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THE POPULATION OF ANCIENT EGYPT ACCORDING TO EARLY EUROPEAN “SCHOLARS ” AND “HISTORIANS”
Quote from 1867 by Egyptologist Champollion-Figeac - “The first tribes that inhabited Egypt that is, the Nile Valley between the Syene cataracts and the sea, came from Abyssinia to Sennar. The ancient Egyptians belonged to a race quite similar to the Kennous or Barabras, present inhabitants of Nubia. In the Copts of Egypt we do not find any of the characteristic features of the ancient Egyptian population. The Copts are the result of crossbreeding with all the nations that have successively dominated Egypt . It is wrong to seek in them the principal features of the old race.” From Letters published by Champollion-Figeac (Founding Egyptologist).
Also written by Jean Francois Champollion – "Dr. Larrey investigated this problem in Egypt; he examined a large number of mummies, studied their skulls, recognized the principle characteristics, tried to identify them in the various races living in Egypt, and succeeded in doing so. The Abyssinian seemed to him to combine them all, except for the black race. The Abyssinian has large eyes, an agreeable glance prominent cheekbones; the cheeks form a regular triangle with prominent angles of the jawbone and mouth; the lips are thick without being everted as in Blacks; the teeth are fine, just slightly protruding ; finally, the complexion is merely copper-colored: such are the Abyssinians observed by Dr. Larrey generally known as Berbers or Barabras, present-day inhabitants of Nubia." quoted in the African Origin of Civilization: Myth or Reality published by Lawrence Hill, 1974 by Cheikh Anta Diop.
1886 – “The fundamental character of the Egyptians in respect to physical type, language and tone of thought, is Negritic. The Egyptians were not negroes, but they bore resemblance to the negro which is indisputable.” Found in - Ancient Egypt by George Rawlinson and Arthur Gilman, London, 1886, p. 24.
1911 - Anatomist Grafton Elliot Smith - “the physical characteristics of the present day Nubian, Beja, Danakil, Galla, and Somali populations are if we leave out of account the alien negro and Semitic traits…are an obvious token of their undoubted kinship with the proto-Egyptians.” . Found on page 75 in The Ancient Egyptians and the Origin of Civilization (London/New York, Harper & Brothers).
1800s - “The Egyptians, though healthy, large and robust were clumsy in their forms and course in their features. Like other African tribes they were woolly haired, flat-nosed and thick lipped, and if not absolutely black were very near it in color. Found in “ Specimens of Ancient Sculpture Society of Dilettanti, Vol 1. 1809 cited in J.A. Rogers, Nature Knows No Color Line p. 41, 1952.
1939 - "...the type of certain Pharaohs, like Ramses II, appears related to the Abyssinian type." Quote found in, The Races of Europe, Macmillan, 1939 p. 96 by anthropologist and racist Carleton S. Coon of the University of Pennsylvania (a supporter of the eugenics movement in America). ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ European Historians on the Fellaheen of Egypt and Sinai in Contrast to the Turks and Copts until the 19th Century
Up until the 19th century, and in the centuries previous, European visitors to Egypt commonly contrasted the dark brown, “half-naked” and indigenous Fellaheen agriculturalists with the “fair” or “pale-complexioned” Turkish-originated population of Egypt dressed in robes and furs that had entered the country in large numbers. Today most natives of the United Arab Republic of Eygpt consider themselves (thanks to European colonials) representative of the indigenous people of ancient Egypt . However, it is clear that less than a century ago this was not the case. Most of the agriculturalists in Egypt had absorbed for centuries the incoming Bedouins of the Arabian peninsula who were according to most accounts dark or brown and the same color as the indigenous Egyptians, as well as large numbers of slaves in early days from Asia and later mostly African and Slavic slaves. Descendants of Byzantines made up a significant number of the early “Copts” during the Muslim era. On the other hand Turks in the 18th through 20th centuries made up a rather significant portion of Egypt ’s major cities and their descendants remain representative of the upper class of Egypt as well as other regions of North Africa.
