User:Walrasiad/Tangiers

Pre-conquest contact with the Canary Islands The Canary Islands were conquered in the name of the Crown of Castile between 1402 and 1496. It can be divided into two periods, the Conquista señorial, carried out by Castilian nobility in exchange for a covenant of allegiance with the crown, and the Conquista realenga, carried out by the Crown itself, during the rein of the Catholic Monarchs.

Antiquity
Tales of the Fortunate Islands (or "Islands of the Blessed") have circulated since deep antiquity. Classical poets sung routinely of such mythical lands of eternal happiness and eathly paradise, in the ocean beyond the far edge of the Mediterranean (e.g. Homer, Horace) These are not to be confused with Plato's myth of Atlantis, which was decidedly less utopian.

The ancient sea-faring Phoenicians and Carthagians are known to have sailed beyond the Pillars of Hercules and, although there is a lack of concrete evidence, it is generally believed they knew of the Canary islands and visited them on occasion. The ancient Greeks, Etruscans and Romans were unlikely to be as familiar, but nonetheless might have been conscious of their existence outside of myth. Documentary records of contact are more sparse. The Greek navigator Eudoxus of Cyzicus (fl. 130 BCE) claimed to have discovered an uninhabited island with wood and water off the West African coast. Roman historian Plutarch reports that Sertorius (c.75 BCE) encountered sailors on the Baetis (Guadalquivir) river, who claimed to be returning from a trip to two Atlantic islands, some 1,000 miles off the African coast. Significantly, Plutarch's Sertorius is the only ancient writer who reports the Canaries had human inhabitants. The islands are largely overlooked in Strabo (30 BCE), with only a couple of passages asserting their existence off the coast of Mauretania, but nothing more specific.

Plinius, Sebosus, Juba
The concrete identification of the mythical Fortunate Islands (or "Islands of the Blessed") with the actual Canary islands is due principally to Pliny the Elder.

Pliny the Elder, in his Natural History (30 CE) provides a remarkably detailed description of the Fortunate islands (or Canary islands), basing himself on the earlier reports of Statius Sebosus and Juba II of Mauretania (the originals of which have been lost).

From Pliny's description, Statius Sebosus (c.80 BCE) seems to have collected his information from sailors in Gades (Cadiz). Sebosus cites five islands, reported (in Pliny) as Junonia, Pluvalia and Capraria, and further out, Invallis (written as Convallis in some sources) and Planaria.

By contrast, Juba II (c.1 BCE), who provides scraps of physical details, seems to have collected information by direct (or nearly direct) contact with the islands. According to Pliny, Juba reports two groups of islands - the six islands he calls the Fortunate Islands, consisting of Ombrios, Nivaria (written as Ningaria in some sources), Capraria, Junonia Major, Junonia Minor and Canaria, and another group he calls the Purple islands (Purpurariae), but does not individually list them.

Pliny does not attempt to reconcile the accounts of Statius Sebosus and Juba, and historians have since struggled to find the correspondence between the ancient names to the modern islands. There is no scholarly consensus, and proposed lists have varied enormously.

Scholars that assume that the whole archipelago was known to Juba, tend to agree that the Purple Islands refer to the eastern clump composed of Lanzarote, Fuerteventura and the minor islands (Alegranza, Montaña Clara, La Graciosa, Lobos, etc.), and that the Fortunate islands proper consist of the major islands to the west. Specifically, many sources argue that Ombrios is La Palma (Juba's 'mountain lake' is consistent with its caldera), Nivaria is Tenerife (her peaks are consistent with Juba's mention of perpetual snow and mists) and Canaria is Gran Canaria (according to Juba, the most fertile; Jube mentions it was overrun by large feral dogs - hence canaria  - two specimens of which Juba personally acquired). Capraria and Junonia Major are more uncertain. The temptation has been to tentatively identify Capraria with El Hierro (on account of the giant lizards reported by Juba) and Junonia Major with La Gomera (by default, the last remaining island in the west). However, this is thrown off by Juba's mention of a nearby Junonia Minor, as there are no other islands in the vicinity of Gomera.

