Canary Islanders

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Canary Islanders
Canarios
Total population
c. 1,600,000
Roman Catholic (85%)[5]
Related ethnic groups
Isleños, other Spaniards, Madeirans, Portuguese, Berbers (Guanches)

Canary Islanders, or Canarians (

habla canaria (Canary speech) or the (dialecto) canario (Canarian dialect). The Canarians, and their descendants, played a major role during the conquest, colonization, and eventual independence movements of various countries in Latin America. Their ethnic and cultural presence is most palpable in the countries of Uruguay, Venezuela, Cuba and the Dominican Republic as well as the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico
.

History

The original inhabitants of the Canary Islands are commonly known as

Berber peoples of northern Africa.[6][7]

The islands were conquered by Castile at the beginning of the 15th century. In 1402, they began to subdue and suppress the native Guanche population. The Guanches were initially enslaved[citation needed] and gradually absorbed. As a result, genetic analyses of modern Canarians show mainly a mixture of European and North African genes, and low frequencies of sub-Saharan genes, with quite a lot of variation (see Ancestry).

After subsequent settlement by Europeans, the remaining Guanches were gradually assimilated by the settlers and their culture largely vanished. Alonso Fernández de Lugo, conqueror of Tenerife and La Palma, oversaw extensive immigration to these islands during a short period from the late 1490s to the 1520s from mainland Europe, mostly Castile and Portugal. At subsequent judicial enquiries, Fernández de Lugo was accused of favoring Genoese and Portuguese immigrants over Castilians.[8]

Ancestry

The native inhabitants of the Canary Islands hold a gene pool that is predominantly European and native Guanche. Guanche genetic markers have also been found recently in Puerto Rico and, at low frequencies, in peninsular Spain after later emigration from the Canary Islands.[9]

Population genetics

Canarian girls singing in Gran Canaria 1972

Uniparental markers

The most frequent (maternal-descent)

L haplogroups (6.6%) is also consistent with the historical records on introduction of sub-Saharan female slave labour in Canary Islands. However, some Sub-Saharan female lineages are also found in North African populations, and as a result, some of these L lineages could have been introduced to the Islands from North Africa.[10][11] A 2009 study of DNA extracted from the remains of aboriginal inhabitants found that 7% of lineages were haplogroup L, which leaves open the possibility that these L lineages were part of the founding population of the Canary Islands.[12]
Sub-Saharan female lineages have been found in frequencies of 10% or more in some islands.

A 2003 genetics research article by Nicole Maca-Meyer et al. published in the European Journal of Human Genetics compared aboriginal Guanche mtDNA (collected from Canarian archaeological sites) to that of today's Canarians and concluded that "despite the continuous changes suffered by the population (Spanish colonization, slave trade), aboriginal mtDNA lineages constitute a considerable proportion [42–73%] of the Canarian gene pool". According to this article, both percentages are obtained using two different estimation methods; nevertheless according to the same study the percentage that could be more reliable is the one of 73%.[13]

Although the

U6b1 is Canarian-specific[15][14]

A 2019 genetics research article confirms that most lineages observed in the ancient samples have a Mediterranean distribution, and belong to lineages associated with the Neolithic expansion in the Near East and Europe (T,J,X…). This phylogeographic analysis of Canarian ancient mitogenomes, the first of its kind, shows that some lineages are restricted to Central North Africa (H1cf, J2a2d and T2c1d3), while others have a wider distribution, including both West and Central North Africa, and, Europe and the Near East.[16]

E1b1b1b, which may skew determination of the aboriginality versus coloniality of contemporary y-DNA lineages in the Canaries. Regardless, Maca-Meyer et al. state that historical evidence does support the explanation of "strong sexual asymmetry...as a result of a strong bias favoring matings between European males and aboriginal females, and to the important aboriginal male mortality during the Conquest".[17]

Indeed, according to a recent study by Fregel et al. 2009, in spite of the geographic nearness between the Canary Islands and

T (3%) haplogroups are present at a rate of 33%.[18][19] According to the same study, the presence of autochthonous North African E-M81 lineages, and also other relatively abundant markers (E-M78 and J-M267) from the same region in the indigenous Guanche population, "strongly points to that area [North Africa] as the most probable origin of the Guanche ancestors". In this study, Fregel et al. estimated that, based on Y-chromosome and mtDNA haplogroup frequencies, the relative female and male indigenous Guanche contributions to the present-day Canary Islands populations were respectively of 41.8% and 16.1%.[18]