1867 – “The Copts are the result of crossbreeding with all the nations that have successively dominated Egypt . It is wrong to seek in them the principal features of the old race.” -Egyptologist Champollion-Figeac.
1845 - A traveling lawyer from the mid 19th century Dawson Borrer wrote of, “gaunt brown fellahs half unclad, women wrapped up in scanty unwashed garments… with their faces daubed in curious devices of blue paint… and naked children…” from A Journey from Naples to Jerusalem, by Way of Athens, Egypt and the Peninsula of Sinai…” p. 90 by Dawson Borrer, Esquire translation by M. Linant de Bellefonde.
1860s - Lucie A. Duff Gordon wrote of the appearance of Turkish Mamluk soldiers in Egypt that were fair and blue-eyed who “contrast curiously with the brown Fellaheen.” Gordon In Letters from Egypt 1863-1865 by p. 351-352 published by Elibron Classics in 2001.
1861 - William Henry Bartlett - “The streets swarm with Turks in splendid many-coloured robes” and “ half naked brown skinned Arabs…” The Nile Boat, Or Glimpses of the Land of Egypt by William Henry Bartlett 1861 p. A. Hall, Virtue and Co.
1870 – Samuel Sharpe on city of Alexandria in 1870, “…the poor of the city, as of old are the half naked brown-skinned Fellahs.” in The History of Egypt : From the Earliest Times ‘Til the Conquest of the Arabs Vol. II, p. 386, London : George Bell and Sons 1885.
1878 - On the nile at Farshut “the swarms of brown Fellaheen” are described in A Thousand Miles Up the Nile by Amelia Ann Blanford Edwards Vol. I 1878. p. 150 published by
1875 - The Fellaheen are described “chocolate brown” in the text, Contributions to the Ethnology of Egypt in the Journal of Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, Vol. 4, 1875, pp. 223-254
1879 - “If you have no wind you lie in the river and watch the idle flapping of the sail and the crowd of black and brown fellahs howling for baksheesh…” from Around the World with General Grant : A Narrative of the Visit of General U.S. Grant, Ex-President of the United States to Various Countries in Europe , Asia and Africa in 1877, 1878, 1879 published by John Russell Young, Volume I 1879.
1899 – With regard to the city of Cairo with it’s fair-skinned Turks and its native Arab fellaheen - “east of this line 500,000 brown skinned Arabs are living in the quaintest and most delightful, but at the same time dirtiest and most dilapidated streets.. Cairo has a population of some 600,000 inhabitants” p. 74 from The Redemption fo Egypt by William Basil Worsfold published in 1899 by G. Allen. -------------------------------------------------------------------- Contemporary news article 14 August 2002, Issue No. 598, Cairo , AL -AHRAM - 2002 - The Muslim News Online concerning the upper class in Egypt and continued treatment of the dark-skinned or brown Egyptians:
“… racial prejudice is not exclusively directed at those from sub-Saharan Africa. Upper class Egyptians, often fairer than their poorer compatriots, invariably look down on lower class Egyptians who tend to be darker in complexion. There is a subtle correlation between lower income and darker complexion. The Egyptian upper classes and elites tend to be noticeably lighter in complexion than their poorer and working class compatriots. "They labour in the sun," is sometimes the cynical explanation.” Retrieved two August 27, 2008.
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qoucela,don't forget people like Edward Lane who wrote that both Upper Egyptian Muslim and Coptic fellahin range from medium brown in apperance to dark brown. Abd-al-latif writers wrote that the Sa3eedi were dark skinned and fair skin was rare amongst them.
Posts: 8675 | From: Tukuler al~Takruri as Ardo since OCT2014 | Registered: Feb 2003
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In the very top paragraph it talks about the Copts who are a range in complexion due to their admixture. Many Copts from Asiut for example are more yellowish white. I know there was a time when Copt meant in fact Byzantine Christian in Egypt. I read Muhammed's concubine Maria wa a Coptic concubine with fair-skin and dark hair. The Arabs referred to Byzantines in Egypt as Copts.
