The title of mencey had been given to the monarch or king of the Guanches native to Tenerife, who governed a menceyato or kingdom, about one hundred years before the Spanish conquest of the Canary Islands.

This role will later be referred to as a "captainship" by the conquerors.

Tinerfe el Grande, son of the mencey Sunta, had governed the island from Adeje in the south.

However, upon his death, his nine children had rebelled and argued bitterly about how to divide the island.

Two independent achimenceyatos had been created on the island, and the island had been divided into nine menceyatos, with the menceyes within them forming what are similar to municipalities today.