Steve's World Blog Information and articles on cities, towns and villages around the world.

One of the most popular winter holiday destinations for Europeans seeking some off peak sunshine is the Spanish Canary Islands, an archipelago of islands and islets located off the north-east coast of Africa. The Canary Islands have a long and interesting past and Canary Islands history is fascinating to discover. First settled some 5,000 years ago the earliest true civilisation occurred during the second century BC when a tribal culture known as the Guanches lived in caves and built primitive villages. The Guanches were still in occupation when the Romans arrived in 40 BC, as Juba II explored the region which was then called the Fortunate Islands. The present name was probably derived from the breed of dogs which lived on the islands and met the Roman explorers, they were large and fierce and no doubt left an impression on the arrivals. The islands, to all intents and purposes, disappeared from the map for over 1,000 years after the fall of the Roman Empire and were not set foot on again until the beginning of the 14^th century when a Genoese captain called Lazarotto Malocello bumped into the island later named after him (Lanzarote) and took the news of its existence back to Europe. Later expeditions led to the eventual invasion by a small force under Jean de Bethencourt, he landed on Lanzarote and built a fort on Fuerteventura before running out of provisions and heading for the Spanish mainland to muster additional support from the Castillians.