One alternative reconciliation is to assume that Junonia Major and Junonia Minor refer to Fuerteventura and Lanzarote respectively, leaving Capraria to La Gomera and El Hierro as unknown. But this complicates the identification of the Purple Islands. Some (e.g. Humboldt ) shunt the Purple islands to the Madeira archipelago further north, but that is doubtful on account of Juba's description that the Purple islands were replete with wild orchil and much closer to the African coast than the Fortunates.

That Junonia and Capraria happen to be the only islands on Juba's list whose name appears also on Statius Sebosus's list leads to yet another hypothesis - namely that Junonia Major and Junonia Minor of Juba might be Madeira and Porto Santo respectively. Although Sebosus's distances (10,000 stadia = 1,000 geographical miles) are much too long, he does point out that Junonia is the nearest to Cadiz (750 miles by his measure), strongly suggesting it might be Madeira, that continuing 250 miles further southwest on that line (from Cadiz) leads us to Sebosus's next-mentioned islands, Pluvaria (La Palma) and Capraria (now definitely La Gomera) and, following Sebosus's sailing directions, that turning east from there ("towards the sun") one reaches what Sebosus calls Invallis (Tenerife) and Planaria (Canaria). With this Junonia = Madeira hypothesis, the eastern group (unknown to Statius Sebosus) can remain the Purple islands to Juba. This hypothesis seems to reconcile the Juba and Sebosus lists, as well as make sense of Sebosus's otherwise confusing geographical directions. But it also implies that El Hierro was simply unknown to both Sebosus and Juba.

Ptolemy
Ptolemy's (c.130 CE) entry complicates the story further. In his Geographia, Ptolemy names six Fortunate islands - Pluitala, Aprositus, Casperia, Pinturia, Canaria and Hera - and positions them rather carelessly. He places the Fortunate islands much further south (near where the Cape Verde islands actually are), and scatters them over a enormous vertical distance of five degrees height (from 11°N to 16°N; the actual Canaries are clustered much more tightly, from 27.5°N to 29.5°N). Moreover, while the actual Canaries are strung out from east to west (from 13°W to 18.5°N), Ptolemy lines up four of the islands - Pluitala, Aprositus, Pinturia and Casperia - vertically on the same longitude (which he famously designates as his Prime Meridian, 0°) and lines up the remaining two islands - Canaria and Hera - one degee to the east of it. Finally, he notes another island, which he calls Autolala, out west deep in the the Atlantic Ocean and separately from the Fortunate island group.

The poor geographic positioning suggests Ptolemy had little concrete information about the islands and makes it hard to decipher their identity. The Canaria name is obviously just lifted from Juba, Hera is probably just Junonia, and Pluitala and Casperia are probably just the mistranscribed Pluviaria and Capraria of Sebosus. The remaining names - Aprositus ('the Inaccessible') and Pinturia (written as Centuria in some sources) - are a mystery.

Like Pliny's names, there is no agreement on the assignment of Ptolemy's labels to the modern islands. Autolala's separation and distance suggests Madeira. Canaria is Gran Canaria. The rest are more obscure.

One possible way to reconcile both Ptolemy's geography and names is perhaps the suggestion that Ptolemy might have been misinformed by the direction by which the Canaries were laid out - specifically, that his prime meridian was actually tilted diagonally. One can draw a single diagonal line that goes from Lanzarote, through Tenerife and Gomera to El Hierro - four islands in a row. A parallel of that line passes through Fuerteventura and Canaria. In other words, the Canary puzzle is swiftly solved by rotating the map in the clockwise direction, so that the cartographic north is the actual northeast. In this case, four islands are indeed on the prime meridian and their names, from the implied south to north are Pluitala (El Hierro), Casperis (La Gomera), Pinturia (Tenerife) and, a little distance away, finally the 'inaccessible' Aprositus (Lanzarote). The (tilted) meridian of 1°E passes through two islands, Canaria (Gran Canaria) and Hera (Fuertaventura). Only La Palma is left unmentioned and unlabeled.