Also I do know about the Saeedi who are mostly dark skinned even today, but glad you reminded me that it has been documented somewhere previously, because that's what counts. I think they were mainly bedouin though.
-------------------- D. Reynolds-Marniche Posts: 4226 | From: New Jersey, USA | Registered: Mar 2007
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Are you saying the Sa3eedi were bedouin? There are bedouin tribes in Sa3eed but I am mainly speaking of the rural farmers that reside south of Cairo. Many of the so-called Bedouin grouops in Egypt like the Hawaara,Gi'afra and others are either Berbers or Nubians. Hawwara for example are actually distant ancestors from Tuaregs and come from Libya. However, the true bedouins are Beni Hassan who came into Egypt with Mamelukes.
Like I mentioned the Copts have contridictory things written about them. You read in some books they are mainly ''white skinned'' while in others they state they are darker complexion than most Muslims.
Here is such a quote:
Yet there is no way to distinguish Copts physically from their Muslim compatriots. It is true that in certain areas of Upper Egypt one is sometimes struck by the similairty of a Coptic physiogamy with personages depicted on pharoanic mural and that perhaps the Copts are more uniformly dark-skinned and dark eyed than their Muslim compatriots,whose color-especially among the upper classes-- has been whitewashed through intermarriage with the Muslim Circasians,Georgians,and Albanian who ruled them for centuries. B ut even this statement can be made only tentaively, because in the twentieth century there was some intermarriage in the upper reaches of Coptic society with Europeans.
Christians vs Muslims in modern Egypt By Sana Hassan
pg.20-21
My theory is that many of the original founders of Coptic christianity mixed in with Jews and Syrians who fled into Egypt from the Hellenistic times to Byzantine times. Add to that many modern Coptic Christians have Armenian and Lebanese admixture. Its a known fact that Armenians resided in the same monestaries and even repainted many of the Coptic orthodox icons.
For more information on this I recommend you read:
The Fatimid Armenians Setna Doydona(sic)
Any book on Coptic Christians by Otto Meinardus
Sons of Ishmael, A Study of the Egyptian Bedouin. By G. W. MURRAY (I recommend this book about settlements about nomadic Arab and berber settlements around various parts of Egypt)
Posts: 8675 | From: Tukuler al~Takruri as Ardo since OCT2014 | Registered: Feb 2003
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Yes, I was preferring to the saeedis in that region of Upper Egypt. I had'nt heard about the Saeedi living south of Cairo. I suppose they must be among the fellahin the Europeans were talking about. For the most part the fellaheen spoking of in these texts were Arab fellaheen.
The Copts in Egypt are both dark and light and have been for some time. Since the Byzantine rulers in Egypt were called Copts and said to have been fair in color, I am sure they are the descendants of Byzantines and other people.
Sons of Ishmael is one of my favorite ethnic history books which I haven't read for a few decades. However, I would definitely be interested in seeing the works stating Copts are in part descended from Armenians and Lebanese. That would make sense because many of them certainly look like them.
-------------------- D. Reynolds-Marniche Posts: 4226 | From: New Jersey, USA | Registered: Mar 2007
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I think we also need to check out into Sana Hassan's bio. She is the daughter of an Egyptian ambassador. Looks like at some Egyptians are on a non-Eurocentric track.
I think my old friend Zahi needs to read her book.
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qoucela, you have to be careful of the term ''Arab'' being used to refer to fellahin because the two groups are actually different. The Sa3eedi are not Arabs and have never been except for those like the Horobot,Gi'afra,Jamashah,and others.
The European writers groups all Egyptians into the Arab category just because many spoke Arabic. However, within the hierarchy of Upper Egypt you have the ashraf, Arabs and Fellahin. The first two are nomadic while the latter are indigenous Egyptians with a minor Arab element.
