January 25, 2001

Antilles

Every reference tells the geographic location of the Antilles; none I can find gives the origin and meaning of the term. Possibly it is simply "anti" and "illes," or, 'the islands across over there'. Can you help?

These islands, subdivided into Greater and Lesser Antilles, are sometimes--but not always--known as the West Indies--in other words, the Caribbean Islands. The Greater Antilles consist of the bigger islands: Cuba, Hispaniola, Jamaica and Puerto Rico. The Lesser Antilles consist of all those other smaller paradises: Guadeloupe, Martinique, Dominica, St. Lucia, Montserrat, Antigua, etc. They are often further subdivided into the French Antilles and the Netherlands Antilles. The noun Antilles is always plural.

The reliable Encyclopedia Britannica says: "The term Antilles dates traditionally from before Europeans discovered the New World, when 'Antilia' referred to semimythical lands located somewhere west of Europe across the Atlantic. On medieval charts it was sometimes indicated as a continent or large island and sometimes as an archipelago. After discovery of the West Indies by Columbus, the Spanish term 'Antillas' was commonly assigned to the new lands, and 'Sea of the Antilles' in various European languages is used as an alternate designation for the Caribbean Sea."

Donald Johnson's 1994 book, Phantom Islands of the Atlantic: The Legends of Seven Lands That Never Were, devotes an entire chapter to "Antillia," as he spells it. Johnson says that the first map to ever show the word Antilia was made in 1424. I found this map in an exhibit at The University of Minnesota's excellent John Ford Bell Library website called Portolan Charts. Portolan charts, created before Columbus's discovery of America, were navigational charts that contained the accumulated knowledge of sailors and navigators. ("Portolan" basically means 'getting to a safe port, haven'.) These charts were made in the 13th, 14th and 15th century, and some are quite accurate. On the 1424 chart, which was made by a Venetian cartographer named Zuane Pizzigano, you can actually see the word "antilia" next to a big, rectangular island. "Throughout the fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries," Johnson writes, "Antillia's position on maps is consistent." That position is always around seven hundred miles west of the Azores. The inference is that different sailors from different countries came upon Antilia, and so it actually existed.

Columbus apparently knew of Antilia. "Cartographers as well as historians," Johnson continues, "felt that the Antillia on old maps represented a foreknowledge of the New World. After the discoveries of Columbus, they accordingly transferred Antillia to a new position in the West Indies." Of course, no theory like this would be complete without rival interpretations. In a 1988 paper about the subject, scholar Robert Fuson declared Antilia to be Taiwan. But what of the origin of the word "Antilia?" Bill, your speculation is very good. The Bell Library exhibit cites a 1954 study by Armando Cortesão on the 1424 chart. Here's what Cortesão has to say:

The origin and meaning of the word Antilia have been a subject of much controversy. In fact Antilia is composed of two Portuguese words: "ante" or "anti" and "ilha," an archaic form of the Portuguese "ilha," i.e. 'island'. It is, therefore, a purely Portuguese word and it was meant to designate an island--discovered perhaps at the beginning of the fifteenth century by some unknown navigators, probably Portuguese--lying before a continent, which at first might have been thought to be Asia, or opposite the European continent.

As of 2001, scholars are still battling over this one.

Richard