History of Lanzarote
In times of the phoenicians, the Canary Islands were called "Alizuth" which means
joy and happiness, later, during the greek dominion, the name was changed into
"Elysius Parayso" - land of illusions and joy.
Soon the islands were known as "Campos Elyseos" (Garden of Eden), a place it was
said, where people lived a sweet and peaceful live, never knowing rain or snow.
It didn't take long until poets and writers started to use "Campos Elyseos" for
expressing the joy of the Happy Islands.
The origin of the name "Lanzarote" has quite a few theories: -Antonio de Nebrija
explaines, that Lanzarote is a union of two words "lanza-rota" (broken spear),
due to the story that, when the conqueror Juan de Bethencourt stepped on the
island, his spear broke. This theory is not very easy to prove, also it is
unlikely, because in castillian it must be "lanza-quebrada" instead of
"lanza-rota". Another theory says that Lanzarote in latin is a kind of
resin or balsamic gum. On the island there are bushes called "Tabaybas" and they
have a sweet thick juice, worthy to be eternalized.
The most likely explanation is this one: in the XIII century there lived a
genoese merchant called Lancilotto Maloxelo. He visited an island, called by the
natives "Tytheroygatra". During 15 years he had a lot of trade with this place
and probably it was him who named the island after himself: Lanzarote.
According to narrations of the first visitors to these lands, there where
6 Canary Islands, without counting 5 little ones that form the
Chinijo-Archipelago. This leads us to believe, that Lanzarote and Fuerteventura
were only one island, because none of them (as well as Lobos) are actually
named. A long time ago, there was a great wall, dividing the entire island. It
is believed, that there existed two kingdoms. Offerings took place, climbing up
the mountains and raising the hands up to the sky while pouring milk from
pitchers. It is also known, that there existed a crown, which was supposed to
have belonged to the first king of Lanzarote, who united the two kingdoms. This
crown was made of goat-leather and decorated with sea-shells.