Grand Canary & the Canary Islands

The Canary Islands are an archipelago about 100 kilometers off the northwest coast of Africa, whose major islands are now known as Grand Canary (canaria), Lanzarote (lancilotto), Fuerteventura (formentaria), and Tenerife (dellinferno). While Dati's poem only refers to "Grand Canary and some other islands", these four are all regularly named on Sfera maps. Starting in the 14th century, the islands were visited by sailors from Mallorca, Portugal, and Genoa, but it was only in Dati's own time, i.e. the early 15th century, that the islands were formally claimed and colonized by vassals of the King of Castile. Since Dati refers to Canaria as the chief island of several, and it is not always possible to tell whether a map is labeling Grand Canary itself or just the Canaries generally, we have combined these references. Worthy of note are the subgroup of maps that label canaria as samaria, conflating it with the Biblical toponym Samaria and/or associating it with the many toponymic versions of Santa Maria (the Virgin Mary).