True Antilles: Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward

This is the greatest cartographic
discovery of the XX century!

The Portuguese discovered North America
BEFORE Columbus was born!

The True Antilles are in Canada:
Newfoundland, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward
By Manuel Luciano da Silva
Medical doctor President of the Bristol County Medical Center
Bristol, Rhode Island United States of America

Editor : Nelson D. Martins, Ph.D.
Copyright in the Library of the Congress, Washington, D. C.
January 12, 1987

The Nautical Chart of 1424.
On the left side, in a vertical position, is the date
August 22, 1424 and the name of the cartographer Zuane Pizzigano.

On the center are the four islands: the reddish half moon is called Saya, underneath it, in blue, is the island of Satanazes, and still further down, in red, is the island called Antilia, and on the west of it, is the small island called Ymana.

To the right of these four islands we see many small ones representing the Azores, Madeira and Canaries islands. And all the way to the right, there are the shores of Africa, Gibraltar, Portugal, part of Spain and even a bit of France.

I consider the discovery of the latitudes on the Nautical Chart of 1424 my greatest discovery in cartography. Let us see if you agree.

On November 7, 1986, on a Friday, almost at midnight, I was researching in my library for facts to present to the Deputies of the three Assemblies of the Portuguese Republic -- in Lisbon, Azores and Madeira -- arguing for their approval of a Resolution that the following be taught in the elementary schools, high schools and universities: that the Portuguese navigators were the first to discover America, before 1424 -- before Columbus was born. Just then I observed that the Nautical Chart of 1424, drawn by Zuane Pizzigano from Venice, on 22 of August 1424, did not show any lines of LATITUDE!

On a copy of the Nautical Chart of 1424, I drew lines of latitude of 50 degrees, 45 degrees, 40 degrees and 35 degrees and verified that within these same latitudes were located not only the four islands with Portuguese names -- Saya, Satanazes, Antilia and Ymana -- in the western Atlantic, but also the islands of Newfoundland and Nova Scotia (peninsula), both in North America.

I must confess that knowing the latitude of my village in Portugal to be 40 degrees North, alerted me to think of the latitudes on the Nautical Chart of 1424.

For more than 40 years I have been studying the history of the discoveries in the North Atlantic and had studied copy No. 242 of the book " Nautical Chart of 1424" written by Prof. Armando Cortesão. While reading all the articles written in English and Portuguese concerning this famous map, I never once read any article mentioning the importance of the latitudes of the Nautical Chart of 1424.

I am presenting to the general public and to the students of elementary, secondary and higher education, my Thesis of the True Antilles, in simple and clear language, using the same method I used in presenting the history of Dighton Rock inscriptions. Since my first lecture at the First International Congress of the History of the Discoveries in Lisbon, Portugal (1960), I have given more than 270 lectures (in 1999 the count is 344), with color slides in English and Portuguese, and have appeared in many radio and television programs. The positive results can easily be seen. I am enthusiastically meeting the same geographic and historic challenge with this Thesis of the True Antilles

If we consult The American Encyclopedia, The Encyclopedia Britannica, The World Book Encyclopedia, The Portuguese Brazilian Encyclopedia, the French, the Italian or the Spanish Encyclopedia, and the National Geographic Society World Atlas, ALL THESE AUTHORITATIVE SOURCES will give us the same INFORMATION: the Antilles are located in Central America, between the Peninsula of Florida and the north coast of Venezuela.

The Antilles are a group of islands which delimit the Caribbean Sea, between the Atlantic Ocean and Central America. They are divided into two groups: Greater and Lesser Antilles. The Greater Antilles are composed of the islands of Cuba, Hispaniola (which contains the Republics of Haiti and S. Domingo's) Jamaica and also Puerto Rico.

The Lesser Antilles are composed of hundreds of smaller islands, shaped like a closing parenthesis, ending in the southern part with the Island of Trinidad.

Altogether, the chain formed by all the Antilles has an extension of 2,000 miles (3,200 km). They have a total area of 92,052 square miles (238,416 km2) with a population of more that 30 million inhabitants.

The name Antilia, or Antilha, comes from an exclusively Portuguese word. It is composed of Ante which means in front of some thing, plus Ilha meaning island in Portuguese. Therefore Antille is an island in front of the American Continent.

To determine the location of any place on Earth, we need two measurements of coordinates: longitude and latitude.

Comparing the Earth to an orange, if we peel the orange, we see that its sections are wider on the belly of the orange and narrower at the poles of the orange.

We know that the area around the Earth is divide into 360 degrees. If we divide 360 degrees by the 24 hours in a day, we verify that each hour is equivalent to 15 degrees. If there is a 5 hour difference between Lisbon and New York, then these two cities are separated by 5 giant sections of 15 degrees each, totaling 75 degrees. Indeed, New York is 74 degrees west of the meridian of Greenwich, a borough of London, England, which, by universal agreement, is the place where we begin counting the degrees and hours around the Earth.

