In insula Ferri, quae una ex Canariis est, nullam esse aquam potui idoneam, praeter eam quae ex unica arbore destillat.

Title

In insula Ferri, quae una ex Canariis est, nullam esse aquam potui idoneam, praeter eam quae ex unica arbore destillat.

Description

Illustration shows Canarian natives drinking water from a tree.

ca. 1598

Artist

Bry, de (1528-1598)

Theodorus de Bry (1528-1598) Frankfurt a.M. Around 1570, Theodorus de Bry, a Protestant, fled religious persecution south to Strasbourg, along the west bank of the Rhine. In 1577, he moved to Antwerp in the Duchy of Brabant, which was part of the Spanish Netherlands or Southern Netherlands and Low Countries of that time (16th Century), where he further developed and used his skills as a copper engraver. Between 1585 and 1588 he lived in London, where he met the geographer Richard Hakluyt and began to collect stories and illustrations of various European explorations, most notably from Jacques Le Moyne de Morgues. Depiction of Spanish atrocities in the New World, as recounted by Bartolome de las Casas in Narratio Regionum indicarum per Hispanos Quosdam devastatarum verissima. In 1588, Theodorus and his family moved permanently to Frankfurt-am-Main, where he became citizen and began to plan his first publications. The most famous one is known as Les Grands Voyages, i.e., The Great Travels, or The Discovery of America. He also published the largely identical India Orientalis-series, as well as many other illustrated works on a wide range of subjects. His books were published in Latin, and were also translated into German, English and French to reach a wider reading public. The two collections of travelogues published by Theodor de Bry in Frankfurt are among the most important of the early modern period and established his reputation for posterity: He created The Arrival of Columbus in the New World in 1594. The West Indian Voyages (ed. 1590-1618) chronicled the discovery and conquest of the Americas by Europeans, while the East Indian Voyages followed the rise of Holland as a trading power in Asia around 1600. Both series appeared in German and Latin, were intended for a European audience, and were richly illustrated with copper engravings. Theodor de Bry was only able to publish six parts of his complete works. After his death, his sons Johann Theodor and Johann Israel and then Johann Theodor's son-in-law Matthäus Merian continued the work until 1634. In the end, it contained 25 parts and over 1500 copper engravings. The brothers were succeeded as engravers and publishers by Sebastian Furck.

Historical Description

Canary islands with Teneriffa, Fuerteventura, Gran Canaria, Lanzarote, La Palma, La Gomera und El Hierro. The archipelago also includes a number of islands and islets: La Graciosa, Alegranza, Isla de Lobos, Montaña Clara, Roque del Oeste and Roque del Este. In ancient times, the island chain was often referred to as "the Fortunate Isles". The Canary Islands are the most southerly region of Spain and the largest and most populated archipelago of the Macaronesia region. From the 4th century until the rediscovery of the Canary Islands by the Europeans in the 14th century, different cultures developed independently on the individual islands. These were based on the same principles but had so many special features that one cannot speak of a "culture of the Guanches of the Canary Islands". There was the culture of the Majos in Lanzarote, that of the Majoreros in Fuerteventura, that of the Bimbaches in El Hierro, that of the Gomeros in La Gomera, that of the Canarios in Gran Canaria, that of the Benahoaritas in La Palma and that of the Guanches in Tenerife. The naming of the indigenous people of all islands with the designation of the indigenous people of the island of Tenerife as Guanche, which was common for a long time, ignores the differentiated cultural developments on the different islands.