Guayarmina Semidán

Guayarmina Semidán was the daughter of the guayre Tenesor Semidán of Gáldar and witnessed first-hand the transition of pre-colonial Canarian society to the colonial world. When her father was captured and taken to Castile, she was left at the head of the royal family of Gáldar at a moment of maximum uncertainty for her people. Her position was extraordinarily delicate: daughter of the defeated king, but also of the man who would later collaborate with the conquerors.

After her father returned baptised as Fernando Guanarteme and collaborated in the conquest of Tenerife and La Palma, Guayarmina also embraced Catholicism and was baptised with the name Catalina de Guanarteme. This name links her symbolically to Queen Catherine of Aragon, a sign of the privileged status the Catholic Monarchs granted to the children of Canarian chiefs who converted.

Her figure represents the process of transculturation experienced by the indigenous elites of the islands: the adoption of names, religion, language and even marital alliances with colonisers, while the lower classes were in many cases enslaved or pushed to the social margins. Guayarmina is a mirror of the collective drama of her people, seen from the privileged position of one who was able to survive.