Bañaderos: The Historic Gateway to Northern Gran Canaria

Early accounts of the conquest reveal that the ancient Canarians regularly bathed in the sea. This tradition seems to have been immortalized in the name El Bañadero, the original designation of what is now the town of Bañaderos. Chroniclers note that the name likely refers to the site being the customary bathing spot for Tenesoya -niece of the guanarteme (“king”) of Agáldar- and her attendants. However, as the word bañadero appears in early academic dictionaries as a “puddle or place where wild animals typically bathe or wallow,” the site may also have been associated with another indigenous ritual: bathing livestock in the sea at certain times of the year.

Chronicles recount that the Portuguese conqueror Diego da Silva -son-in-law of Diego de Herrera, lord of the Canary Islands- led 200 men and two ships to enter Bañaderos on a moonlit night with the aim of ambushing the Canarians at dawn. This event led to the Battle of Bañaderos (c. 1466), where the indigenous people, after raising the alarm across the island, were able to repel the noble troops, forcing them to retreat inland. After being besieged in the plaza of Agáldar for several days, the exhausted men of Silva were pardoned by their guanarteme, Egonaygache Semidán, who welcomed them to his court and established a peace agreement with the House of Herrera. To facilitate their escape, Semidán personally escorted them to Playa de San Felipe, located at the mouth of barranco homónimo, over which today runs the Puente de Silva. This noble gesture earned the guanarteme of Agáldar the nickname “El Bueno” among the conquerors.

Archaeologists have determined that the escape route taken by Silva’s troops likely coincided with what is now the Camino Real de Silva, also known as the Cuesta de Silva: a steep path of aboriginal construction that connected Agáldar with Bañaderos and was later reused as a bridle path after the conquest. The entire coastline from Bañaderos to San Felipe was known as Falairaga or Ayraga, an indigenous name that has endured to this day.

The Bañaderos enclave has historically been linked to navigation, as it is the best entry point to northern Gran Canaria. Indeed, years after Silva’s events, the conqueror Pedro de Vera attempted several times to enter this natural port to suppress the resistance of the Canarian leader Doramas (from the Berber *war ammas, meaning “without equal”). Additionally, in 1627, a large contingent of Algerian corsairs entered through its shores, further confirming the strategic importance of this natural harbor in the history of the archipelago.