Early placenames

[cornelis 816]

If you are doing some research many a time you are thrown off by placenames that do not ring a bell . Here are some names that may come in handy .
Theearliest maps which show the Bahama's indicate their early exploration . the first map of the New World , that juan de la Cosa ( 1500 ) , shows vaguely delineated islands north of Cuba and Hispaniola with the names ascribed to them by Columbus ; Habacoa ( Abaco) ,Yumey .(Exuma ) , Guanahani ( San Salvador ), Mamana (( Rum Cay ) ,Samana ( Long Island ) , Someto ( Crooked Island ) and Yucayo ( Caicos ) . The map in the first edition of Peter Martyr's ,, De Orbe Novo ,, (1511) does not show the names of individual Bahama islands , which are shown as somewhat indiscriminate blobs , but shows Florida as a huge island , larger than Cuba , called Isla de Beimeni . The Turin Map of 1523 is far more explicit , listing 12 islands . Bimene is shown , as well as Bahama . Habacoa has become Iucayonique and Yumey , Suma . Eleutherea is shown as Ziguateo ( later it was to be called Cigateo , Segatoo and Eygatea ) and Cat Island as Guanima . Guanahani is shown again and Mamana has become Manigua .Long Island is called Iucanacan , Sumeto is Sumete and Inagua and Mayaguana are given their modern spellings . No more accurate maps than that of 1523 was drawn until White and Hood's of 1590 and 1592 and de Laet's of 1630 .
Now if you are researching and you come across some strange names you may be able to come to the right conclusions . Regards Cornelius

[capt dom]

Interesting......

[fladiverdown]

Cornelis - where do you keep all this stuff? You are truly a wonderful asset to this community. Once again thank you for your interesting and valuable post.

[FISHEYE]

How about maps that show bays and cays,keys and reefs.You might wonder how they originally got their names.Like for example.Dead mans cay.Or boiler reef.And woman key.

[cornelis 816]

Good point you have there Fisheye > These thing fall in the catagory of research . Research is important , so are old maps . I found quite a few wrecks just by looking at old maps and reading old journals . Cornelius

[ivan salis]

i am a firm believer it looking to old and current "names" of places for keys to the past --both on sea and on land * -- recently i was looking for a old civil war camp near jacksonville , fla --as i was searching the general area where i thought the camp to be at, i came across "cannon" street -- yep after a bit of checking about --it was the "edge" of the camp site --where the artillery was kept at.

[cornelis 816]

Ivan , That is what I mean ! Sometimes the treasure is right in front of us bit we fail to see it . Cornelius

[ivan salis]

sadly people often fail to see the woods because of all those trees that are in the way.

people often walk around mentally "asleep" to what is around them -- it seems that they are so wrapped up in the daily grind to "make a buck and just get by " that they get tunnel vision and seem to lose the ability to freely "think" about what they "see" all around them -- often they do not seem to "understand" what they are looking at , or understand things for what they really are.

often the clues are right before us ---another prime exsample * at a local measum there was a map on the wall (for many years)-- the map was a NOV of 1769 map by capt william fuller of amelia island , florida --upon said map was a small mark with the word "wreck" upon it in nassau sound between amelia island and talbot island -- for the wreck to be upon the map it had to have occured pre nov of 1769 clearly *

due to past research-- i knew that there was a letter from the govenor of virginia alexander spotswood dated oct 24th,1715 to the britsh home sec. stanhope in which it was reported that a barcalonga sent from havana, cuba to the 1715 wrecksites had loaded vips and treasure goods there but that it had later on wrecked about 40 miles NORTHWARD of st augustine (that would be the nassau sound area* where the wreck on the 1769 map was "marked" at) -- in the past 1715 era fleet type coins and goods have washed ashore in the area --sadly the state will not issue permits for the wreck site in nassau sound citing that its a "aquatic preserve zone " and it might bother the bottom ---even though they a few years ago allowed "beach renourishment" of the southern tip of amelia island by the corp of engineers -- uh digging up the sand up off the bottom and pumping it upon the beach -- how is that not disturbing the bottom ? and just in case they accidently pumped any treasure items up with the sand onto the beach where folks might find it --they made the beach areas near there a "no metal detecting allowed area" too boot -- theres clearly a "double standard" at work here folks.

[Mackaydon]

Cornelius,
You bring up another good point--about name changes.
Before I went to the Swan Islands off Honduras, I had found five different spellings of that island group. Those different spellings can become evidence of different time periods--in the absence of specific dating.
Don.......

[OldGold74]

Anyone of you heard of Crab island between Puerto Rico and St. Thomas ?

[Mackaydon]

Yes, it's called Vieques; here's some history:

http://www.casavioleta.com/text/historyVieques.htm

[pcolaboy]

I would be interested in any wreck information that references "Bahia Santa Maria de Filipina", "Ochuse", or "Ochusa". These were the first names given to Pensacola Bay and the general land masses nearby and were used to describe these locations from 1541 up until 1698. The only known wrecks in this time period would be the seven from Tristan de Luna's colony fleet in September of 1559.

Thanks!