Tilting the prime meridian in this manner solves the puzzle of the scattering: we indeed the get the Canaries scattered "vertically", a 'north-south' distance of almost five degrees (from Hierro to Lanzarote), and with a width or 'west-east' distance of not more than one degree - exactly as Ptolemy originally suggested. Moreover, with the titled meridian, Autolala (Madeira) seems clearly due west of the Fortunate islands, deep in the Atlantic Ocean.

So the possible solution to the Ptolemy puzzle is not that he was uninformed about the Canaries, but rather that he was misinformed, that sailors (or whomever his source was) must have mistakenly told him that the sailing route from Lanzarote to Hierro was straight south rather than southwest. Ptolemy mapped the islands accordingly.

In light of this tile, the names are quickly reconciled:

Autolala = Madeira Junonia Minor = Aprositus = Lanzarote Heras = Fuerteventura Canaria = Gran Canaria Pinturia (or Centuria) = Tenerife Casperis = Gomera Pluitala = Hierro Palma = omitted.

If one tilts the map, so that meridians are diagonal (actual northeast designated as north) then one can draw

This done, the problem is solved: the four islands on the Prime Meridian can be safely ascribed as suggests that Ptolemy out and mistook a southwestern route as purely southern - in other words, he assumed that the cartographic north was the actual northeast

Four of the islands - which he names Pluitala, Aprositus, Caspiria, Pinturia - are lined up vertically on the same meridian (

The four islands Ptolemy lines up on the prime meridien he names Aprostitus ('the Inaccessible')

One final hypothesis is that Juba's list refers only to the easterly islands, and the the western islands were wholly unknown. One list identifies (as usual) Nivaria/Invallis with Tenerife and Canaria/Planaria with Gran Canaria, but assigns Ombrios/Pluvaria to Lanzarote and Capraria to Fuerteventura, leaving Junonia Major as Lobos, Junonia Minor as Montaña Clara. The three major islands to the west (La Gomera, La Palma and El Hierro) were simply unknown (although why the easterly Alegranza and La Graciosa are left out is unexplained).

Alegranza Clara Graciosa Lanzarote Lobos Fuerteventura Gran Canaria Tenerife La Gomera El Hierro La Palma

(c. 1 BC). Juba, as reported by Pliny, divides the islands into two groups: the five Fortunate islands, which he names as Ombrios (believed to be La Palma), Nivaria (Tenerife), Capraria (El Hierro), Junonia (uncertain, probably Fuerteventura) and Canaria (Gran Canaria), all uninhabited. Pliny claims Juba himself brought over two large feral dogs from 'Canaria' (hence the name). The second group of Juba are the two Purple islands (Purpurariae), whose descriptions (closer to the coast, replete with wild orchil) resemble Lanzarote and Fuerteventura (if the latter is not Junonia).

a remarkably accurate description of the islands, basing himself on the reports of Statius Sebosus (who provides reasonably accurate geographical location relative to Gades (Cadiz)) and Juba II of Mauretania (c. 1 BC). Juba, as reported by Pliny, divides the islands into two groups: the five Fortunate islands, which he names as Ombrios (believed to be La Palma), Nivaria (Tenerife), Capraria (El Hierro), Junonia (uncertain, probably Fuerteventura) and Canaria (Gran Canaria), all uninhabited. Pliny claims Juba himself brought over two large feral dogs from 'Canaria' (hence the name). The second group of Juba are the two Purple islands (Purpurariae), whose descriptions (closer to the coast, replete with wild orchil) resemble Lanzarote and Fuerteventura (if the latter is not Junonia).

It is

The ties between the Canaries and the Mediterranean world which had existed since antiquity were interrupted by the decline and fall of the Western Roman Empire. Although these linkages were weakened, they were not totally severed, and the Canaries' isolation was not total. During the Middle Ages, the first reports on the Canaries come from Arabic sources, which refer to some Atlantic islands which may have been the Canaries. What does seem clear is that this knowledge of the islands did not signify the end of the cultural isolation of the native inhabitants.

