A very old tradition suggests that the idea of such an earthly paradise was a reminiscence of some unrecorded voyage to Madeira and the Canaries, which are sometimes named Fortunatae Insulae by medieval map-makers.
Bethencourt wrote a very untrustworthy account of his "conquest of the Canary Islands," Le Canarien, livre de la conquete et conversion ses Canaries.
Both Plutarch and Ptolemy speak of the Fortunate Islands, but from their description it is not clear whether the Canaries or one of the other island groups in the western Atlantic are meant; see Isles Of The Blest.
Both these species are extensively cultivated for their fruit in Southern Europe, the Canaries and northern Africa; and the fruits are not unfrequently to be seen in Covent Garden Market and in the shops of the leading fruiterers of the metropolis.
Charters were given to companies trading to Guinea, Morocco, Guiana and the Canaries, but none of these enjoyed a very long or prosperous existence, principally owing to the difficulties caused by foreign competition.
Dom Enrique, Infante of Portugal, surnamed the Navigator (1394-1460) transported it about 1420, from Cyprus and Sicily to Madeira, whence it was taken to the Canaries in 1503, and thence to Brazil and Hayti early in the 16th century, whence it spread to Mexico, Cuba, Guadeloupe and Martinique, and later to Bourbon.
Domesticated goats have run wild in many islands, such as the Hebrides, Shetland, Canaries, Azores, Ascension and Juan Fernandez.
Exclusive of the Canaries its area is 191,893 sq.
Following Hipparchus he divided the equator into 360 drawing his prime meridian through the Fortunate Islands (Canaries).
For instance, of the living species found at Meximieux, near Lyons, one is American, eight at least belong to the Canaries (six being characteristic of those islands), two are Asiatic, and ten still live in Europe.
From the fact that turnstones may be met with at almost any season in various parts of the world, and especially on islands as the Canaries, Azores, and many of those in the British seas, it has been inferred that these birds may breed in such places.
In 1424-1425 Prince Henry attempted to purchase the Canaries, and began the colonization of the Madeira group, both in Madeira itself and in Porto Santo; to aid this latter movement he procured the famous charters of 1430 and 1433 from the Portuguese crown.
In 1445-1446, again, Dom Henry renewed his earlier attempts (which had failed in 1424-1425) to purchase or seize the Canaries for Portugal; by these he brought his country to the verge of war with Castile; but the home government refused to support him, and the project was again abandoned.
In 1479 the sovereignty of Ferdinand and Isabella over the Canaries was established by the treaty of Alcagova, between Portugal and Castile.
In 1854 all the ports of the Canaries were practically declared free; but on the 1st of November 1904 a royal order prohibited foreign vessels from trading between one island and another.
In a state of nature canaries pair, but under domestication the male bird has been rendered polygamous, being often put with four or five females; still he is said to show a distinct preference for the female with which he was first mated.
In December 1406 he left the Canaries, entrusting their government to his nephew Maciot de Bethencourt, and reserving for himself a share in any profits obtained, and the royal title.
In the 12th century the Canaries were visited by Arab navigators, and in 1334 they were rediscovered by a French vessel driven among them by a gale.
In the first quarter-hour the Canaries were pinned back as the visitors enjoyed six corners and had six attempts on goal.
Island Canaries and a few chaffinches were in some fields and along the roadside verge were some Small Blue butterflies.
It includes the Azores and Canaries, the Mediterranean basin, northern Africa as far as the Atlas and Sahara, Asia Minor, Persia and the countries eastward as far as Sind, being bounded to the north by the mountains which run from the Caucasus to the Hindu-Kush.
It is a handsome plant from the Mediterranean and the Canaries.
It is famed, as in ancient times, for kitchen-gardens, especially for its cucumbers and seed for canaries.
It is known as a winter visitant to Egypt and Abyssinia, and is abundant at all seasons in Barbary, as well as in the Canaries and Madeira.
It is the best-built port of the sultanate and is generally second in point of trade, which is carried on mainly with Marseilles, London, Gibraltar and the Canaries, the principal exports being almonds, goat-skins, gums and olive-oil, and the principal imports cotton goods, sugar and tea.
La Salle, unwilling to accept a position of inferiority, left the Canaries and appealed unsuccessfully for redress at the court of Castile.
Lancelot Malocello, a Genoese, in 1270 reached at least as far as the Canaries.
Lanzarote, the most easterly of the Canaries, has a length of 31 m.
Like "Brazil," it dates from a period anterior to the discovery of the New World, "Antilia," as stated above, being one of those mysterious lands, which figured on the medieval charts sometimes as an archipelago, sometimes as continuous land of greater or lesser extent, constantly fluctuating in mid-ocean between the Canaries and East India.
Madeira has also its peculiar golden-crested wren (Regulus maderensis), and its peculiar pigeon (Columba trocaz), while two allied forms of the latter (C. laurivora and C. bollii) are found only in the Canaries.
