The opposing ″bando de guerra″ was based in the ″menceyatos″ of the north: Tegueste, Tacoronte, Taoro, Icoden and Daute and maintained a fierce resistance to the invasion. The invading force set sail from Gran Canaria in April 1494 and landed on the coast of present-day Santa Cruz de Tenerife. The force comprised 2,000-foot soldiers and 200 cavalry made up of peninsular Castilians as well as soldiers from the other Canary Islands (mainly from Gomera and Gran Canary). After building a fortress they advanced towards the interior of the island. They tried to negotiate with Bencomo, the most important king in the ″bando de guerra″, and offered peace if he accepted Christianity and submitted to the authority of the Catholic Monarchs. Bencomo rejected the conditions attached to the offer making confrontation inevitable. The first armed encounter between the two sides was the celebrated First Battle of Acentejo that took place in a ravine called the Barranco de Acentejo or Barranco de San Antonio in the present day municipality of La Matanza de Acentejo. A force of more than 2,000 men advanced towards the north of the island through the valley of Taoro. The objective was to defeat the Guanches in the centre of their heartland. The guanches ambushed the invaders who suffered a grave defeat, losing eighty percent of their forces in the battle. Alonso Fernández de Lugo managed to escape to Gran Canaria where he organized a new force with better trained troops and greater financial resources supported by Genoese merchants and Castilian nobles. After the battle the guanches destroyed the fortress built by the Castilians. Alonso Fernández de Lugo requested and received extensive further aid and supplies from neighboring territorial lord Inés Peraza totalling 600,000 maravedí  and returned to Tenerife with a better trained and armed force. After rebuilding the fortress at Añazo he advanced towards the plains of Aguere (San Cristóbal de La Laguna) where in November he defeated Bencomo in the Battle of Aguere as the gaunche leader committed the error of engaging the Castillian forces in battle in open ground. The use of cavalry and reinforcements provided by Fernando Guanarteme were the deciding factors in the Castillian victory. The guanches lost 1,700 men including Bencomo and his brother (or possibly stepbrother) Tinguaro.