page_title: History of the Azores
section_title: Early appearance on charts
hierarchical_section_title: History of the Azores / Exploration / Early appearance on charts
caption_attribution_description: English: 14th C. map of the Azores and Madeira islands, from the fourth sheet of the Corbitis Atlas, by an anonymous Venetian cartogapher, c.1385-1410. Currently held at Biblioteca Nazionale Marciana, Venice (Ms. It. VI 213). the Azores archipelago, is laid out vertically from north to south, and named as follows: y de corvi marini (Corvo), li conigi (Flores), sancto zorzi (São Jorge), y la ventura (Faial), li colonbi (Pico), y de brazil (Terceira), caprara (São Miguel) and lovo (Santa Maria). the Madeira archipelago, with the names y de legname (Madeira), porto santo (Porto Santo), ydesertas (Desertas). Further south are the y. salvaze (Savage Islands).
context_page_description: The following article describes the history of the Azores.
context_section_description: The Azores archipelago began to appear on portolan charts during the 14th century, well before its official discovery date. The first map to depict the Azores was the Medici Atlas (1351). Its depiction was subsequently replicated in the Pizzigani brothers map of 1367, the Catalan Atlas (1375), the Pinelli–Walckenaer Atlas (1384), the Corbitis Atlas (c. 1385–1410), the charts of Guillem Soler (1380, 1385), Mecia de Viladestes (1413) and others. They are also listed in the Libro del Conoscimiento (c. 1380).
  In these maps, the Azores are usually depicted vertically aligned, on a north–south axis, nine islands in three clusters.  The island names, in order (from south to north) are usually (with their tentative translation):
  bottom cluster:
  lovo or lobo ("island of wolves" (seals?), Santa Maria)
  caprara or cabrera ("island of goats", São Miguel),
  middle cluster:
  y de brazil ("island of embers/fire", Terceira)
  li columbi ("island of pigeons", Pico)
  y de la ventura ("island of venture/winds",  Faial)
  san zorzo ("island of St. George", São Jorge)
  top cluster:
  li conigi ("island of rabbits", Flores)
  y de corvis marinis ("island of sea crows", Corvo)
  It is notable that two of the names – San Zorzo and Corvis Marinis – would be transferred to the modern Azorean islands.  Only Graciosa seems to be routinely missing on these maps. The Madeira archipelago also appears on most of these same maps, with their modern names:  legname (Ligurian for "wood", Madeira), porto sancto (Porto Santo), desertas (Desertas) and salvazes (Savage Island).
  The source of this information is a mystery. It could simply be derived from pure legend, possibly of Andalusian Arab origin e.g. al-Idrisi speaks of an Atlantic island of wild goats (the Caprera?) and another of "cormorants", a scavenger bird (the "sea crows" of Corvis Marinis?)  But outside their erroneous axial tilt, the Azores do seem clustered with reasonable accuracy. From this cartographic record, there seems little doubt that both Madeira and the Azores were discovered, or at least sighted, during the 14th century, well before their official discovery dates.
  One (unproven) hypothesis is that the Azores were discovered in the course of a mapping expedition in 1341 to the Canary Islands, sponsored by King Afonso IV of Portugal, and commanded by the Florentine Angiolino del Tegghia de Corbizzi and the Genoese Nicoloso da Recco.  Although not quite described in the 1341 report, Madeira and the Azores might nonetheless have been seen from a distance on the expedition's return via a long sailing arc (volta do mar) from the Canary islands. 
  Even if they were not discovered by the mapping expedition of 1341 itself, the islands may have been found by any of the numerous Majorcan expeditions that were launched into the Atlantic Ocean in the aftermath, destined for slaving runs on the newly mapped Canary islands. Regardless of who sighted them during the 14th century, there seems to have been no follow-ons until the 15th century.
caption: Detail of the Azores and Madeira islands, from the 14th-century Corbitis Atlas
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