The First Battle of Acentejo was a battle that took place on the island of Tenerife between the Guanches and an alliance of Spaniards, other Europeans, associated natives (mostly from other islands), on May 31, 1494, during the Spanish conquest of this island. It resulted in a victory for the Guanches of Tenerife.

The Spaniards, under the command of Adelantado ("military governor") Alonso Fernández de Lugo , had committed the terrible blunder of walking blindly into the ravine known as Acentejo. Despite their technological superiority—the Spaniards, protected with armor and shields, fought with blunderbusses and cannon—the Guanches, fighting naked, attacked them from the slopes with stones and spears of hardened wood (known as a banot). Unable to manuever with their horses, due to the fact that these slopes were covered in very thick, arboreal brush, the Guanches, who numbered some 300 men, under the leadership of the warrior Tinguaro, made use of their mobility and intimate knowledge of the terrain to gain the upper hand.

It is believed that four out of five Spanish soldiers fell in this battle, leaving a 1,000 dead on the battlefield. The defeat was not total, however. Fernández de Lugo, though wounded, was able to escape with his life (by exchanging the red cape of an Adelantado for that of a common soldier), and his surviving forces (some 200 men) were harried until he was forced to re-embark and sail back to Gran Canaria. The Adelantado was able to return and defeat the native forces at the Second Battle of Acentejo.

A town built on the site where the battle occurred is called La Matanza ("the slaughter") de Acentejo, which also contains a large mural commemorating the victory.

References

Batalla de Acentejo

510 Aniversario de la Batalla de Acentejo: La Derrota de un Imperio