Antillia (or Antilia) was a phantom island said to lie in the Atlantic Ocean far to the west of Spain. This mythical island had several other names such as Isle of Seven Cities, Ilha das Sete Cidades (Portuguese), Septe Cidades, Sanbrandan (or St Brendan), etc. Antillia was also identified with islands including the Isles of the Blest and the Fortunate Islands. Phantom islands are islands that are believed to exist and appear on maps for a period of time (sometimes centuries), and then are removed after they are proven not to exist (or the general population stops believing that they exist). ... Fortunate Isles, also called Isles of the Blest (makarôn nêsoi). ...

The origin of the name is quite uncertain. The oldest suggested etymology (1455) fancifully connects it with the name of the Platonic Atlantis, while later writers have endeavoured to derive it from the Latin anterior (i.e. the island that is reached "before" Cipango), or from the Jezirat al Tennyn, "Dragon's Isle," of the Arabian geographers. Atlantis (Greek: , Island of Atlas) is the name of an island first mentioned and described by the classical Greek philosopher Plato. ...

Plutarch

The legend of the islands seems to have arisen at the latest in pre-Christian Roman times when Plutarch chronicled (in 74 AD, chapter 8 refers) the life of the Roman military commander and Consul of Spain Quintus Sertorius (died 75 BC). After returning by sea to Spain after a campaign in "Mauretania" (modern northern Morocco), Sertorius "met some sailors who had recently come back from the Atlantic Islands." It was from these men that Sertorius learned facts so beguiling that he made it his life's ambition to find the islands and retire there. According to Plutarch: Plutarch Mestrius Plutarchus (c. ... Quintus Sertorius (died 72 BC), Roman statesman and general. ... Mauretania was a Berber kingdom on the Mediterranean coast of north Africa (named after the Mauri tribe, after whom the Moors were named), corresponding to western Algeria and northern Morocco. ...

The islands are said to be two in number separated by a very narrow strait and lie 10,000 furlongs from Africa. They are called the Isles of the Blessed. They enjoy moderate rains and long intervals of winds which for the most part are soft, and precipitate dew, so that the islands not only have a rich soil excellent for ploughing and planting but also produce a natural fruit that is plentiful and wholesome enough to feed, without toil or trouble, a leisured folk.

Moreover an air that is salubrious, owing to the climate and the moderate changes in the seasons, prevails on the islands. The North and East winds which blow out from our part of the world plunge into fathomless space and, owing to the distance, dissipate themselves and lose their power before they reach the islands, while the South and West winds that envelop the islands sometimes bring in their train soft and intermittent showers, but for the most part cool them with moist breezes and gently nourish the soil. Therefore a firm belief has made its way, even to the barbarians, that here are the Elysian Fields and the abode of the Blessed of which Homer sang.

In Greek mythology, Elysium was a section of the Underworld (the spelling Elysium is a Latinization of the Greek word Elysion). ... The Homère Caetani bust at the Louvre, a 2nd century Roman copy of a 2nd century BC Greek original. ...

Medieval beliefs

A Portuguese legend tells how the island was settled by the Archbishop of Porto accompanied by six bishops and their parishioners in either 714 or 734 in the face of the Moorish conquest of Iberia. The archbishop and bishops each founded a city, known as Aira, Anhuib, Ansalli, Ansesseli, Ansodi, Ansolli and Con. A similar Spanish tradition claims that these bishops were all Spanish. A legend (Latin, legenda, things to be read) is a narrative of human actions that are perceived both by teller and listeners to take place within human history and to possess certain qualities that give the tale verisimilitude. ... A bishop is an ordained member of the Christian clergy who, in certain Christian churches, holds a position of authority. ... // Events February 28 - An earthquake strikes Syria. ... Events Births Deaths Bilge Khan, Gokturk emperor Categories: 734 ... It has been suggested that Moor religion be merged into this article or section. ... The Iberian Peninsula, or Iberia, is located in the extreme southwest of Europe. ...