Yes, in some villages due to recent intermarriage there is some Arab admixture but the majority is indigenous Egyptian. The Arabs are easily distinguished by their apperance and attire. Notice in the case of Nasser whose ancestors desended from Hejazi Arab merchants.
Anyway, the history of rural Egypt is very tricky and I respect your views but the rural fellahin are not Arabs. We are the true desendants of the ancient Egyptians.
Zahi Hawass sees the southern Egyptians as the purest represensations of the ancient Egyptians. One of the reason he may be hessitant calling any of the people amongst this population black is because of the way modern Egyptians see color. Most Egyptians see ''black'' people as being those in inner African countries. I hate to admit it but modern Egyptians are prejudice against ''black'' Africans because many see them as backwards. Some of this is due to European and Arab influence. This might also have something to do with the Turko-Egyptian occupation of parts of Sudan.
Anyway, here is another interesting quote from controversial Naawal Sadaawi:
aughter of Isis By Nawāl Saʻdāwī, Sherif Hetata
My aunt Ni'mat described my classmate as a Nousraneya, a blue bone,and said she would end up in hell.
footnote: Copts are secretively or sometimes called 'blue bones' by Muslims because of a bluish tint in their dark skin. Amongst friends the term may be used jokinly.
page 63
A Daughter of Isis Nawaal Saadawi
Posts: 8675 | From: Tukuler al~Takruri as Ardo since OCT2014 | Registered: Feb 2003
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Hi Ausar, I don't think I've confused fellahin with the term "Arabs". it is the colonialists who often used the phrase "Arab fellaheen". Arabs or Arabians had entered Egypt in the centuries after Muhammed by the 10s of thousands. That is likely in part why Ibn Butlan living in the 11th century says Egyptians were of "the same race as the Yemenites".
Not all Arabs belong to the more recent bedouin and they have been part and parcel of the fellaheen in Egypt and Arabia/Palestine from the beginning. i believe also that it is highly unlikely that there are pure remnants of the ancient pre-hellenic pharaonic population in Egypt if that is what you are suggesting. Many have long been mixed with and absorbed by both Arabian and Nubian immigrants and slaves from Africa and Europe, besides ancient Greeks and Romans. In any case please remember Brace had found the "Arab fellaheen" in Israel to be closely related to the same stock of people as the Naqada type the Somali and predynastic North African types in general. I consider both to be of "hamitic African" origin.
If you know Zahi, then you know he considers himself a descndant of the Pharaohs. I agree that Zahi is not as racist as people in the West think he is. And I am already aware that he, like so many other Egyptians and Near Easterners, do not look upon North Africans with dark brown skin as "blacks". I know that Egyptians jokingly insult black Africans or very dark skinned people as "abid". Like most of the world they look down on sub-Saharan culture. It seems like this might also have a lot to do with Turko-Egyptians (like the ones below) in Egypt not just Sudan.
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qoucela, the Arabs that came into Egypt under Amr Ibn Alas were indeed Yemeni but very few settled land. It was against the pact of Umar that any Arab could settle land nor intermarry with local Egyptian. Most of these Arab groups actually went further south into the Sudan where they mixed with the Sudanese.(see William Y Adams Nubia Corridor to Africa,Yusef Fadl Hassan Sudan and the Arabs drawing upon Macmichael]
I donot dispute that some Arab groups settled amongst the Fellahin in the Delta but very few untill the Mamelukes came into parts of southern Egypt. Their pressence even today draws a distinction between Asrah,Arab,and Fellahin.
I wish you would please quote the Ibn Butlan quote in its entrietly(in Arabic) you will see he was primarily talking about parts of the delta and Cairo but not upper Egypt!!!!! Most Arab writers never visited Upper Egypt.
