Pizzigano Map
Encyclopedia
The Pizzigano Map is a portolan chart
dated to 1424 and attributed to the 15th C. Venetian
cartographer Zuane Pizzigano (sometimes given as Giovanni Pizzigano). It is the oldest surviving map depicting the Antillia island group (Antillia
, Satanazes
, Royllo
and Tanmar), a cluster of legendary island
s out in the north Atlantic Ocean
.
.. It is currently held by the James Ford Bell Library
at the University of Minnesota
in Minneapolis, USA. (B1424mPi)
Identification of the author is not certain. The legend on the 1424 map simply reads: Mccccxxiiij adi xxij auosto Zuane pizzi..... afato questa carta ("1424 on 22 August, Zuane Pizzi..... made this map"), with the part after the last name "Pizzi" smudged, seemingly tracing an attempt to erase and then restore the author's name. The smudged space, under infrared light, does seem to reveal something like "pizzigano". "Zuane" is a common Venetian
variant of "Giovanni" (John). Little is known of Zuane Pizzigano, save that he was probably a relative (possibly a descendant) of the Venetian cartographers Domenico and Francesco Pizzigano
, responsible for a famous 1367 portolan map.
restricts itself to western Europe
, northwest Africa, and a large swathe of the north Atlantic Ocean
, which it scatters with many islands, both real and mythical. The map has notes in Venetian
and Portuguese
.
Although the drawing is rudimentary, the Canary islands
are depicted near completeness, with eight known islands indicated - alegranzia (Alegranza
), larozio (Roque del Este
), lancarot (blue with red stripe, rather than the usual Genoese
shield, an understandable variation for a Venetian author), louos (Lobos Island
), fortubentura/fortouentura (Fuerteventura
), canaria (Gran Canaria
), inferno (Tenerife
), and a long distance to the west, balmar (La Palma
). It is significantly missing La Gomera
and El Hierro
(already shown in earlier maps). Pizzigano indicates a mysterious large red island, with four outlying islets, to the south of the Canaries archipelago which it identifies as himadoro. This may be the mythical St. Brendan's Island
.
The Madeira Islands, officially discovered by the Portuguese as recently as 1418-1420, are also depicted, with their names quite accurately given: madera (Madeira
), portosanto (Porto Santo, dexrexta (Desertas) and saluazes (Savage Islands
).
More surprising is the depiction of what seems like the Azores archipelago further north, given that these islands were only officially discovered later by the Portuguese (1431 or possibly 1427 at the earliest). Nonetheless, such Atlantic islands were not absent in earlier maps (e.g. the Catalan Atlas
of 1375), with names partially lifted from ancient sources. In the 1424 Pizzigano map, they are denoted as (following Cortesão's tentative identification): lubrioczo (São Jorge), ixola de uentula (Faial
), ixo de braxil (Terceira
), capiria (São Miguel
) and louo (Santa Maria
).
group of four islands in the middle of Atlantic Ocean, west of the putative Azores. It is dominated by two very large rectangular-shaped islands: the large red Antilia (in Pizzigano's label, ista ixolla dixeno antilia) and, some sixty leagues north of it, the large blue Satanazes
(ista ixolla dixemo satanazes, the Satanaxio/Satanagio/Salvagio of later maps). Some twenty leagues west of the great Antilia is the small blue Ymana (the 'Royllo
' of later maps), while the Santanazes is capped to the north by the semi-circular red Saya (the 'Tanmar' or 'Danmar' of later maps).
The appearance of the gigantic Antilia group on the 1424 Pizzigano map has fostered numerous theories about the possible pre-Columbian trans-oceanic contact
with the Americas
. The origin of Pizzigano's great islands is uncertain. For a time, it was believed a suggestive inscription in the 1367 map of the Pizzigani brothers (his relatives, possibly his father) might have encouraged him, but that reading has since been discarded. It is largely agreed that Zuane Pizzigano is the first known cartographer to depict the famous Antilia group on a map.
The name of the main island, Antillia
, is believed to be derived from the Portuguese term ante-ilha ("opposite island", that is, facing Portugal
). It draws from an old Iberian
legend, relating how seven Visigoth
ic bishops, fleeing the Muslim conquest of Hispania in 714, embarked with their flock on ships and fled across the Atlantic to erect a new home on this island. Pizzigano, as many others after him, attempted to depict and fantastically name seven settlements on the island, thus it is also known as the "island of Seven Cities".
