Alonso Fernández de Lugo

Alonso Fernández de Lugo was born around 1456 in Sanlúcar de Barrameda. He arrived in the Canaries with the expedition that conquered Gran Canaria (1478–1483), where he gained experience and fortune. In 1492, as adelantado mayor of the islands, he undertook the conquest of La Palma: in barely twelve months he reduced eleven of the twelve Benahorite cantons, with Aceró — that of Tanausú — the last to fall. The victory in La Palma opened the way to Tenerife.

The conquest of Tenerife (1494–1496) was longer and bloodier. After the defeat at La Matanza de Acentejo (1494), he returned the following year reinforced and achieved the final victory at La Victoria de Acentejo (1495) and the Battle of La Laguna (1496). He founded San Cristóbal de La Laguna, a planned city according to Renaissance humanist principles, without walls and with an orthogonal grid that would make it a model for Spanish colonial urbanism in America. It was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1999.

As governor of Tenerife he exercised almost absolute power, enriching himself through the repartimiento of land and the use of Guanche labour. His figure is contradictory: founder of cities and destroyer of cultures, efficient administrator and man of personal fortune. He died in San Cristóbal de La Laguna in 1525, having turned the western islands into the piece that completed Spanish dominion over the archipelago.