Cruising the archipelago for five months, the expedition mapped thirteen islands (seven major, six minor) and surveyed the indigenous inhabitants, the 'Guanches', bringing back four natives to Lisbon.

In 1342, at least two Majorcan expeditions, one under Francesc Duvalers, another under Domenech Gual, assembled by private merchant consortia with a commission from Roger de Robenach (representative of James III of Majorca) set out for the Canary islands.

In 1344, the Castilian-French noble Luis de la Cerda (Count of Clermont and Admiral of France), then serving as a French ambassador to the papal court in Avignon, submitted a proposal to Pope Clement VI, offering the Church the more palatable vision of conquering the islands and converting the native Canarians to Christianity.

[10] In November 1344, Pope Clement VI issued the bull Tuae devotionis sinceritas granting the Canary islands in perpetuity to Luis de la Cerda and bestowing upon him the title of sovereign "Prince of Fortuna".

The pope followed this up with another bull, in January 1345, giving the projected Cerda-led conquest and conversion of the islands the character of a crusade, granting indulgences to its participants, and papal letters were dispatched to the Iberian monarchs urging them to provide material assistance to Cerda's expedition.

[12] Alfonso XI of Castile also protested, claiming that, by the ancient Visigothic dioceses and prior reconquista treaties, the islands fell within the Castilian jurisdiction and 'sphere of conquest', but nonetheless recognized Cerda's title.

By the terms of the 1344 contract, the lordship of Fortuna was set to expire after five years without an expedition (although Cerda's heirs, the Counts of Medinacelli would later revive their claim).

[citation needed] But there was also some peaceful trade with the locals, particularly for orchil and dragon's blood, which grew wildly on the islands and were much valued as dyes by the European cloth industry.

Eight of the Canary islands, including La Gomera and El Hierro, are depicted in the 1367 portolan chart of the brothers Domenico and Francesco Pizzigano.

[citation needed] In the first indication of a conquest project since 1344, King Ferdinand I of Portugal granted in 1370 the islands of Lanzarote and La Gomera to the adventurer 'Lançarote da Franquia' (believed by some to be none other than the impossibly-aged Lanceloto Malocello).

In 1390, Gonzalo Peraza Martel, Lord of Almonaster, a notable of Seville, requested permission from King Henry III of Castile to conquer the Canary Islands.

The Almonaster expedition sailed through the Canary islands, examining the coasts of Fuerteventura, Gran Canaria, Hierro, Gomera and Tenerife, before finally deciding to land and raid Lanzarote.

The Almonaster raid on Lanzarote took some 170 native inhabitants captive, including the local Guanche king and his queen, along with plenty of skins, wax and dyewood, which they sold in Seville for a small fortune.

Upon their return to Castile, Almonaster and Niebla presented their captives and goods before Henry III, and reported that the Canary islands were easy to conquer and very profitable.

Juan de Abreu Galindo (1632), some of them in Viera y Clavijo (1772), drawing primarily from local Canarian legends, that have since been determined to be apocryphal or confounded with other expeditions.

During Bethencourt's absence Gadifer had to confront a double rebellion, one by a section of his men led by Bertín de Berneval, who had restarted the capture of slaves, and the other by the Lanzarote Guanches who resisted this practice.

The second period (Spanish: Conquista Señoral Castellana) began when the Bethencourt era ended in 1418[citation needed] when Maciot sold his holdings and the rights to subjugate the remaining islands to Enrique Pérez de Guzmán.

The island of La Gomera was not taken in battle but was incorporated into the Peraza-Herrera fiefdom through an agreement between Hernán Peraza the Elder and some of the insular aboriginal groups who accepted the rule of the Castilian.

On the same day Chief Bentejuí and his shaman-advisor Faycán committed suicide by jumping off a cliff [es] while shouting Atis Tirma (for my land).

Alonso Fernández de Lugo made use of agreements and pacts with the Guanches which respected the rights of the chieftains giving full equality with the Castilians in order to attract them to his cause.

However, there was more concerted resistance in the canton of Aceró (Caldera de Taburiente) where the chief, Tanausú, was easily able to hold out as the only two access points to the area were readily defendable against the advance of the invading forces.

The former which became known in Spanish as "el bando de paz", comprised the peoples of the south and east of the island (from the "menceyatos" of Anaga, Güímar, Abone and Adeje) who had previous contact with Castilians through the activities of the missionary Candelaria.

The opposing "bando de guerra" was based in the "menceyatos" of the north: Tegueste, Tacoronte, Taoro, Icoden and Daute and maintained a fierce resistance to the invasion.

They tried to negotiate with Bencomo, the most important king in the "bando de guerra", and offered peace if he accepted Christianity and submitted to the authority of the Catholic Monarchs.

Alonso Fernández de Lugo managed to escape to Gran Canaria where he organized a new force with better trained troops and greater financial resources supported by Genoese merchants and Castilian nobles.

Alonso Fernández de Lugo requested and received extensive further aid and supplies from neighboring territorial lord Inés Peraza totalling 600,000 maravedí[34] and returned to Tenerife with a better trained and armed force.

In December 1495, after a long period of guerrilla warfare, pillaging and war fatigue the Castilians again advanced on the interior in the direction of Taoro, this time from the north.

It was in the Orotava Valley the conquest of Tenerife ended on July 25, 1496, with the Treaty of Los Realejos [es] between the Taoro mencey and Alonso Fernández de Lugo.

[citation needed] Despite the intensity of the colonisation and the relatively low native population of the archipelago, the conquest ended abruptly with no further wars or major losses due to epidemics and violence, and a significant part of modern Canarians descend from the Guanches.

[35] Some historians have labelled the conquest genocidal in nature due to the brutal treatment of the Islands' indigenous Guanches which contributed to their extinction as a distinct group.