When people think of the original inhabitants of the Canary Islands, they almost always think of the Guanches.

It makes sense: the name has become so popular to the point of becoming the demonym for all the indigenous peoples of the archipelago.

But strictly speaking, tthe Guanches were the original inhabitants of Tenerife, and each island had its own people with their own name.

The people of Lanzarote were called majos (also spelled mahos). And stheir history, though less well known than that of the Guanches of Tenerife, is just as fascinating and even more mysterious.

Today we'll tell you all about them, so you can learn about the island's origins.

Who were the Majos?

The Majos were the indigenous people of Lanzarote and Fuerteventura, the two easternmost islands of the Canary Islands archipelago.

Their culture was very similar on both islands, which has led researchers to study them together, although the term “majo” refers specifically to the people of Lanzarote.

Their origin has been confirmed: they came from North Africa, from an area stretching from present-day Tunisia to the Atlantic coast and from the Mediterranean to the edge of the Sahara. Genetically and culturally, they are descendants of the Berber peoples of the Maghreb.

The Name of the Majos: A Berber Mystery

The origin of the word "majo" is a mystery to researchers. There are several theories that link it once again to the Berber language.

The historian Tejera Gaspar links her to the Maxies or Mazyes, a people mentioned by Herodotus in the 5th century B.C. in Numidia (present-day Tunisia), who were farmers

The iResearcher Reyes García suggests, however, that it derives from the Berber term mahar (amazar), meaning ‘country, land, homeland’ or ‘the first place.’

A name whose origin remains a mystery, but one that has always been steeped in meaning.

But how did they end up in Lanzarote?

The story of their arrival and settlement in the Canary Islands is one of the great mysteries and subjects of debate among historians and archaeologists—and the fact is that there is no single answer, but rather several theories.

In the 10th century B.C., the Phoenician presence on Lanzarote may have been the origin, as these peoples brought with them elements of other cultures, such as that of the African Berbers.

There is also there is mention of Carthage’s expansion in the 6th century BC or the trading posts the Romans established on the island using African labor.

In any case, when the Roman presence disappeared, the island communities were left isolated and began to develop their own culture, as the Genoese navigator Lancelotto Malocello noted when he passed through Lanzarote and met those who called themselves majos.

This isolation, lasting several centuries between the disappearance of the Roman settlements and the arrival of the Normans in the 15th century, is the period during which Maya culture developed in its most distinctive form: without contact us and by adapting Berber traditions to the unique conditions of Lanzarote’s of Lanzarote’s volcanic landscape.

How did the Majos live?

Close your eyes for a moment and imagine Lanzarote without anything we know today. No roads, no hotels, no tourists. Just the wind, the volcano, the sea, and a people who learned to make the most of it.

The Majos made their living from the volcanic landscape. Their herds of goats, sheep, and pigs roamed the very same lava slopes that you drive along today on your way to Timanfaya. They made use of every part of these animals: meat, milk, cheese, fat… An austere economy, yes, but one based on a logic of resource utilization that modern archaeologists never cease to admire.       

And then there was the sea, which, along with lava, is one of Lanzarote’s main attractions. Archaeological excavations on the island have uncovered piles of limpet shells and whelks in the Majo settlements.

This is no small matter: the same limpets that are served grilled today in any bar along the Lanzarote coast are the same ones they ate more than two thousand years ago. Same species, same rocks, identical flavor.

They supplemented their meals with whatever the surroundings provided: small-scale fishing, game birds, dates, wild berries, and gofio—that toasted grain flour that still appears today on the menus of the island’s finest restaurants as a nod to the collective memory of the Canary Islands (and which you can learn more about here).

A society that is more sophisticated than it seems

It would be a mistake to think of the Majos as a simple community. Their social structure was so complex that it still surprises researchers today: families were organized along the maternal line, not the paternal one.

Women were the linchpin around which everything revolved. A system they share, curiously enough, with some pre-Islamic Berber tribes in North Africa.

And they also had kings. When the Norman conquerors arrived in the 15th century, they didn’t just find a tribe: they found a chief with enough authority to negotiate.

Jean de Béthencourt ended up granting him farmland as part of the agreement. That was the extent of his organization.

A language carved in stone

The Majos also had their own writing system. Inscriptions have been found on rocks in Lanzarote and Fuerteventura that provide evidence of who they were and where they came from.

Researchers such as Nona Perera and Juan Antonio Belmonte have spent years deciphering these markings, which continue to reveal clues about the route they took to get here.

The Legacy of the Majos: What Lanzarote Still Owes Them

The Majos were conquered, assimilated, and in many cases enslaved. Their culture was dismantled. And yet, their legacy can be seen all over Lanzarote.

As we mentioned, limpets were one of their signature dishes, and today they remain a typical and essential part of the Food & Drink culture.

Gofio, a staple food for generations upon generations of Canarians, is now a dish with all kinds of health benefits that is enjoyed both on and off the islands—and it, too, originated with the Majos. Just as with the Lanzarote goat, which was introduced and cared for by the first Majos hundreds of years ago using their own grazing system.

Even art in the form of rock engravings has shaped Canarian culture and its development.

There is a site on the island named directly after them: the Cueva de Los Majos, an archaeological site designated as a Site of Cultural Interest. It is one of the few ways in which the name of this people appears in the landscape of the island they inhabited for more than two thousand years.

And what happened to the Majos after the conquest?

The Norman conquest of 1402–1405 was not a genocide, but rather an assimilation.

The Majos were integrated into the new colonial society as shepherds, laborers, and soldiers. The indigenous people of Lanzarote actively participated in the conquest of Fuerteventura, serving as soldiers and archers.

Over time, the Majos intermingled with the Spanish colonizers, Portuguese, Normans, and later Africans who arrived on the island.

Their language disappeared and their customs faded, but their blood and their deepest traditions  remained part of Lanzarote’s cultural DNA.