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Dave's Mythical Creatures and Places |
Antillia
Also called: Sept cites or Seven Cities
Antillia is first known to appear on maps about 1424, in the Pizzigano map, and then in the Beccario map of 1435.
In a 1474, a Florentine scientist named Paolo Toscanelli wrote a letter to the King of Portugal and enclosed a map. He described the possibility of reaching India by sailing west. At that time there was no knowledge of the Americas, and many believed that Japan and India could be reached by sailing immediately west. Much of his information came from Marco Polo. The island of Antillia was believed to be approximately 2500 miles away, halfway between Lisbon and Japan. The circumference of the Earth was seriously underestimated. Toscanelli writes: "And from the Isdland of Antillia, which you call the Island of the Seven Cities, to the very famous island of Cipango (Japan) is 2500 miles."
On Martin Behaim's globe, Antillia is described: "In the year 734 A.D., when all of Hispania was taken by the infidels from Africa, the above island of Antilia, called the Seven Cities, was colonized by an archbisop from Oporto Portugal, together with six bishops and other Christian men and women who fled Hispania by ship with cattle, goods, and belongings. In 1414 a ship from Hispania sailed close to it."