While I will not dispute the intermixtre rural fellahin have with Greeks and Roman soliders, I draw doubt upon much mixture with sub-Saharan slaves and Nubians. Sub-Saharan slaves did come through the Dar al Arbyin but they were mostly castrated and sent to Cairo as eunchs. Female sub-saharan slaves had low fertility rates and produced little offspring. Its doubtful that many fellahin could afford slaves except for prosperous villages in the delta. ( Ronald Segal Islam's Black Slaves Eve Troutt Powell The Black Diaspora into Lands of Islam)
Nubians in Egypt were never widespread throughout Upper Egypt except in Aswan where historically they had a pressence(Herodotus mentions a Island of Elephantine of Egyptians and Nubians) Nubians have a strict concept of marriage where only a cousin from the family clan can intermarry. The Sa3eedi pratice the same type of marriage but Nubians are more strict than sa3eedi.
The Israeli fellahin and Egyptaian fellahin are two distinct groups but some Israeli fellahin have Sudanese and Egyptian origins. During the rule of Muhammed Ali many were settled in parts of Gaza,Ramallah, and Jerico. Some bedouin groups in Negeve also have Egyptian fellahin attached to them. It does not suprise me that these groups cluster with Somalis or ancient Egyptians.
My point was the phenotype of the rural Egyptian is fairly close to what an ancient Egyptian probably looked like. They still have cultural ties to the ancient Egyptians and none of this invalidates but affirms their African origins.
Zahi Hawass said this about the rural Upper Egyptians:Hawass: Of course, because we are the descendants of the pharaohs. (quote}If you look at the faces of the people of Upper Egypt, the relationship between modern and ancient Egypt is very clear. Habits in the villages, our celebrations when we finish a project, are similar to what they had in ancient Egypt. After someone dies, we make a celebration after 40 days, just like the ancient Egyptians did during the mummification process. Everything in our lives is like ancient Egypt.(/quote}
Wheather or not one considers Upper Egyptians black or not is up to their own perception. Personally, under the definition of western notions I would say they would pass as black. I know personally many African-Americans considered me ''black'' but my fellow Egyptians would probably not because my skin color would be termed as Asmar. I am a dark brown complexion.
BTW, I am a Christian Egyptian. Most of the congregation at my church are more light-brown to the yellowish-white tone you mentioned. The ones fresh off the boat are more medium brown. We would probably call most of them amhii.
Anyway, good conversation qoucela.
Someday I hope you can answer the questions I have about the ancient Libyans and Guanche populations on the Canary Islands.
Posts: 8675 | From: Tukuler al~Takruri as Ardo since OCT2014 | Registered: Feb 2003
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Thanks for your responses. Actually I agree with much of what you said. It is very interesting what you said about Butlan refering to the Delta and Cairo as of "the same race as the Yemenites" as from what I have read, the early peoples of Yemenite extraction - Azd, Kudha'a, Himyari,Hamdani, Madhij etc. are almost always described as black and dark brown in early documents (Syrian, Iranian, Greek, early Muslim Arabic, etc).
I don't think Mameluk Turks made much movement north to Upper Egypt or Sudan. Their are colonial writings that talk of the "Abyssinian" concubines in Egypt in the later periods. Most slaves in general were bought by the Turks in this late period.
Is Zahi from Upper Egypt? Whose the "we" you are talking about. Zahi does not remind me of anyone but a descendant of all of the fair-skinned who have ever made it to Egypt. I am assuming that when you are talking of "we" you are talking of Upper Egyptians. I would agree many rural southern Egyptians must appear a lot like what ancient Egyptians in general look like since colonials used such phrases as "chocolate" brown and even "black" to describe them.
I would suspect the modern "Nubians" in Egypt of the Kenuzi group also closely resemble the early population since they are the ones that were found to be -at least in skeletal formation - most like the pre-Hellenic pharaonic types.
I am sure southern or Upper Egyptians have more African or Pharaonic blood then northern Egyptians. I never meant to suggest they didn't have ancient African roots. Sorry if I gave that impression. My point in posting the above was to show how much of the modern fair-skinned population in Northern Egypt is due to relatively recent roots. That is why I am glad thay you mentioned the Armenian and Lebanese have also been documented as immigrants as well.
