Battle of Tamasite 2006, Fuerteventura's history.

The photographs are from the 266th celebration of the defeat by the Majeros (Islanders) over the English pirates, which took place in Tuineje on 14th October 2006. The main festival day was on the 13th with a parade through the town in the evening, attended by over 1,000 people. Celebrations of the battle also take place in Gran Tarajal and Tarajalejo . For photographs of last years event in Gran Tarajal see Battle of Tamasite

The most important military events that have occurred in Tuineje, if not Fuerteventura, were the English attacks against Fuerteventura in 1740. These attacks stemmed from the Anglo-Spanish war, also known as the War of Jenkins’ ear, which lasted from 1739 – 1742, before becoming part of the Austrian War of Succession. The war was characterised by a series of battles involving naval forces against varios ports and there were no clear gains on either side.

The war involved much privateering, a practice that involved a ship from one country being authorized to attack shipping of another country in return for a share of any booty. The targets of such raids regarded the perpetrators, with some degree of correcetness, as pirates, and the inhabitants of Fuerteventura still regard the attacks of 1740 as acts carried out by ”English Pirates”.

As a result of the Anglo-Spanish war the island was frequented by Corsairs who saw Fuerteventura as an easy target for the capture of civil ships, the booty from which could be sold in Madeira. During October and November of 1740 the ships, José Antonio, Fandango, The Star, San Augustine and Pedro Álvarez were captured and burned. On the 13th of October 1740, a contingent of troops from an English Corsair disembarked in the region of Gran Tarajal, and followed the gulley in the direction of Tuineje, where heavily armed, they performed looting and destruction, including to the town’s church.

The lieutenant Colonel, Joseph Sánchez Umpiérrez, recruited people from the area and went in search of the English who were already retreating to their ship, and the two sides met in the Battle of El Cuchillete. The English consisted of 53 men with modern weapons and the Majoreros were armed with farming implements and used camels as shields. The lieutenant Colonel achieved a memorable victory in which 33 of the British died and the remainder were taken prisoner.

The other battle happened on the 24th of November when 55 soldiers disembarked at Gran Tarajal and again marched to Tuineje where looting and pillaging of the church occurred to an extent that greatly angered the Majeros, who had had strong religious sentiments. This time the natives knew of the disembarkation beforehand, and were able to assemble a larger force that was better armed as a result of having the weapons that they had captured the previous month. This force met the British in the Battle of Llano Florido, popularly know as the battle of Tamasite, and wiped them out.

The ferocity of the islander’s was inflamed by the repetition of the destructive acts carried out by the British, including the destruction of the means of subsistence in the middle of a remote island. As result the fury of the Majoeros could not be tempered by their own leader, and this led to the complete destruction of the British force.

Drummer Officer