Antilia is first marked in an anonymous map which is dated 1424 and preserved in the grand-ducal library at Weimar. It reappears in the maps of the Genoese B. Beccario or Beccaria (1435), and of the Venetian Andrea Bianco (1436), and again in 1455 and 1476. In most of these it is accompanied by the smaller and equally legendary islands of Royllo, St Atanagio, and Tanmar, the whole group being classified as insulae de novo repertae, "newly discovered islands". The Florentine Paul Toscanelli, in his letters to Columbus and the Portuguese court (1474), takes Antilia as the principal landmark for measuring the distance between Lisbon and the island of Cipango or Zipangu (Japan). Events August 17 - Battle of Verneuil - An English force under John, Duke of Bedford defeats a larger French army under the Duke of Alençon, John Stuart, and Earl Archibald of Douglas. ... For other uses, see number 1435. ... Events April - Paris is recaptured by the French End of the Hussite Wars in Bohemia. ... ... no changes . ... Events March 2 - Battle of Grandson. ... Paolo dal Pozzo Toscanelli. ... Events December 12 - Upon the death of Henry IV of Castile a civil war ensues between his designated successor Isabella I of Castile and her sister Juana who was supported by her husband, Alfonso V of Portugal. ...

One of the chief early descriptions of Antilia is that inscribed on the globe which the geographer Martin Behaim made at Nuremberg in 1492 (see map: History). Behaim relates that in 734--a date which is probably a misprint for 714--and after the Moors had conquered Spain and Portugal, the island of Antilia or "Septe Cidade" was colonized by Christian refugees under the archbishop of Oporto and six bishops. The inscription adds that a Spanish vessel sighted the island in 1414, while a Portuguese crew claimed to have landed on Antillia in the 1430s. According to an old Portuguese tradition each of the seven leaders founded and ruled a city, and the whole island became a Utopian commonwealth, free from the disorders of less favoured states. Later Portuguese tradition localized Antilia in the island of Sao Miguel, the largest of the Azores. It is impossible to estimate how far this legend commemorates some actual but imperfectly recorded discovery, and how far it is a reminiscence of the ancient idea of an elysium in the western seas which is embodied in the legends of the Isles of the Blest or Fortunate Islands. Martin Behaim (October 6, 1459 – July 29, 1507), or Behem, was a navigator and geographer of great pretensions. ... Nuremberg (German: Nürnberg) is a city in the German state of Bavaria, in the administrative region of Middle Franconia. ... 1492 was a leap year starting on Friday (see link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Physical map of the Earth. ... // Events Council of Constance begins. ... Events and Trends A map of Europe in the 1430s. ... See Utopia (disambiguation) for other meanings of this word Utopia, in its most common and general meaning, refers to a hypothetical perfect society. ... Categories: Stub | Azores Islands ... Location Motto of the autonomous region: Antes morrer livres que em paz sujeitos (Portuguese: To die free rather than to be subjugated in peace) Official language Portuguese Capitals Ponta Delgada (Presidency of the autonomous government), Angra do Heroísmo (Supreme Court), Horta (Legislative Assembly) Other towns Praia da Vitória... In Greek mythology, Elysium was a section of the Underworld (the spelling Elysium is a Latinization of the Greek word Elysion). ...

Many expeditions were launched in an attempt to find the island, and in 1492 Christopher Columbus planned to stop there on his journey to Asia. 1492 was a leap year starting on Friday (see link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Christopher Columbus (c. ... World map showing the location of Asia. ...

On maps, Antillia was typically shown as being almost the size of Portugal, lying around two hundred miles west of the Azores. It was an almost perfect rectangle, its long axis running north-south, but with seven or eight trefoil bays shared between the east and west coasts. This has made some scholars to identify the island as Puerto Rico. Each city lay on a bay. The similar island of Saluaga was shown north of Antillia, while Taumar and Ymana (or Roillo) lay nearby. Location Motto of the autonomous region: Antes morrer livres que em paz sujeitos (Portuguese: To die free rather than to be subjugated in peace) Official language Portuguese Capitals Ponta Delgada (Presidency of the autonomous government), Angra do Heroísmo (Supreme Court), Horta (Legislative Assembly) Other towns Praia da Vitória... Architecture Architectural Trefoil (also a Christian symbol) Trefoil (from Latin trifolium, three-leaved plant, French trèfle, German Dreiblatt and Dreiblattbogen) is a term in Gothic architecture given to the ornamental foliation or cusping introduced in the heads of window-lights, tracery, panellings, etc. ...