-------------------- D. Reynolds-Marniche Posts: 4226 | From: New Jersey, USA | Registered: Mar 2007
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quote:Originally posted by ausar: Someday I hope you can answer the questions I have about the ancient Libyans and Guanche populations on the Canary Islands. [/qb]
Hi again Ausar,
By the way what questions do have about Libyans and Gaunches? I know something about this and also know there were several populations in the Canary Islands and several populations called Libyans by Greeks and ancient Egyptians.
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When I mention ''we'' I am talking about rural farmers that live in Upper Egypt. The Sa3eedi people from south of Cairo to Aswan. Particulary the ones in Deep Said and not so much in Almost Said because foreigners have settled amongst them. I agree that even Sa3eedi are mixed people but we still pratice ancient traditions that can be legitimately traced back to the pharoanic era. In the city a Sa3eedi becomes a baladi or etc.
Zahi Hawass is actually a fellahin from the Delta. He is from a particular city called Daimetta. I imagine Zahi Hawass like most Egyptins have dark and light people within his family. People in the Delta can range from ''fair'' skinned to dark like a southern Egyptian. Some Sa3eedi have settled in parts of the Delta.
From my own reserch its my belief that some of the fair skinned people in rural Egypt come from Tamahou Libyan groups. Others are probably products of intermingling with Greeks cluerchs.
Mainly I want to know the origins of the Guacnhe group. In all literature I see they are described as blonde haired fair skinned people related to Berbers. I wonder how such a people can evolve in a lattitude or in enviromental conditions in prehistoric Northern Africa. Many racists are using them to claim civlization in northern africa.
Do you have any ancient writings which contest the fact guanche were white looking people?
Posts: 8675 | From: Tukuler al~Takruri as Ardo since OCT2014 | Registered: Feb 2003
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Hi Ausar, First I am glad to say that we have a native Egyptian on this very informed blog that appreciates his African ancestry, and understands the "multiracial" heritage of Egypt's people. Second, I will try to post what I know about the Gaunches on another thread. But I would agree the modern Gaunches are related to certain of the European-related Berbers. At least that's what Brace has concluded. While the literature I have found suggests ancient Gaunches and Phoenicians had little connection to modern ones. As well unfortunately, no one likes to talk of the numerous slaves that have been brought into Morocco, Canary Isles and the Maghreb in recent times from Europe, but I will continue as I say on another thread.
As far as Zahi is concerned it is not surprising that he is from the Delta, but I know from having worked for Zahi and from socializing with him, as well as recent national cable TV specials here in the U.S., Zahi has mixed feelings about being connected with other darker-skinned Africans and obviously some problem in asserting the dynastic Egyptians were a predominantly dark-skinned people affiliated with Bedja, Somalians and Ethiopians.
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quote:Originally posted by ausar: When I mention ''we'' I am talking about rural farmers that live in Upper Egypt. The Sa3eedi people from south of Cairo to Aswan. Particulary the ones in Deep Said and not so much in Almost Said because foreigners have settled amongst them. I agree that even Sa3eedi are mixed people but we still pratice ancient traditions that can be legitimately traced back to the pharoanic era. In the city a Sa3eedi becomes a baladi or etc.
Zahi Hawass is actually a fellahin from the Delta. He is from a particular city called Daimetta. I imagine Zahi Hawass like most Egyptins have dark and light people within his family. People in the Delta can range from ''fair'' skinned to dark like a southern Egyptian. Some Sa3eedi have settled in parts of the Delta.
From my own reserch its my belief that some of the fair skinned people in rural Egypt come from Tamahou Libyan groups. Others are probably products of intermingling with Greeks cluerchs.
Mainly I want to know the origins of the Guacnhe group. In all literature I see they are described as blonde haired fair skinned people related to Berbers. I wonder how such a people can evolve in a lattitude or in enviromental conditions in prehistoric Northern Africa. Many racists are using them to claim civlization in northern africa.
Do you have any ancient writings which contest the fact guanche were white looking people?