Visits to the archipelago began to increase after the end of the 13th century for reasons including:


 * The economic expansion of some regions of Europe, such as Genoa, Aragon, the Kingdom of Castille, and Portugal, and their need to establish secure routes to the Orient to obtain silk and spices, as well as to Africa to obtain gold and slaves, while avoiding the territories controlled by the Ottoman Turks in the eastern Mediterranean.


 * Development of new navigation techniques (compass, astrolabe, stern rudder, cog-caravel) and the development of cartography, as well as the development of atlases, one of which, the Atlas Catalán by Abraham de Cresques of Mallorca, in 1375, shows the Canary Islands with their modern names.


 * Ideological and political motives: the monarchies of Southern Europe entered an expansive phase.  In the case of the Iberian royalty, their territorial expansion was spurred by the Reconquista against the Moors in Spain.  For this reason,  territorial expansion represented a reinforcement of royal power, imbued with a crusader spirit in defense of Christianity.

Pre-Conquest
The first visit by a European to the Canary Islands since antiquity was by Genoese captain Lanceloto Malocello traditionally dated 1312 (but possibly a little later, between 1318-1325). Malocello motives were unclear - it is believed he might have been searching for traces of the Vivaldi brothers who had disappeared off Morocco, around Cape Non back in 1291. Malocello made landfall (possibly shipwrecked) on Lanzarote island, and remained there for nearly twenty years. Malocello may have attempted to erect himself as a ruler among the aboriginal peoples and been eventually expelled by them.

According to some sources, shortly after his return to Europe, in 1336, Malocello led a return expedition to the Canaries, sponsored by King Afonso IV of Portugal. However, the existence of this expedition has been dismissed by most modern historians, as being based on later forged documents.

Evidently drawing from the information provided by Malocello, in 1339 appeared the portolan map by Angelino Dulcert of Majorca showing the Canary island of Lanzarote (named Insula de Lanzarotus Marocelus and marked by a Genoese shield), as well as the island of Forte Vetura (Fuerteventura) and Vegi Mari (Lobos). Although earlier maps had shown fantastical depictions of the "Fortunate Islands" (on the basis of their mention in Pliny), this is the first European map where the actual Canary islands make a solid appearance (although Dulcert also includes some fantastic islands himself, notably St. Brendan, and three islands he names Primaria, Capraria and Canaria).

In 1341, a three-ship expedition sponsored by King Afonso IV of Portugal, set out from Lisbon, commanded by Florentine captain Angiolino del Tegghia de Corbizzi and Genoese captain Nicoloso da Recco, and employing a mixed crew of Italians, Portuguese and Castilians. Cruising the archipelago for five months, the expedition mapped thirteen islands (seven major, six minor) and surveyed the primeval aboriginal inhabitants, the 'Guanches', bringing back four natives to Lisbon. (This expedition would become the basis of later Portuguese claims of priority on the islands.)

European interest in the Canaries picked up quickly after the 1341 mapping expedition. The descriptions of the primeval Guanches, in particular, drew the attention of European merchants, who immediately saw the prospect of new and easy slave-raiding grounds. In 1342, two Majorcan expeditions, one under Francesc Duvalers, another under Domenech Gual, assembled by private merchant consortiums with a commission from Roger de Robenach (representative of James III of Majorca) set out for the Canary islands. The results of these expeditions are uncertain. These expeditions (and doubtless many other unrecorded ones, not only by Majorcans, but also likely by merchants of Seville and Lisbon) were almost wholly commercial, with the primary purpose of capturing native islanders to sell as slaves in European markets. But it is probable that there was also some peaceful trade with the locals, particularly for orchil and dragon's blood, which grew wildly on the islands and were much valued as cloth dyes in Europe. (The celebrated expedition of Majorcan captain Jaume Ferrer, which set out in 1346, aimed explicitly for the gold of the Senegal, but it is not impossible that he made a detour to the islands.)