Mitochondrial DNA

The maternal lineages of mitochondrial DNA in Canary Islanders show the prevalence of European ancestry in all islands except La Gomera, in which the Northwest African lineage is stronger:

Island/NW African mtDNA Sample
size
% U6 % L Total
La Gomera 46 50.01 % 10.86 % 60.87 %
El Hierro 32 21.88 % 12.49 % 34.37 %
Lanzarote 49 20.40 % 8.16 % 28.56 %
Gran Canaria 80 11.25 % 10 % 21.25 %
Tenerife 174 12.09 % 7.45 % 19.54 %
La Palma 68 17.65 % 1.47 % 19.12 %
Fuerteventura 42 16.66 % 2.38 % 19.04 %

Study: Fregel 2009[20]

A 2002 study analyzing the mithocondrial DNA from the teeth of the 18th century Canarian population, found that the 18th century Canary Islanders had a bit more of North African heritage than European, with minor Sub-Saharian roots, which the author links to the former trade of black slaves.

North-African European Sub-Saharan
Canary Islands[21] 50.2% 43.2% 6.6%

Autosomal DNA

An autosomal study in 2011 found an average Northwest African influence of about 17% in Canary Islanders with a wide interindividual variation ranging from 0% to 96%. According to the authors, the substantial Northwest African ancestry found for Canary Islanders supports that, despite the aggressive conquest by Castile in the 15th century and the subsequent immigration, genetic footprints of the first settlers of the Canary Islands persist in the current inhabitants. Paralleling mtDNA findings, the largest average Northwest African contribution was found for the samples from La Gomera.[22]

Island N Average NW African ancestry
La Gomera 7 42.50 %
Fuerteventura 10 21.60 %
La Palma 7 21.00 %
El Hierro 7 19.80 %
Lanzarote 13 16.40 %
Tenerife 30 14.30 %
Gran Canaria 30 12.40 %
Total Canary Islanders 104 17.40 %
Triangle plot of individual genomic admixture proportions in Canary Islanders by Guillen-Guio et al. 2018.[23]
EUR: European, NAF: North African, SSA: sub-Saharan African. Each dots represent individuals. The different colors represent the different software used for the estimation.

Another recent study by Guillen-Guio et al. 2018 sequenced the entire genomes of a sample of 400 adult men and women from all the islands except La Graciosa to determine the relationship of Canarian genetic diversity to the more frequent complex pathologies in the archipelago. The study indicated that Canarian DNA shows distinctive genetic markers, the result of a combination of factors such as the geographic isolation of the islands, the adaption to the environment of its inhabitants and the historic admixture of the Pre-Hispanic population of the archipelago (coming from North Africa), with European and from Sub-Saharan area individuals. Drawing on these data, it was estimated that the Canarian population is, on average at an autosomal level, 75% European, 22% North African and 3% Sub-saharan.[24] According to the authors "the proportion of SSA ancestry we observed in Canary Islanders likely originated in the postconquest importation of enslaved African people.". This study reported the below Genomic Ancestry Proportions in Canary Islanders.[23]

Genomic ancestry proportions in Canary Islanders
Island North African Sub-Saharan African
Min. Mean Max. Min. Mean Max.
Fuerteventura 0.218 0.255 0.296 0.011 0.027 0.046
Lanzarote 0.214 0.254 0.296 0.014 0.032 0.057
Gran Canaria 0.155 0.200 0.264 0.005 0.032 0.082
Tenerife 0.149 0.208 0.255 0.002 0.015 0.057
La Gomera 0.160 0.221 0.289 0.013 0.048 0.092
La Palma 0.170 0.200 0.245 0.000 0.013 0.032
El Hierro 0.192 0.246 0.299 0.005 0.020 0.032

Source: Genomic Ancestry Proportions (from ADMIXTURE, K-4) in Canary Islanders (Guillen-Guio et al. 2018)[23]

Ancient Canarians

The

indigenous Berbers. In 2017, the first genome-wide data from the Guanches confirmed a North African origin and that they were genetically most similar to ancient North African Berber peoples of the nearby North African mainland. It also showed that modern inhabitants of Gran Canaria carry an estimated 16%–31% Guanche autosomal ancestry.[25]

