The islands are estimated to be 30 million years old, which is relatively young by geological standards. Their existence was known, or at least  postulated, in ancient times.
Carbon dating has placed the earliest settlement at around 200 BC, although earlier settlement is possible. It was long suggested that Cro-Magnon, the Paleolithic predecessor to Homo sapiens , first inhabited the Canaries, although that is not now generally thought to be the case.
One clue, apart from the ancient skulls of the original inhabitants, is the conquering Europeans' 15th-century descriptions of locals. Mainly on Tenerife, they found tall and powerfully built people with blue eyes and long fair hair. These people called themselves Guanches, from guan , 'man', and che or achinch meaning 'white mountain', in reference to the snow-capped Teide volcano.
Suggestions for the origins of the Guanches have ranged from Celtic immigrants from mainland Spain or Portugal, to Norse invaders, supplying a possible explanation for the blonde hair and blue eyes.
Berber immigrants from nearby Saharan Africa almost certainly inhabited some of the eastern islands, and place names bear a striking resemblance to Berber tribal languages. Occasionally blue eyes and fair hair crop up among the Berbers as well, so the Guanches' origin is still open to question.
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