (1,200 people) were made to be slaves.  After 1514, the Palmeros were considered equal with Europeans.  They were now being baptized and were mingling with conquistadors and Portuguese and French.

Prior to the abolition of the slave trade on the island, Alonso Fernandez de Lugo introduced a new source of wealth, the cultivation of sugarcane.  The territories of the island were divided between merchants, farmers and artisans of Europe.  In this way, in 1508, Juan Fernandez de Lugo sold his sugar cane crops and water reserves to an Andalusian, Argual Tazacorte and Mrs Dinarte.

They sold a year later to the Welser family, who transmitted the land and rights to the Belgian Jakob Groenenberch (Monteverde Jacobo), who ended up selling to his compatriot Van de Valle.

Viniculture
After 1553 the cultivation of sugar cane was no longer profitable due to the mass production from Central and South America.  Many of the plantations began to engage in wine production.  Malvasia wine, made with grapes produced by the young volcanic soils in the south of the island, became the main export of the island.

The main customer of this Palmeros wine was England.  The splendor of this wine lasted until the nineteenth century, when there was a decline caused by the change in consumer tastes.  However, even today La Palma is still growing Malvasia grapes and producing the wine, even though it is not preferred by the masses of consumers.