Accurate determination of longitude was practically impossible during the period of the Discoveries. Only after the development of the sextant in 1730 (by John Hanly) and the discovery of the maritime chronometer by John Harrison in 1735 in England, could longitude be measured accurately, making it possible for the navigators to know their position exactly oday ships and airplanes use the satellites, which provide immediate and precise longitude and latitude.

To illustrate latitude we cut an orange into several slices, horizontally or parallel to the Equator, thus obtaining small rings near the poles and larger ones at the belly of the orange. Each cut is parallel to the largest circle at the level of the belly of the orange, analogous to the lines of the latitude between the poles and the equator of the Earth.

While longitude is measured in degrees horizontally in east-west direction or vice-versa at the level of the Equator, latitude is measured also in degrees, but vertically, in the direction from the Equator to the poles. If we consider the Equator at zero degrees of latitude, there is a distance of 90 degrees north to the North Pole. Equally there is the same distance of 90 degrees of latitude south from the Equator to the South Pole. Latitude always describes the position of a point, on the surface of the earth to the north or south of the Equator. Latitude was always easy to obtain during the time of the Discoveries because the Portuguese mariners knew well how to use the astrolabe to measure the height of the Sun or the North star in relationship to the horizon.

Because latitude was the only accurate measure obtainable by the Portuguese navigators, it is of critical importance for the study of the old nautical charts.

Let us determine the longitude and latitude of the Antilles or West Indies as they actually appear on the Atlas of the National Geographic Society.

LONGITUDE: We find that the most eastern part of the Antilles is at 60 degrees west of the meridian of Greenwich and the most western point of the island of Cuba is at 85 degrees west of the meridian of Greenwich.

LATITUDE: We find the highest latitude of the Antilles is at 23 degrees North of the Equator, passing over the north coast of Cuba and the lowest latitude passes by 10 degrees North of the Equator at the most southern shore of the island of Trinidad.

The Nautical Chart of 1424, a parchment map, was number 25,924 among the 60,000 old and rare manuscripts in the fabulous collection belonging to Sir Thomas Phillips of London. In 1950, Professor Armando Cortesão, a Portuguese representative at UNESCO, considered the best scholar on old maps or cartography, was invited to study the Nautical Chart of 1424. He spent 5 years examining it.

Click on photos for a larger view
The date August 22, 1424 and the name of the author
Zuane Pizzigano appear very clear on the "tongue" of the Chart

(A) On the extreme left we find the date August 22, 1424, and the name of its author, Zuane Pizzigano.

(B) Four islands in vertical order: on top, a small crescent shaped island named Saya, and below it, a larger one called Satanazes; Further down another large island named Antilia, and to the west of it, another small island named Ymana.

(C) At the center of this map we find several small islands belonging to the archipelagos of Azores, Madeira, Canaries and Cape Verde.

(D) On the right side we find, very clearly drawn, with many toponyms or place names, the Atlantic coast of Europe and Africa extending from Ireland to the Archipelago of Cape Verde.

Click on photo for a larger view
Here are in red lines, the lines of latitude, that
I discovered on November 7, 1986, two minutes to midnight !

The latitude of the extreme south of the Island of Satanazes is 44 degrees North, equal to the parallel that passes by the extreme south of the peninsula of Nova Scotia.

The north cape of the Island of Antilia has latitude of 40 degrees North, the same as Coimbra and Madrid in Europe and Philadelphia in America.

The south cape of the Island of Antilia has a latitude of 35.5 degrees North, corresponding to Cape Hatters in North Carolina in the United States and below Tangier and Gibraltar in North Africa.

The Island of Ymana has a latitude between 37 and 38 degrees North which corresponds to the latitude of the area of Seville in Spain and to the zone of Algarve in Portugal where the Nautical School of the Portuguese Discoveries existed, more than 500 years ago, and in the United States to Washington, D. C. and Annapolis, where the American Naval Academy is located.

The Nautical Chart of 1424 is a portolan map. It has five epicenters with lines radiating to ports, for plotting a ship's course in deep water. It does not have lines of latitude, nor longitude. But because we know the Portuguese navigators of the XV century knew how to calculate latitudes very well, let us, now recalculate the latitudes in comparison with those of a modern map of the North Atlantic. How How can we do that?

To satisfy this question, I did a very simple experiment. First I took a black and white photo of the Chart of 1424. Then with the negative, I went into my dark room and placed it on my enlarger and projected it over a modern map of the North Atlantic, making sure to match the Atlantic and European coasts of both maps. With this simple technique I fused both maps, -- made 575 years apart -- therefore reducing them to the same scale. Eureka! And the four islands of the Chart of 1424 were projected on north west of the North Atlantic!