Newfoundland, the West Indies, and the Falklands, and the chief oceanic islands are the Azores, Madeira, the Canaries, the Cape Verde Islands, Ascension, St Helena, Tristan da Cunha and Bouvet Island.
Other popular types of pet items sought by collectors are of horses and birds, such as canaries and parrots.
Owing to the richness of the volcanic soil, agriculture in the Canaries is usually very profitable.
Parakeets (also known as budgies) cockatiels, canaries, African Greys, lovebirds and finches are some of the most popular birds available.
Returning to the Canaries in 1404 he found that Gadifer de la Salle had conquered Lanzarote and Fuerteventura, and explored other islands.
Robert Franklin Stroud - The infamous "Birdman of Alcatraz," Stroud, convicted for manslaughter, was famous for raising and selling canaries and other birds from his cell.
Such are the date in Mesopotamia (a second species of Phoenix occurs in the Canaries); most European fruits, e.g.
The Canaries were stung by a late goal from the visiting Hornets as Matthew Spring 's last gasp strike settled a pulsating contest.
The Canary (Serinus canaries) is indigenous to the islands whence it takes its name, as well, apparently, as to the neighbouring groups of the Madeiras and Azores, in all of which it abounds.
The canary readily imitates the notes of other birds, and in Germany and especially Tirol, where the breeding of canaries gives employment to a large number of people, they are usually placed for this purpose beside the nightingale.
The cavalry includes a squadron of royal horse guards, 28 regiments of the line, remount and dpt establishments, 4 regional squadrons in Majorca, the Canaries, Ceuta, Melilla.
The French claim that between 1364 and 1410 the people of Dieppe sent out several expeditions to Guinea; and Jean de Bethencourt, who settled in the Canaries about 1402, made explorations towards the south.
The Guanches, who occupied the Canaries at the time of the Spanish invasion, no longer exist as a separate race, for the majority were exterminated, and the remainder intermarried with their conquerors.
The island was variously identified with America, Scandinavia, the Canaries and even Palestine; ethnologists saw in its inhabitants the ancestors of the Guanchos, the Basques or the ancient Italians; and even in the 17th and 18th centuries the credibility of the whole legend was seriously debated, and sometimes admitted, even by Montaigne, Buffon and Voltaire.
The islands of the Canaries, Madeira and the Azores belong to the Mediterranean province, and offer some peculiarities of great interest.
The new society of the Jesuits, as being the forerunners of Antichrist, also met with his violent opposition; and he was not grateful to them when, after attending the council of Trent in 1545, he was sent, by their influence, in 1552, as bishop of the far-off see of the Canaries.
The number of wild flowering plants may be estimated at 900, upwards of 270 of which are peculiar to the Canaries.
The position of mountainous islands like the Canaries, in the subtropical division of the temperate zone, is highly favourable to the development, within a small space, of plants characteristic of both warm and cold climates.
The southern or African province is distinguished chiefly by the abundance of plants which have their true home in North Africa (a fact explained hy the geologically recent land connexiun of Spain with that continent), but is also remarkable for the occurrence within it of numerous Eastern plants (natives of Syria and Asia Minor), and plants belonging to South Africa and the Canaries, as well as natives of tropical America which have become naturalized here (see Agriculture).
There are also hooped or bowed canaries, feather-footed forms and top-knots, the latter having a distinct crest on the head; but the offspring of two such top-knotted canaries, instead of showing an increased development of crest, as might be expected, are apt to be bald on the crown.
There is ground for supposing that the Phoenicians were not ignorant of the Canaries.
These cages can be used for one or two large birds or for individuals that own several of one type of smaller bird, such as canaries.
These shells do not retain their individuality at depths greater than 1400 or 1500 fathoms, and in fact pteropod ooze is only found in small patches on the ridges near the Azores, Antilles, Canaries, Sokotra, Nicobar, Fiji and the Paumotu islands, and on the central rise of the South Atlantic between Ascension and Tristan d'Acunha.
This flora extends from Ireland to the Canaries and reappears on the highlands of Angola.
This was a Genoese expedition, which about 1270 seems to have sailed into the Alantic, re-discovered the "Fortunate Islands" or Canaries, and made something of a conquest and settlement in one of the most northerly isles of this archipelago, still known (after the Italian captain) as Lanzarote.
Tuesday 29th November 2005 The Atlantic Rowing Race start has been rescheduled for 11am local time on Wednesday 30th November in the Canaries.
Turf-cutting, coarse lace-making and the breeding of canaries and native song-birds also occupy many of the people.
Unable to carry out his project of conquest, he left his men at the Canaries and went to seek help at the court of Castile.
Vocal learners included species of finches, song sparrows, canaries, black-capped chickadees, parakeets and hummingbirds.
We soon found a group of blue chaffinches feeding by the picnic tables, with a few canaries.
While the galleys, being unfit for the high seas, were confined to the Mediterranean and the coast, the sailing vessels ranged into the Atlantic as far as the Canaries or even to Iceland.