The Guanches came to the island from the northwest of Africa. Judging from archeological remains, they were of a Cro-Magnon race, small and robust in stature, and with large craniums. They were mainly shepherds with flocks of goats and sheep, and gatherers of certain vegetable species and seafood on the coasts, although apparently they were also involved in some rudimentary farming.

At the time of the conquest, the island was divided into four cantons or bands, whose centres were located in the four great valleys: Mulagua (the valley of Hermigua), Hipalán (the ravine of San Sebastián), Orone (Valle Gran Rey), and Agana (the ravine of Vallehermoso).

The conquest of La Gomera began in the early 15th with Juan de Bethancourt the norman, and was held quasi without fight. For this reason the aboriginal population continued to preserve its customs and socioeconomic peculiarities for a long time. On completion of the conquest of the Canary islands in 1494, La Gomera was incorporated into the Crown of Castile under the governance of the Peraza family who implemented an authoritative system wich was to last until the early 19th century.

La Gomera played an important role in the discovery of America, since this island was the last known stop for Columbus, where he abundantly provisioned his sheeps with foodstuffs, water, wood, etc., leaving the bay of San Sebastián on the 6th of September, 1492.

The maximum number of people was registered in 1940, with a census of 29,000. From this time on, La Gomera loses population census after census, given the emigration to the Americas (Cuba andVenezuela) and especially to Tenerife, where nowadays more native people live than on their own island. The cause of this exodus is found in the limitations of the possibilities of the agriculture