Muslim Guanche

[Ricardolindo]

Suppose Muslim missionaries converted the Guanche of the Canary Islands to Islam before the Spaniards arrived there. The Canary Islands would presumably be more integrated with mainland North Africa and the Guanche would be more advanced than in our timeline. Could a Guanche sultanate resist the Spaniards?

 

[iainbhx]

Let us not kid ourselves here, Muslim missionaries would have come with Muslim soldiers and Muslim colonists.

The Marinids (who are the most likely candidates) were highly competent and could have easily conquered had they developed deeper water capabilities. Holding on, we'd be likely to see the same sort of situation as with Spanish/Portuguese/English possessions on the North African coast, port towns swapping hands occasionally and the hinterlands remaining the same.

 

[iainbhx]

The more I think about this, the more interesting a POD it is. If Spain is delayed having to deal with Marinid possession of the Canaries. They aren’t the first to the New World.

 

[Gary Oswald]

When I visited the Canary Islands, one of my first thoughts was just how formidable a landscape it is, you can well understand how the Gaunche put up such a fight over it. I don't think a quick conquest is possible.

The Marinids (who are the most likely candidates) were highly competent and could have easily conquered had they developed deeper water capabilities.

Is there a reason you think the Marinids are more likely to be the candidate than the earlier, more powerful, Almovarids and Almohads? All three, has the military capabilities and all three were distracted by internal strife and wars in Iberia and didn't really have deep water navies.

Obviously the earlier it was, the more likely the Muslims are to be entrenched. I'd suspect a Marinid conquest would be contested by the Christian Iberians, if not with their own forces at least by arming the Gaunches, given they were already both visiting the Islands and raiding Moroccan cities.

 

[iainbhx]

Is there a reason you think the Marinids are more likely to be the candidate than the earlier, more powerful, Almovarids and Almohads? All three, has the military capabilities and all three were distracted by internal strife and wars in Iberia and didn't really have deep water navies.

Obviously, we know that contact can be made with purely littoral ships and simple navigation - otherwise how did the Guanches get there apart from the King Juba's abandonment theory. Whether it can be made successfully and in a way to sustain a colony without the navigational and maritime advances of the 14th century is somewhat of a moot question and both of those were more in the hands of the Christian Iberian powers. Therefore, purely through the passage of time, the Marinids are the most likely candidates.

So perhaps if Abu Inan Faris decided to turn west rather than east...