The source of Antillia's northerly companion, 'Satanazes
', the "Isle of Devils" in Portuguese, is more uncertain. It may be an attempt to capture the Norse sagas of Greenland
and Vinland
, which had begun to filter South around this time, with the indigenous Skraelings as the 'devils' implied in the island's name. The Ymana to the west of Antilia is possibly a transcription of Ynsula Mam, the legendary Isle of Mam, first depicted in 1367 by the Pizzigani brothers. 'Saya' is a bit more obscure.
Whatever his source, the number, size, shape and position Zuane Pizzigano gave to the Antillia
group of islands was subsequently copied almost exactly by most cartographers during the 15th C. - notably, Battista Beccario
(1435), Andrea Bianco (1436), Grazioso Benincasa (1462, 1470, 1482), etc. down to the 1492 Nuremberg globe of Martin Behaim
.
There are two more fantastical islands on Pizzigano's 1424 map that deserve mention: the tri-colored circular island of braxil, sitting just west of Ireland
, is doubtlessly the mythical Brasil, already shown in earlier maps. Southwest of that, around half-way to the Antilia group, lies a semi-circular blue island denoted ixola de uentura. This is more puzzling. It sits around the area where the Pizzigani brothers first depicted the legendary Isle of Mam in 1367, and that may be the intention. However, identifying uentura with Mam would leave Ymana unresolved. One possibility is that the ixola de ventura is related to the Illa Verde ("Green Island", a reference to Greenland
), as is sometimes found in contemporary maps, filtered from Norse or Irish sources, and perhaps already known to Iberian fishermen.
Portolan chart
Portolan charts are navigational maps based on realistic descriptions of harbours and coasts. They were first made in the 14th century in Italy, Portugal and Spain...
dated to 1424 and attributed to the 15th C. Venetian
Republic of Venice
The Republic of Venice or Venetian Republic was a state originating from the city of Venice in Northeastern Italy. It existed for over a millennium, from the late 7th century until 1797. It was formally known as the Most Serene Republic of Venice and is often referred to as La Serenissima, in...
cartographer Zuane Pizzigano (sometimes given as Giovanni Pizzigano). It is the oldest surviving map depicting the Antillia island group (Antillia
Antillia
Antillia is a legendary island that was reputed, during the 15th century age of exploration, to lie in the Atlantic Ocean, far to the west of Portugal and Spain...
, Satanazes
Satanazes
The island of Satanazes is a legendary island once thought to be located in the Atlantic Ocean, and depicted on many 15th C. maps.- Cartographic depiction :...
, Royllo
Royllo
Royllo , is a legendary island that was once thought to be located in the Atlantic Ocean. Probably identical with the island originally called Ymana in the 1424 Pizzigano Map. The island is usually depicted in many 15th C. maps as a small island located slightly to the west of the much larger...
and Tanmar), a cluster of legendary island
Phantom island
Phantom islands are islands that were believed to exist, and appeared on maps for a period of time during recorded history, but were later removed after they were proved to be nonexistent...
s out in the north Atlantic Ocean
Atlantic Ocean
The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions. With a total area of about , it covers approximately 20% of the Earth's surface and about 26% of its water surface area...
.
Provenance
The map, measuring 57 by 90 cm, was first discovered in 1953, among the thousands of manuscripts in the library of the famous collector Sir Thomas PhillippsThomas Phillipps
Sir Thomas Phillipps, 1st Baronet was an English antiquary and book collector who amassed the largest collection of manuscript material in the 19th century, due to his severe condition of bibliomania...
.. It is currently held by the James Ford Bell Library
James Ford Bell Library
The James Ford Bell Library is named for its donor and patron James Ford Bell, the founder of the General Mills Corporation in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The collection consists of some 30,000 rare books, maps, manuscripts, broadsides, pamphlets and other materials documenting the history and impact...
at the University of Minnesota
University of Minnesota
The University of Minnesota, Twin Cities is a public research university located in Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota, United States. It is the oldest and largest part of the University of Minnesota system and has the fourth-largest main campus student body in the United States, with 52,557...
in Minneapolis, USA. (B1424mPi)
Identification of the author is not certain. The legend on the 1424 map simply reads: Mccccxxiiij adi xxij auosto Zuane pizzi..... afato questa carta ("1424 on 22 August, Zuane Pizzi..... made this map"), with the part after the last name "Pizzi" smudged, seemingly tracing an attempt to erase and then restore the author's name. The smudged space, under infrared light, does seem to reveal something like "pizzigano". "Zuane" is a common Venetian
Venetian language
Venetian or Venetan is a Romance language spoken as a native language by over two million people, mostly in the Veneto region of Italy, where of five million inhabitants almost all can understand it. It is sometimes spoken and often well understood outside Veneto, in Trentino, Friuli, Venezia...
variant of "Giovanni" (John). Little is known of Zuane Pizzigano, save that he was probably a relative (possibly a descendant) of the Venetian cartographers Domenico and Francesco Pizzigano
Domenico and Francesco Pizzigano
Domenico and Francesco Pizzigano, known as the Pizzigani brothers, were 14th C. Venetian cartographers. Their surname is sometimes given as Pizigano in older sources.- 1367 Chart :]...