With these positive results I reached a point of research in which we can compare the shapes, the areas, the bays and the angles of inclination existent in the four islands of the Chart of 1424, with the same geographic characteristics of the islands of Newfoundland, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island in Canada!

Click on photo for a larger view
Superimposing both maps: Chart of 1424 and a modern map of North of
Atlantic, Satanazes and Antilia are parallel to Newfoundland and Nova Scotia

If we compare the latitudes of four the islands of Chart of 1424 with the latitudes of the Greater and Lesser Antilles or West Indies, we verify that there is an enormous difference. The latitude that passes by the north of Cuba is 23 degrees North and the latitude that passes by the southern coast of Trinidad is only 10 degrees North.

If we project these latitudes across the Atlantic we will verify that those latitudes between 23 and 10 degrees North are exactly the latitudes of Sahara Desert in Africa! For more than five and a half centuries the entire world has placed, erroneously, the Antilles in Central America. This is a mistake of 25 degree of latitude which is equivalent to 1,750 miles distance!

We know that the ancient navigators were not able to measure the longitudes correctly, but measuring the latitudes they were quite accurate. Using rudimentary instruments to observe the North Star, the Sun and the horizon, the old mariners determined the latitudes with an amazing accuracy!

Click on photo for a larger view
If we put our hands together in prayer, considering our left hand to represent the latitudes of Newfoundland and Nova Scotia, and the right hand to represent the latitudes of the four islands -- Saya, Satanazes, Antilia and Ymana -- and we slide the right hand just one third, our palms will continue superimposed, showing in a striking manner how very close both latitudes really are!

It is interesting to compare the area of Continental Portugal with the areas of the islands of Satanazes, Antilia, Newfoundland and Nova Scotia. The area of Continental Portugal is 34,340 square miles (88,940 km2). The area of Nova Scotia is 21,425 square miles (55,490 km2) and of Newfoundland, 43,359 square miles (112,299 km2).

It is obvious that the first Portuguese discoverers of Newfoundland and Nova Scotia, or, as we might say, of the Islands of Satanazes and Antilia, observed that they were dealing with islands of a large size, therefore, much larger than the other known islands in the Atlantic like the Azores, Madeira, Canaries and Cape Verde.

Based on the Legend of the Seven Cities, or the Legend of the Antilles, it was said that the seven bays in the Island of Antilia, drawn on the Nautical Chart of 1424, represent the exact number of Bishops that according to legend fled the Arabs. If that is so, what do the bays on the Island of Satanazes (or the Island of the Devils) stand for?

Those bays, so clearly depicted on the two large islands of the Nautical Chart of 1424, actually represent those numerous large bays which go deep inland, and that today exist in Newfoundland and Nova Scotia. It is impressive to compare the bays and capes of Newfoundland and Nova Scotia with the bays and capes depicted on the Islands of Antilia and Satanazes! More curious still is the fact that the Island of Satanazes, corresponding to Newfoundland, shows more bays going deeply into the inland, coinciding exactly with the geographic coastal characteristics of the Island of Newfoundland!

Another fascinating fact that we can observe on the Nautical Chart of 1424 is the angles of inclination formed between the vertical and the horizontal (parallel to the Equator) with the length axis of the Islands of Satanazes and Antilia. In the Island of Satanazes the angle of inclination is 57 degrees, practically the same angle of inclination of Newfoundland, 60 degrees. In the Island of Antilia the angle of inclination obtained by the same technique has 22 degrees, but in Nova Scotia the angle is much larger: 62 degrees. If there is a numeric difference between the angles, we must observe that there is, however, a common denominator: all the islands are inclined towards Europe.

The island of Saya we believe to be a representation of the Peninsula of Avalon in Newfoundland, because if it were not for the narrow isthmus, (narrow strip of land) it would be in reality a true island.

If we compare the angles of inclination of the islands of the Greater Antilles -- Cuba, Hispaniola, Jamaica and Puerto Rico -- in the Caribbean Sea, we can verify that all the islands are roughly parallel to the Equator. If they have any angles of inclination at all, it is towards Central America and not towards Europe, as are the Portuguese Antilles in the Nautical Chart of 1424.

(1)   the large sizes of the Islands of Satanazes and Antilia, corresponding to that of Newfoundland and Nova Scotia;

(2)   the similarity of so many bays that enter deeply inland

(3)   the similarity of the angles of inclination towards Europe

(4)   the distance of the island of Santa Maria to Lisbon is the same as the distance from Corvo to the Banks of Newfoundland where there is an abundance of codfish

(5)   the coincidence of superimposing the latitudes of the 4 islands with the latitudes of the Canadian Maritime Providences.

(6)   any person looking at the Nautical Chart of 1424 sees immediately that the True Antilhas are located northwest of the Azores.

All these facts form a strong chain of geographic evidence, for us to conclude that the Newfoundland, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island are, irrefutably, the True Portuguese Antilhas in North America, discovered before August 22, 1424.