Current beliefs

Some, the first being Peter Martyr d'Anghiera in 1493, believe that Antillia represented a previous discovery of the West Indies, and as a result the Caribbean islands became known as the Antilles. A less popular theory identifies the island with Sao Miguel in the Azores, where seven villages around twin lakes are known as Sete Cidades. Either way, this and the improving knowledge of the Atlantic led to Antillia shrinking on maps and disappearing entirely after 1587. Frontispiece of De orbo novo Peter Martyr dAnghiera (in Italian, Pietro Martire Danghiera; in Spanish Pedro Mártir De Anghiera, Latin, Petrus Martyr Anglerius or ab Angleria) (February 2, 1457-October 1526) was an Italian-born historian of Spain and of the discoveries of her representatives during the... 1493 was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Caribbean or the West Indies is a group of islands in the Caribbean Sea. ... The Antilles (the same in French; Antillas in Spanish; Antillen in Dutch) refers to the islands forming the greater part of the West Indies in the Caribbean. ... Categories: Stub | Azores Islands ... 1587 was a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar or a common year starting on Sunday of the Julian calendar. ...

Sixteenth-century explorers such as Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca and Francisco Vásquez de Coronado continued to look for the Seven Cities, but located them in the American Southwest rather than the Caribbean (the "Seven Cities of Cibola"). Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca (c. ... Coronado Sets Out to the North, by Frederic Remington, 1861-1909 Francisco Vásquez de Coronado (ca. ... // The origin of the legend Quivira and Cíbola are two of the fantastic Seven Cities of Gold existing only in a myth that originated around the year 1150 when the Moors conquered Mérida, Spain. ...

A controversial book titled The Island of Seven Cities by Canadian architect and amateur archeologist Paul Chiasson (St. Martin's Press, 2006) presents the hypothesis that the Island of Seven Cities was in fact Cape Breton Island, settled in Cape Dauphin by sailors from China who had rounded Africa and sailed up the Atlantic.[1] Some of those Chinese sailors, Chiasson writes, may have been Nestorian Christians. He cites a broad range of gathered evidence, including potentially unexplained stone ruins and many interesting cultural features of the Mi'kmaw peoples native to the Canadian Maritimes and New England States, in support of this idea. Chiasson's claims were recently refuted by a team of five Nova Scotian provincial archeologists visiting the site in summer 2006 --CBC News article. Archaeology or sometimes in American English archeology (from the Greek words αρχαίος = ancient and λόγος = word/speech) is the study of human cultures through the recovery, documentation and analysis of material remains, including architecture, artefacts, biofacts, human remains, and landscapes. ... Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, Canada Cape Breton Island (French: île du Cap-Breton, Scottish Gaelic: Eilean Cheap Breatuinn, Mikmaq: Unamakika, simply: Cape Breton) is an island on the Atlantic coast of North America. ... The term Nestorianism is eponymous, even though the person who lent his name to it always denied the associated belief. ... This article is about the religous people known as Christians. ... The Mikmaq (also Míkmaq, Micmac, Migmaq) are a First Nations people indigenous to northeastern New England, Canadas Maritimes, and the Gaspé Peninsula of Quebec. ... The Maritimes or Maritime provinces are a region of Canada on the Atlantic coast, consisting of New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island. ... Archaeology or sometimes in American English archeology (from the Greek words αρχαίος = ancient and λόγος = word/speech) is the study of human cultures through the recovery, documentation and analysis of material remains, including architecture, artefacts, biofacts, human remains, and landscapes. ...

Antilia is also thought by some to have been called Mayda or Asmaida. This story is told by Vincent H. Gaddis in his Invisible Horizons.

References

• This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.
• 1. "A Chinese puzzle on a lonely hilltop" "The Toronto Star", May 14, 2006, retrieved May 15, 2006

Gaddis, Vincent H. Invisible Horizons, Chilton Books, Philadelphia, 1965. Encyclopædia Britannica, the 11th edition The Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition (1910–1911) is perhaps the most famous edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica. ... The public domain comprises the body of all creative works and other knowledge—writing, artwork, music, science, inventions, and others—in which no person or organization has any proprietary interest. ...