Culture

Shepherd's leap
Silbo Gomero demonstration at a restaurant in La Gomera

Modern-day Canarian culture is Spanish, with some Guanche influences. Some of the Canarian traditional sports such as

Silbo Gomero, which can be heard up to 3 km (2 miles) away.[26] This indigenous whistled language was invented by the Guanches, and was then adopted by the Spanish settlers in the 16th century after the Guanches were culturally assimilated into the population. The language was also formerly spoken on El Hierro, Tenerife and Gran Canaria[27][26]

The holidays celebrated in the Canary Islands are of international, national and regional or insular character. The official day of the autonomous community is

Carnival of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. It is celebrated on the streets between the months of February and March. But the rest of the islands of the archipelago have their carnivals with their own traditions among which stand out: The Festival of the Carneros of El Hierro, the Festival of the Diabletes of Teguise in Lanzarote, Los Indianos de La Palma, the Carnival of San Sebastián de La Gomera and the Carnival of Puerto del Rosario in Fuerteventura
.

The strong influence of Latin America in Canarian culture is due to the constant emigration and return over the centuries of Canarians to that continent, chiefly to

San Antonio), and some areas in eastern Mexico including Nuevo León and Veracruz.[28]

Religion

Catholic Church

Peter of Saint Joseph de Betancur, the first Canarian catholic saint

The majority of native Canary Islanders are

Protestants
from northern Europe.

The appearance of the

José de Anchieta.[30] Both born on the island of Tenerife, they were respectively missionaries in Guatemala and Brazil
.

The Canary Islands are divided into two Catholic dioceses, each governed by a bishop:

Other religions

Around 5 percent of Canarians belong to a minority religion. Separate from the overwhelming Christian majority are a minority of Muslims who are usually foreign-born.[31] At present, there are in the Canary Islands a figure of approximately 70,000 Muslims and 40 mosques and places of worship throughout the archipelago.[32]

Among the followers of Islam, the Islamic Federation of the Canary Islands exists to represent the Islamic community in the Canary Islands as well as to provide practical support to members of the Islamic community.[33]

Isleño trapper and sons, Delacroix Island, 1941

Statistics

The distribution of beliefs in 2012 according to the CIS Barometer Autonomy was as follows:[34]

  • Catholic 84.9%
  • Atheist/Agnostic/Unbeliever 12.3%
  • Other religions 1.7%

Among the believers 38.7% attend religious services frequently.

Canarian diaspora

Historically, the Canary Islands have served as a hub between Spain and the Americas; favoured by that circumstance, large groups of Canary islanders have emigrated and settled all over the New World as early as the 15th century, mainly in Cuba, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, Venezuela and Uruguay.

Demographics

The Canarian population includes long-tenured and new waves of mainland Spanish immigrants, including

Asturians of Spain; old settlers of Portuguese, Italian, the Dutch or Flemish, British, and French origin, as well as recent foreign-born arrivals.[35] In 2019 the total population was 2,153,389, of which 72.1% were native Canary Islanders.[36] A total of 80.6%, or 1,735,457, were born in Spain and 19.4%, or 417,932, were born outside the country. Of these, the majority are from the Americas, mainly from Venezuela (66,573) and Cuba (41,792) and Colombia (31,368). There are 38,768 people from Africa, the majority from Morocco (24,268).[35][37]

Population history[38]
Year Population
1768 155,763
1787 168,928
1797 173,865
1842 241,266
1860 237,036
1887 301,983
1900 364,408
1920 488,483
1940 687,937
1960 966,177
1981 1,367,646
1990 1,589,403
2000 1,716,276
2010 2,118,519
2011 2,082,655[39]
2019 2,152,590[1]
Population of the Canary Islands 2019
Birthplace Population Percent
Canary Islands Canary Islands 1,553,517 72.1
Other regions (Spain) 176,302 8.2
Total, Spain 1,735,457 80.6
Foreign-born 417,932 19.4
Americas 201,257 9.3
Venezuela 66,573 -
Cuba 41,792 -
Colombia 31,361 -
Argentina 17.429 -
Uruguay 8,687 -
Rest of Europe 154,511 7.2
Italy 39,469 -
Germany 25,921 -
United Kingdom 25,339 -
Africa 38,768 1.8
Morocco 24,268 -
Asia 23,082 1.1
China 9,848 -
Oceania 314 0.0
Total 2,153,389 100.0%
Source[37][36]