The Catholic Church was also drawn by the news. In 1344, the Castilian-French noble Luis de la Cerda (Count of Clermont and Admiral of France), then serving as a French ambassador to the papal court in Avignon, submitted a proposal to Pope Clement VI, offering the Church the more palatable vision of conquering the islands and converting the native Canarians to Christianity. In November 1344, Pope Clement VI issued the bull Tu devonitis sinceritas granting the Canary islands in perpetuity to Luis de la Cerda and bestowing upon him the title of sovereign "Prince of Fortuna". The pope followed this up with another bull, in January 1345, giving the projected Cerda-led conquest and conversion of the islands the character of a crusade, granting indulgences to its participants, and papal letters were dispatched to the Iberian monarchs urging them to provide material assistance to Cerda's expedition. . The Portuguese king Afonso IV immediately lodged a protest, claiming priority of discovery, but conceded to the authority of the pope. Alfonso XI of Castile also protested, claiming that, by the ancient Visigothic dioceses and prior reconquista treaties, the islands fell within the Castilian jurisdiction and 'sphere of conquest', but nonetheless recognized Cerda's title. Despite their formal concessions, preparations were stalled by the opposition of the Iberian monarchs, with the result that no expedition was mounted before Cerda's death in 1348.

Despite losing Cerda, the pope did not give up on his hope of converting the natives. At least five missionary expeditions would be sent (or at least planned) between 1352 and 1386. In May, 1351, Pope Clement VI endorsed an expedition organized by the Majorcan merchants Joan Doria and Jaume Segarra, with the object of bringing Franciscan missionaries, including twelve converted Canarian natives (apparently seized by previous Majorcan expeditions), to the islands. To encourage the expedition, pope created (in November 1351) the autonomous 'Diocese of Fortuna' and appointed the Carmelite friar Bernardo Gil as its first bishop. (although it is uncertain if he ever traveled there - he was transferred to Sardinia in 1353). The pope also secured the blessing of new Majorcan ruler, King Peter IV of Aragon (Majorca was annexed to Aragon in 1344). According to the royal orders given in May 1352, Arnau Roger, the captain of the Doria-Segarra expedition, was also instructed to claim the islands for the crown of Aragon and set himself up as feudatory captain there.

The outcome of the 1352 expedition, or even whether it ever set out, is uncertain. Apocryphal legend relates the missionaries succeeded established an evangelizing center at Telde (on Gran Canaria), but the evidence is scant. The death of Pope Clement VI in December 1352 seems to have put a damper on church interest in the Canaries. There are indications that the Bishop Bernard of Fortuna was still in Avignon in May 1353, and in July 1354, Pope Innocent VI, translated Bernardo to Santa Giusta (Sardinia) and left the Fortuna diocese vacant. (there are reports that a certain friar Bartolomé was appointed bishop of Fortuna in 1361, but details are missing.)

Little more is heard about the Canary islands until 1366, when a new expedition was mounted by the Majorcan knight Joan Mora with royal instructions (issued by Peter IV of Aragon, dated June 26, 1366) to assert the rights of the Crown of Aragon on the islands and patrol for enemies and interlopers. Who these "enemies" might be was left unspecified (Portuguese? Castilians? Pirates?), but it is presumed (in light of the rewards he received) that Mora had some success against them.

The bull issued in July 1369 by the Avignon Pope Urban V erecting a new missionary diocese of Fortuna as a suffragan of Seville and appointing Fr. Bonnant Tari as bishop, and a follow-up bull of September 1369 instructing the bishops of Barcelona and Tortosa to dispatch 10 secular and 20 regular clergy to preach to the Canarians in their native languages. But whether this actually set out or just remained a paper project is also uncertain. We have a more reliable record of 1386 Majorcan expedition, carried out by 'Pauperes Heremite', sponsored by Peter IV Aragon and Pope Urban VI. Although their exact fate is unknown, there is a later report that thirteen "Christian friars" who had been preaching in the Canaries "for seven years" were massacred in an uprising 1391.

