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The island of Antillia.
Although Atlantis is by far the most famous instance of a lost Atlantic Island it is by no means the only one. In fact great mystery surrounds the fate of yet another lost
island known as Antillia.
More recent sinking.
Like Atlantis Antillia, developed a substantial wealth of claim and counter claim. Surprisingly, the documentary evidence appears to indicate that Antillia’s disappearance
was a much more recent happening. In fact even as recently as Columbus’s day its existence was more or less taken for granted. In his Atlas of Columbus and the Great Discoveries, author
Kenneth Nebenzahl, claims that Columbus had found mention of these islands while visiting Portugal. He quotes Columbus’s son Fernando as being especially impressed with these references “particularly
about that island called Antillia which lies 200 leagues westward of the Canaries and Azores”.
Portuguese legend.
This last reference to the Azores is especially interesting because it specifically implies that Antillia and the Azores are two different places. Author Kenneth Nebenzahl
makes the comparison sound even more mysterious by writing: “An old and persistent Portuguese legend was of the ‘seven cities’ (Antillia) founded in the eighth century by a bishop from
Oporto.”
Seven cities.
The confusion here is that although we have established that the Azores and Antillia are two separate places, the name “seven cities”, is one used in the Azores to describe
the sunken lake of Sao Miguel. Local legend says that below the tranquil waters of what are actually twin lakes - with blue and green water - lie the remains of submerged cities and the ruins of
Atlantis.
Shown on maps.
The fact is that whichever way you interpret the dilemma of the “seven cities” Antillia was part of accepted history until at least the 8th century. It even appears on the
earliest sea maps of the area. One example of this is the Pizzigano portolan map thought to have been painted around 1424. This was very nearly 70 years before Columbus attempted his epic voyage, and yet
at quite some distance - at least 600 miles westwards of Spain, we find on it the island of Antillia. Even further mystery arises when we find that directly north from this position is another
unknown group of islands clearly marked as Santangel.
The Bennicasa Map.
The location of Antillia is also shown on a portion of the Bennicasa map of 1482. This shows a sailing ship bearing northwards with the
outline of the Iberian in the upper portion and Antillia immediately opposite.
What happened to them?
But just where are these islands now? Today there is nothing there, the location marked by just a wide expanse of unbroken ocean. And it isn’t as if these were uncharted
waters. They lie well within the sailing limits of the vessels of that era.
Greater Antilles.
It means that according to the navigators of those days there existed at least two island groups that are no longer there. In fact Columbus had made firm plans to take
aboard water at Antillia and was no doubt puzzled when he failed to arrive at the island. Later, when it became apparent that no such island existed the location of Antillia was given to one of several
Caribbean islands, and is still the name given to the areas major chain of islands, the Greater Antilles.
But just what happened to the Antillia that lay closer to Portugal? Did this ever exist or was it just a baseless legend?
Portuguese settlement.
Here we must remember the very definite claims that a Portuguese settlement did once exist on Antillia. Refugees are said to have sailed here, after fleeing from the Arab
invasion of the Iberian peninsula. More refugees followed later and contributed to establishing what seems to have been a thriving community. It would seem then that based on this evidence, Antillia has
if anything an even greater claim to historical existence than Atlantis itself. Yet the island is no longer there.
Seismic activity.
Perhaps the answer is that like Atlantis, Antillia had long since started to crumble. The area is well known for its seismic activity. An example of how devastating this can
be is the 1755 Earthquake that destroyed much of the Portuguese capital, Lisbon. This was a fearful disaster. First the city was torn apart by fierce tremors that sent thousands of its citizens running
to the waterfront for safety. Unfortunately they walked straight into a monumental catastrophe. Without warning an enormous tidal wave engulfed the thronging promenade, drowning thousands of people, as
well as devastating large areas of the city.
Successive earthquakes.
Seismic activity of this kind would inevitably bring complete devastation to any low lying island. It means that if Antillia was already deeply fragmented by the Atlantis
disaster, successive earthquakes and volcanic activity would have exacted a heavy toll, to the point of destroying it completely.
Another point of interest is that the very name Antillia comes from the Portuguese Antilha, or ante ilha which means “the island in front of”. But in front of what? Would it be too much to speculate that perhaps this was “the island in front of Atlantis” as one came to it from the Straits of Gibraltar? At the very least it represents an exciting possibility.
Links to yet more topics of interest.
Click here to see more on the gradual sinking of Atlantis?
Click here to see more on the likelihood of survivors from that Atlantis Disaster?
Click here to read about the vanished kingdom of Tartessos?
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