Canarian identity

According to a 2012 study by the Centro de Investigaciones Sociológicas, when asked about national identity, the majority of respondents from the Canary Islands (49.3%) consider themselves Spanish and Canarian in equal measures, followed by 37.1% who consider themselves more Canarian than Spanish. Only 6.1% of the respondents consider themselves only Canarian.[40]

National Sentiment in the Canary Islands[40]
Only Spanish 3.5%
More Spanish than Canarian 2.0%
Equally Spanish and Canarian 49.3%
More Canarian than Spanish 37.1%
Only Canarian 6.1%
Did not answer 2.0%

Notable Canarians

Engineer and General Augustin de Betancourt
Realist novelist Benito Pérez Galdós

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c "Estadística del Padrón Continuo. Datos provisionales a 1 de enero de 2019". January 1, 2019. Retrieved February 3, 2020.
  2. ^ a b "How many Canarians in other countries". Archived from the original on August 3, 2012. Retrieved November 21, 2009.
  3. ^ "Canarians in Venezuela". Archived from the original on July 13, 2011. Retrieved November 21, 2009.
  4. ^ LA EMIGRACIÓN CANARIA A AMÉRICA A TRAVÉS DE LA HISTORIA. Manuel Hernández González
  5. ^ Interactivo: Creencias y prácticas religiosas en España
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  7. .
  8. ^ History of La Palma
  9. S2CID 14372404
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  13. ^ Ancient mtDNA analysis and the origin of the Guanches
  14. ^
    PMID 14508507
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  16. ^ Rosa Fregel et al.: Mitogenomes illuminate the origin and migration patterns of the indigenous people of the Canary Islands
  17. PMID 14508507
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  18. ^ .
  19. .
  20. .
  21. ^ Nicole Maca Meyer. 2002, Composición genética de poblaciones históricas y prehistóricas humanas de las Islas Canarias
  22. PMID 21479138
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  23. ^
    PMID 30289472.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link
    )
  24. ^ Cuatro apellidos canarios, un bisabuelo peninsular y otro africano
  25. ^ Ricardo Rodríguez-Varel et al. 2017, Genomic Analyses of Pre-European Conquest Human Remains from the Canary Islands Reveal Close Affinity to Modern North Africans
  26. ^ a b Laura Plitt (January 11, 2013). "Silbo gomero: A whistling language revived". BBC News. Retrieved January 13, 2013.
  27. ^ "Whistled language of the island of La Gomera (Canary Islands), the Silbo Gomero". Fourth Session of the Intergovernmental Committee 2009 (4.COM). Retrieved October 10, 2014.
  28. ^ "El Porvenir | Opinión | Bernabé de las Casas". Archived from the original on April 12, 2009. Retrieved March 4, 2009.[full citation needed]
  29. ^ Pedro de San José Betancurt, Santo
  30. ^ José de Anchieta, Santo
  31. ^ Un 5% de canarios profesa una religión minoritaria
  32. ^ "Entrevista al Señor Tijani El Bouji Presidente de FIDC". Archived from the original on August 5, 2018. Retrieved October 3, 2016.
  33. ^ Los musulmanes de la Isla constituyen la primera Federación Islámica de Canarias
  34. ^ Barometro Autonómico del CIS Canarias (2012); preguntas 47 y 48
  35. ^ a b Suárez, Borja (June 25, 2018). "El 91% de los nuevos habitantes de Canarias viene del extranjero". www.canarias7.es.
  36. ^ a b "Estadística del Padrón Continuo a 1 de enero de 2019. Datos a nivel nacional, comunidad autónoma y provincia (Canarias)". Retrieved February 20, 2020.
  37. ^ a b "Estadística del Padrón Continuo a 1 de enero de 2019. Datos a nivel nacional, comunidad autónoma y provincia". Retrieved February 20, 2020.
  38. ^ "Official census statistics of the Canary Islands population". Gobiernodecanarias.org. Archived from the original on March 26, 2010. Retrieved April 26, 2010.
  39. ^ Censos de Población y Viviendas 2011.
  40. ^ a b "Barómetro Autonómico (III), (Comunidad autónoma de Canarias)" (PDF) (in Spanish). Centro de Investigaciones Sociológicas. 2012. Archived from the original (PDF) on May 18, 2016. Retrieved September 23, 2019.
  41. ^ "Narciso Rodríguez. Noticias, fotos y biografía de Narciso Rodríguez".