Mark, the Canaries has been a Spanish colony for many years...
"....From the late fifteenth century to 1821 the Canaries underwent a process of increasing assimilation into Spanish political and cultural norms, despite periodic attacks from North Africa and from Dutch and English privateers and pirates in the seventeenth century. By the early twenty-first century the Canary Islands still formed part of the Spanish state, included in the 1978 constitution..."
http://www.answers.com/topic/africa-...canary-islands
One other thought I had about the 'spiral' design of the hilt ....Western Africans regard the snake with great 'reverence' ....it could be argued that it is symbolic (of a snake). I wondered whether there were any markings on the metal that could support this 'theory' ....however, as the metal inlay is soft, I suspect that if there were 'markings' originally, they would probably be 'rubbed' by now.
Regards David