Geographic knowledge of the Canary islands coalesced with these expeditions. La Gomera and El Hierro are depicted in the 1367 portolan of the brothers Domenico and Francesco Pizzigano. The Catalan Atlas of 1375 shows the Canaries almost completely and accurately mapped (only La Palma is missing). The eleven islands are named in the Catalan Atlas (from east to west) as Graciosa (La Graciosa),laregranza (Alegranza), rocho (Roque), Insula de lanzaroto maloxelo (Lanzarote), insula de li vegi marin (Lobos), forteventura (Fuerteventura), Insula de Canaria (Gran Canaria), Insula del infernio (Tenerife), insula de gomera (La Gomera), insula de lo fero (El Hierro). . The name 'tenerefiz' is first given alongside 'Infierno' in the 1385 Libro del Conoscimiento.

During the 1370s, when Portugal and Castile were engaged in dynastic wars following the assassination of Peter I of Castile, Portuguese and Castilian privateers were dispatched against each other, several of which made detours to the Canary islands for shelter or slave-raiding jaunts. Ignoring the 1344 bull, Ferdinand I of Portugal granted (in 1370) the islands of Lanzarote and La Gomera to the adventurer 'Lançarote da Franquia' (believed by some to be none other than the impossibly-aged Lanceloto Malocello). This Lanzarote made an attempt to seize the islands and is reported to have engaged in fighting with "Guanches and Castilians" there.

Apocryphal Expeditions
There are tales of other expeditions reported by old chroniclers and Canarian tradition, since determined to be probably apocryphal. Among those deemed purely legendary are:
 * (1) A 1360 wildcat Catalan-Majorcan expedition of two ships, captain unknown (alleged in legend to be the same Aragonese galleys prepared for Cerda back in 1344). Upon making landfall at La Gomera or Gran Canaria, the Europeans were defeated and taken prisoner by the native Canarians. After a certain period of time living among the Canarians (possibly a few years), the native chieftans secretly decided to kill all the prisoners. The entire crew, including the clerics (two Franciscan friars according to Abreu de Galindo, five says Viera y Clavijo), were switftly massacred by the Canarians.
 * (2) a 1372 expedition by a Galician captain Fernando de Castro (not to be confused with his later Portuguese namesake), who also made landing at La Gomera. After engaging in hostilities, Castro was defeated by the natives, but (unlike the 1360 expedition), the surviving Europeans were magnanimously spared and allowed to embark back to Iberia. (probably just a misdated re-telling of the Portuguese Castro expedition to Gran Canaria in 1424, which had a similar outcome.)
 * (3) the famous tale of the Biscayan privateer Martín Ruiz de Avendaño, who took shelter on Lanzarote in 1377, and, during his stay, slept with the queen Fayna, wife of native king Zonzamas. This liasion produced a daughter Ico, who went on to marry the next king Guanarame and produce a son, Guardafia. After Guanarame's death, Guardafia's ascension to the throne was blocked by suspicions that his mother Ico (Avendaño's daughter) was not of noble lineage, until she was put through a trial by ordeal (being smoked in hut, and survived).
 * (4) A 1382 ship from Seville, commanded by Francisco Lopez, wrecked off Guinigada (Gran Canaria), with 13 survivors; they went on to live among the Canarian natives, until their deaths c.1394.
 * (5) An expedition in 1385 by Hernan Peraza, a Sevillan with a permit from Henry III of Castile.
 * (6) A 1386 expedition of two ships, under the command of Fernando de Ormel, of Galician origin, but noble in Castile and naval officer of John I of Castile. While patrolling the Andalusian coast, was caught up in a storm and ended up emerging at La Gomera. Legend claims that at the behest of the local king Amalahuige, Oromel (or Castro earlier) left behind his chaplain to convert his people to Christianity.
 * (7) A 1399 expedition of Gonzalo Peraza Martel, Lord of Almonastor (unlike the actual voyage of Almonastor in 1393).

Other legendary traditions include the story of the Virgin of Candelaria, a miraculous statue of the Virgin Mary encountered by two Guanches on the beaches of Tenerife around 1392-93.

In the 14th century, a variety of forces competed for control of the Canaries: Genoese, Catalan-Mallorcan, Castilian, and Portuguese. In the following century, Castile and Portugal were the primary contenders.