, responsible for a famous 1367 portolan map.
Features
The nautical portolan chartPortolan chart
Portolan charts are navigational maps based on realistic descriptions of harbours and coasts. They were first made in the 14th century in Italy, Portugal and Spain...
restricts itself to western Europe
Western Europe
Western Europe is a loose term for the collection of countries in the western most region of the European continents, though this definition is context-dependent and carries cultural and political connotations. One definition describes Western Europe as a geographic entity—the region lying in the...
, northwest Africa, and a large swathe of the north Atlantic Ocean
Atlantic Ocean
The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions. With a total area of about , it covers approximately 20% of the Earth's surface and about 26% of its water surface area...
, which it scatters with many islands, both real and mythical. The map has notes in Venetian
Venetian language
Venetian or Venetan is a Romance language spoken as a native language by over two million people, mostly in the Veneto region of Italy, where of five million inhabitants almost all can understand it. It is sometimes spoken and often well understood outside Veneto, in Trentino, Friuli, Venezia...
and Portuguese
Portuguese language
Portuguese is a Romance language that arose in the medieval Kingdom of Galicia, nowadays Galicia and Northern Portugal. The southern part of the Kingdom of Galicia became independent as the County of Portugal in 1095...
.
Although the drawing is rudimentary, the Canary islands
Canary Islands
The Canary Islands , also known as the Canaries , is a Spanish archipelago located just off the northwest coast of mainland Africa, 100 km west of the border between Morocco and the Western Sahara. The Canaries are a Spanish autonomous community and an outermost region of the European Union...
are depicted near completeness, with eight known islands indicated - alegranzia (Alegranza
Alegranza
Alegranza is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, located off the coast of Africa and is in the province of Las Palmas in the Canary Islands, Spain. It is the northernmost point in the Canary Islands .- Geographical overview :...
), larozio (Roque del Este
Roque del Este
Roque del Este is an uninhabited island in the Canary Islands located 12 km northeast of the island of Lanzarote. The opposite of the island is Graciosa. The island is part of the Chinijo Archipelago...
), lancarot (blue with red stripe, rather than the usual Genoese
Republic of Genoa
The Most Serene Republic of Genoa |Ligurian]]: Repúbrica de Zêna) was an independent state from 1005 to 1797 in Liguria on the northwestern Italian coast, as well as Corsica from 1347 to 1768, and numerous other territories throughout the Mediterranean....
shield, an understandable variation for a Venetian author), louos (Lobos Island
Lobos Island
Lobos Island is a small island of the Canary Islands located just 2 km north of the island of Fuerteventura. Politically it belongs to the municipality of La Oliva, on the island of Fuerteventura. It has an area of 4.6 km². It has been a nature reserve without permanent human population...
), fortubentura/fortouentura (Fuerteventura
Fuerteventura
Fuerteventura , a Spanish island, is one of the Canary Islands, in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Africa. It is situated at 28°20' north, 14°00' west. At 1,660 km² it is the second largest of the Canary Islands, after Tenerife...
), canaria (Gran Canaria
Gran Canaria
Gran Canaria is the second most populous island of the Canary Islands, with a population of 838,397 which constitutes approximately 40% of the population of the archipelago...
), inferno (Tenerife
Tenerife
Tenerife is the largest and most populous island of the seven Canary Islands, it is also the most populated island of Spain, with a land area of 2,034.38 km² and 906,854 inhabitants, 43% of the total population of the Canary Islands. About five million tourists visit Tenerife each year, the...
), and a long distance to the west, balmar (La Palma
La Palma
La Palma is the most north-westerly of the Canary Islands. La Palma has an area of 706 km2 making it the fifth largest of the seven main Canary Islands...
). It is significantly missing La Gomera
La Gomera
La Gomera is one of Spain's Canary Islands, located in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Africa. In area, it is the second-smallest of the seven main islands of this group.- Political organization :...
and El Hierro
El Hierro
El Hierro, nicknamed Isla del Meridiano , is the smallest and farthest south and west of the Canary Islands , in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Africa, with a population of 10,162 .- Name :The name El Hierro, although phonetically identical to the Spanish word for 'iron', is generally thought...
