Record Atlas
7 eras · 1402–2026 · 14 places

The Canary Islands — Lanzarote and the archipelago

San Bartolomé (Lanzarote) and the Canaries. Which empire held this ground in which years — and, the part that matters, which archive that means.

Whose archive this ground was

YearsWho held itWhose archive that means
1402–1496 Castilian conquest — lordships, then the Crown no registers survive

Before registers. Jean de Béthencourt and Gadifer de la Salle took Lanzarote in 1402 and Fuerteventura by 1405; rights passed among Castilian nobles from 1418, and in 1448 Maciot de Béthencourt sold the lordship of Lanzarote to Prince Henry of Portugal. The Crown conquered Gran Canaria (1478–1483), La Palma (to 3 May 1493) and Tenerife (to 25 July 1496, Treaty of Los Realejos). How Lanzarote was governed after 1477 is not established here.
1496–1833 Crown of Castile — the Canary Islands PARES · FamilySearch

A separate Real Audiencia de Canarias was created in Gran Canaria in 1526, reducing the Granada Chancillería's jurisdiction. Parish registers: Trent requires them from 1545/1563, held in diocesan archives. On 30 November 1833 a single Province of Canary Islands was created, capital Santa Cruz de Tenerife.
1833–1871 Spain — Province of Canary Islands PARES · FamilySearch

Parish registers stay the main record until civil registration; the old ones are in the diocesan archive.
1871–1936 Spain — civil registration; two provinces from 1927 PARES · FamilySearch

Civil registration of births, marriages and deaths begins on 1 January 1871 (law of 17 June 1870; one source gives 1869). The records stay in each municipality, and some municipios hold civil records from as early as 1837. On 23 September 1927 the province was split into Santa Cruz de Tenerife and Las Palmas.
1936–1939 Spain — Nationalist from July 1936; no war on the islands PARES · FamilySearch

Franco, then General Commandant of the Canaries, joined the rising of 17 July 1936 and quickly took control of the archipelago, apart from resistance points on La Palma and in Vallehermoso on La Gomera; there was never a war on the islands. Post-war suppression of dissent was most severe there. Civil War losses of records are recorded for Spain; how far they reach this area is not established here.
1939–1975 Spain — Franco's dictatorship PARES · FamilySearch

Under Franco's State.
1975–2026 Kingdom of Spain — Autonomous Community of the Canary Islands PARES · FamilySearch

Under the Constitution of 1978. The autonomous community dates from 1982: the date is given as 16 August 1982 or 10 August 1983 depending on the source.

The rings are approximate — deliberately. They exist to shade which filing system a place fell under, not to adjudicate a border. A place near a ring's edge should be checked against both neighbours.

See the whole span, 1402–2026, on the map →

The map takes a range, and a range that crosses one of the rows above is where records get lost: the family never moved, and the archive on the far side of the handover will tell you it holds nothing.

14 places on this ground

47 FamilySearch collections reach this ground

Ranked with the regional ones first — a collection for a province is usually a better lead than a national index, though the national index is often where a name is actually written down. A free account opens the images.

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