The Canarii, a fierce tribe of Guanches inhabiting Gran Canaria, may have arrived from northwestern Africa as early as 500 BCE Pliny the Elder , writing in the first century CE, refers to the presence of Canarii in western Morocco, who “inhabited a woody region abounding in elephants and serpents, distinguishing them from the Perorsi ion the region of Senegal, who were “Ethiopians,” i.e., dark- skinned people.