(already shown in earlier maps). Pizzigano indicates a mysterious large red island, with four outlying islets, to the south of the Canaries archipelago which it identifies as himadoro. This may be the mythical St. Brendan's Island
St. Brendan's Island
Situated somewhere west of Northern Africa, St. Brendan’s Isle is a phantom island often regarded as myth, since, unless it is the so-called "Eighth Canary Island" known since time immemorial to the Spanish and Portuguese authorities as San Borondón, only a few have claimed to have seen it.In the...
.
The Madeira Islands, officially discovered by the Portuguese as recently as 1418-1420, are also depicted, with their names quite accurately given: madera (Madeira
Madeira
Madeira is a Portuguese archipelago that lies between and , just under 400 km north of Tenerife, Canary Islands, in the north Atlantic Ocean and an outermost region of the European Union...
), portosanto (Porto Santo, dexrexta (Desertas) and saluazes (Savage Islands
Savage Islands
The Savage Islands, also referred to as the Salvage Islands or the Selvagens Islands, of Sé. They are designated a Nature Reserve, comprising two areas: one on Selvagem Grande Island and the second on Selvagem Pequena Island.-Geography:...
).
More surprising is the depiction of what seems like the Azores archipelago further north, given that these islands were only officially discovered later by the Portuguese (1431 or possibly 1427 at the earliest). Nonetheless, such Atlantic islands were not absent in earlier maps (e.g. the Catalan Atlas
Catalan Atlas
The Catalan Atlas is the most important Catalan map of the medieval period. It was produced by the Majorcan cartographic school and is attributed to Cresques Abraham , a Jewish book illuminator who was self-described as being a master of the maps of the world as well as compasses...
of 1375), with names partially lifted from ancient sources. In the 1424 Pizzigano map, they are denoted as (following Cortesão's tentative identification): lubrioczo (São Jorge), ixola de uentula (Faial
Faial Island
Faial Island , also known in English as Fayal, is a Portuguese island of the Central Group of the Azores....
), ixo de braxil (Terceira
Terceira Island
Referred to as the “Ilha Lilás” , Terceira is an island in the Azores archipelago, in the middle of the North Atlantic Ocean. It is one of the larger islands of the archipelago, with a population of 56,000 inhabitants in an area of approximately 396.75 km²...
), capiria (São Miguel
São Miguel Island
São Miguel Island , nicknamed "The Green Island", is the largest and most populous island in the Portuguese Azores archipelago. The island covers and has around 140,000 inhabitants, 45,000 of these people located in the largest city in the archipelago: Ponta Delgada.-History:In 1427, São Miguel...
) and louo (Santa Maria
Santa Maria Island
Santa Maria , Portuguese for Saint Mary, is an island located in the eastern group of the Azores archipelago and the southernmost island in the Azores...
).
Antillia group
The most famous islands of the 1424 Pizzigano map are doubtlessly the AntilliaAntillia
Antillia is a legendary island that was reputed, during the 15th century age of exploration, to lie in the Atlantic Ocean, far to the west of Portugal and Spain...
group of four islands in the middle of Atlantic Ocean, west of the putative Azores. It is dominated by two very large rectangular-shaped islands: the large red Antilia (in Pizzigano's label, ista ixolla dixeno antilia) and, some sixty leagues north of it, the large blue Satanazes
Satanazes
The island of Satanazes is a legendary island once thought to be located in the Atlantic Ocean, and depicted on many 15th C. maps.- Cartographic depiction :...
(ista ixolla dixemo satanazes, the Satanaxio/Satanagio/Salvagio of later maps). Some twenty leagues west of the great Antilia is the small blue Ymana (the 'Royllo
Royllo
Royllo , is a legendary island that was once thought to be located in the Atlantic Ocean. Probably identical with the island originally called Ymana in the 1424 Pizzigano Map. The island is usually depicted in many 15th C. maps as a small island located slightly to the west of the much larger...
' of later maps), while the Santanazes is capped to the north by the semi-circular red Saya (the 'Tanmar' or 'Danmar' of later maps).
The appearance of the gigantic Antilia group on the 1424 Pizzigano map has fostered numerous theories about the possible pre-Columbian trans-oceanic contact
Pre-Columbian trans-oceanic contact
Theories of Pre-Columbian trans-oceanic contact are those theories that propose interaction between indigenous peoples of the Americas who settled the Americas before 10,000 BC, and peoples of other continents , which occurred before the arrival of Christopher Columbus in the Caribbean in 1492.Many...
with the Americas
Americas
The Americas, or America , are lands in the Western hemisphere, also known as the New World. In English, the plural form the Americas is often used to refer to the landmasses of North America and South America with their associated islands and regions, while the singular form America is primarily...
