Lanzarote The island is also home to one of two surviving populations of the threatened Canarian Egyptian vulture. The official natural symbols associated with Lanzarote are "Munidopsis polymorpha" (Blind crab) and "Euphorbia balsamifera" (Tabaiba dulce). Lanzarote is believed to have been the first Canary Island to be settled. The Phoenicians may have visited or settled there, though no material evidence survives. The first known record came from Roman author Pliny the Elder in the encyclopaedia "Naturalis Historia" on an expedition to the Canary Islands. The names of the islands (then called "Insulae Fortunatae" or the "Fortunate Isles") were recorded as "Junonia"
Lanzarote of Genoese navigator Lancelotto Malocello, who used the alias "Lanzarote da Framqua". A fort was later built in the area of Montaña de Guanapay near today's Teguise. Castilian slaving expeditions in 1385 and 1393 seized hundreds of Guanches and sold them in Spain, initiating the slave trade in the islands. French explorer Jean de Béthencourt arrived in 1402, heading a private expedition under Castilian auspices. Bethencourt first visited the south of Lanzarote at Playas de Papagayo, and the French overran the island within a matter of months. The island lacked mountains and gorges to serve as hideouts for the remaining