 The Phoenicians may have arrived seeking the precious red dye extracted from the orchil – if the Canaries represent Pliny the Elder's "Purple Isles" or the Hesperides of legend.Although no evidence has survived of any permanent Roman settlements, in 1964 Roman amphorae were discovered in waters off Lanzarote.Discoveries made in the 1990s have demonstrated in more definite detail that the Romans traded with the indigenous inhabitants.