A Portuguese expedition may have attempted to colonize the Canary Islands as early as 1336, but there is not enough hard evidence to support this.

The Castilian conquest of the islands had begun in 1402, with the expedition of French explorers Jean de Béthencourt and Gadifer de la Salle, nobles and vassals of Henry III of Castile, to Lanzarote.

From there, they had conquered Fuerteventura (1405) and El Hierro.

Béthencourt had received the title King of the Canary Islands, but still recognized King Henry III as his overlord.

Béthencourt had also established a base on the island of La Gomera, but it will be many years before the island is truly conquered.

The natives of La Gomera, and of Gran Canaria, Tenerife, and La Palma will resist the Castilian invaders for almost a century.

Maciot de Béthencourt in 1448 sells the lordship of Lanzarote to Portugal's Prince Henry the Navigator, an action that is not accepted by the natives nor by the Castilians.

Despite Pope Nicholas V ruling that the Canary Islands are under Portuguese control, a crisis swells to a revolt that will last until 1459 with the final expulsion of the Portuguese.