. The origin of Pizzigano's great islands is uncertain. For a time, it was believed a suggestive inscription in the 1367 map of the Pizzigani brothers (his relatives, possibly his father) might have encouraged him, but that reading has since been discarded. It is largely agreed that Zuane Pizzigano is the first known cartographer to depict the famous Antilia group on a map.
The name of the main island, Antillia
Antillia
Antillia is a legendary island that was reputed, during the 15th century age of exploration, to lie in the Atlantic Ocean, far to the west of Portugal and Spain...
, is believed to be derived from the Portuguese term ante-ilha ("opposite island", that is, facing Portugal
Kingdom of Portugal
The Kingdom of Portugal was Portugal's general designation under the monarchy. The kingdom was located in the west of the Iberian Peninsula, Europe and existed from 1139 to 1910...
). It draws from an old Iberian
Iberian Peninsula
The Iberian Peninsula , sometimes called Iberia, is located in the extreme southwest of Europe and includes the modern-day sovereign states of Spain, Portugal and Andorra, as well as the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar...
legend, relating how seven Visigoth
Visigoth
The Visigoths were one of two main branches of the Goths, the Ostrogoths being the other. These tribes were among the Germans who spread through the late Roman Empire during the Migration Period...
ic bishops, fleeing the Muslim conquest of Hispania in 714, embarked with their flock on ships and fled across the Atlantic to erect a new home on this island. Pizzigano, as many others after him, attempted to depict and fantastically name seven settlements on the island, thus it is also known as the "island of Seven Cities".
The source of Antillia's northerly companion, 'Satanazes
Satanazes
The island of Satanazes is a legendary island once thought to be located in the Atlantic Ocean, and depicted on many 15th C. maps.- Cartographic depiction :...
', the "Isle of Devils" in Portuguese, is more uncertain. It may be an attempt to capture the Norse sagas of Greenland
Greenland
Greenland is an autonomous country within the Kingdom of Denmark, located between the Arctic and Atlantic Oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Though physiographically a part of the continent of North America, Greenland has been politically and culturally associated with Europe for...
and Vinland
Vinland
Vinland was the name given to an area of North America by the Norsemen, about the year 1000 CE.There is a consensus among scholars that the Vikings reached North America approximately five centuries prior to the voyages of Christopher Columbus...
, which had begun to filter South around this time, with the indigenous Skraelings as the 'devils' implied in the island's name. The Ymana to the west of Antilia is possibly a transcription of Ynsula Mam, the legendary Isle of Mam, first depicted in 1367 by the Pizzigani brothers. 'Saya' is a bit more obscure.
Whatever his source, the number, size, shape and position Zuane Pizzigano gave to the Antillia
Antillia
Antillia is a legendary island that was reputed, during the 15th century age of exploration, to lie in the Atlantic Ocean, far to the west of Portugal and Spain...
group of islands was subsequently copied almost exactly by most cartographers during the 15th C. - notably, Battista Beccario
Battista Beccario
Battista Beccario, also known as Baptista Beccharius , was a 15th Century Genoese cartographer.Virtually nothing is known of his life...
(1435), Andrea Bianco (1436), Grazioso Benincasa (1462, 1470, 1482), etc. down to the 1492 Nuremberg globe of Martin Behaim
Martin Behaim
Martin Behaim , was a German mariner, artist, cosmographer, astronomer, philosopher, geographer and explorer in service to the King of Portugal.-Biography:The Behaim family had immigrated to Nuremberg because of religious persecution around...
.
There are two more fantastical islands on Pizzigano's 1424 map that deserve mention: the tri-colored circular island of braxil, sitting just west of Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
, is doubtlessly the mythical Brasil, already shown in earlier maps. Southwest of that, around half-way to the Antilia group, lies a semi-circular blue island denoted ixola de uentura. This is more puzzling. It sits around the area where the Pizzigani brothers first depicted the legendary Isle of Mam in 1367, and that may be the intention. However, identifying uentura with Mam would leave Ymana unresolved. One possibility is that the ixola de ventura is related to the Illa Verde ("Green Island", a reference to Greenland
Greenland
Greenland is an autonomous country within the Kingdom of Denmark, located between the Arctic and Atlantic Oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Though physiographically a part of the continent of North America, Greenland has been politically and culturally associated with Europe for...
), as is sometimes found in contemporary maps, filtered from Norse or Irish sources, and perhaps already known to Iberian fishermen.
External links
- The Pizzigano Map at the University of Minnesota.