Berbers are a mixed lot. Being a language category their phywical makeup is variable, and can vary from fair skin to dark skin. The study below holds that the pre-European inhabitants of the Canary islands (before the Euro colonization) were of African stock, NW African origin. -----------
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Demographic history of Canary Islands male gene-pool: replacement of native lineages by European
Rosa Fregel1 email, Verónica Gomes2,3 email, Leonor Gusmão2 email, Ana M González1 email, Vicente M Cabrera1 email, António Amorim2 email and Jose M Larruga1
The origin and prevalence of the prehispanic settlers of the Canary Islands has attracted great multidisciplinary interest. However, direct ancient DNA genetic studies on indigenous and historical 17th–18th century remains, using mitochondrial DNA as a female marker, have only recently been possible. In the present work, the analysis of Y-chromosome polymorphisms in the same samples, has shed light on the way the European colonization affected male and female Canary Island indigenous genetic pools, from the conquest to present-day times. Results
Autochthonous (E-M81) and prominent (E-M78 and J-M267) Berber Y-chromosome lineages were detected in the indigenous remains, confirming a North West African origin for their ancestors which confirms previous mitochondrial DNA results. However, in contrast with their female lineages, which have survived in the present-day population since the conquest with only a moderate decline, the male indigenous lineages have dropped constantly being substituted by European lineages. Male and female sub-Saharan African genetic inputs were also detected in the Canary population, but their frequencies were higher during the 17th–18th centuries than today. Conclusion
The European colonization of the Canary Islands introduced a strong sex-biased change in the indigenous population in such a way that indigenous female lineages survived in the extant population in a significantly higher proportion than their male counterparts. Background
The Canary Islands are a volcanic archipelago consisting of seven main islands situated in the Atlantic Ocean, facing the western Saharan coast of Africa. Fuerteventura and Lanzarote are the easternmost islands, the former being only a hundred km from the continent.
The Islands were already known to Mediterranean Classical cultures, but the Archipelago was rediscovered and visited by Genovese, Majorcan, Portuguese and French sailors during the 13th and 14th centuries. Under the auspices of the Castilian crown, Europeans conquered the Canary Islands during the 15th century, beginning with Lanzarote in 1402 and finishing with Tenerife in 1496. The conquest was rather violent because the Guanches often fought fiercely against the invaders. Even islands such as Lanzarote or Gomera, which pacifically received the first Norman and Castilian expeditions, were the scene of violent revolts because the natives were enslaved in large numbers to defray the cost of the military expeditions. In retaliation, the rebels, mainly men, were killed and massively deported by the conquerors [1].
There are several questions about the past and present of the Guanches that have attracted the curiosity of scientists since the 19th century. They refer to the time(s) and way(s) they arrived on the islands, their geographic origin, and whether their descendants persist in the present-day population [2]. The oldest human settlement seems to be no earlier than the first millennium B.C., according to absolute C14 dating [3]. Coalescence age estimates obtained from mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) [4] and Y-chromosome [5] putative founder lineages concord with archeological results.
As the islands were never connected with the African Continent, they had to be reached by sea. Their inhabitants did not supposedly have seafaring skills and communication among islands was thus absent at the time of the Spanish conquest. This poses the unresolved dilemma of whether the first settlers reached the islands by themselves and after that forgot their sailing skills or if they were transported to the islands by another maritime people [6].
From the beginning of the conquest, Guanche dialects and customs were found to be related to those of their N African Berber neighbors. Since then, anthropological, archeological and linguistic studies have provided further support to the N African origin of the indigenous population [7]. Furthermore, the different human types discovered and the heterogeneity of their cultural remains again points to the possibility of successive arrivals of N African settlers [8-13].
In spite of the aggressive conquest and subsequent massive European immigration and North and sub-Saharan African slave importation to the islands, historians estimated that approximately two-thirds of the Canary population were Africans and aborigines at the end of the 16th century [14]. Moreover, osteological studies comparing aboriginal remains and modern rural populations, support the persistence of indigenous traits in the current population [10,15]...
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