Note 34 — PRIMO VIAGGIO INTORNO AL MONDO

The Canaries were known to the ancients under the names of Islands of the Blest, Fortunate Islands, and the Hesperides. The Moors knew of them under the name of Islands of Khaledat, but had no practical acquaintance with them. In the fourteenth century these islands began to be known to Europeans, especially through the Portuguese. In 1402, the Frenchman Jean de Bethencourt went there, and shortly after began their conquest under the auspices of the crown of Castile. In consequence of the settlements made by Bethencourt, the islands were definitely ceded to Spain in 1481 (see Birch’s Alboquerque, London, 1875–1884, Hakluyt Society Publications, ii, p. vi). The inhabitants of the islands were known as Guanches or Guanchinet, the latter meaning “men of Tenerife.” The inhabitants of this island, holding out longer than the others, were not subdued until 1496. See also Conquest of Canaries (London, 1877); and History and Description of Africa (London, 1896), i, pp. 99–101: both publications of the Hakluyt Society. The island of Tenerife was formerly called Nivana and by some the Island of Hell. Like all the other islands of the Canaries it is volcanic in formation, and its peak, the Teyde, is one of the largest volcanic cones known. Its latitude is 28° 15′.