On Canaries

Today was the end of another one of those long-standing white whale hunts that happen so often as a historian. Giovanni Boccaccio, the great rennaissance author, wrote the encounter narrative between a European ship captained by Peraltro Niccolo da Recco and the indigenous people of the Canary Islands, and it is the oldest document of its kind for the Canaries. While the letter was available in Latin, and in a strangely-inpenetrable Italian translation, I had not found it in a version that I was able to read easily. To save others the trouble, I have posted this bilingual (Spanish/Latin) version here. I have yet to really sink my teeth into the source, but it seems great.

This comes from volume 1 of Gregorio Chil y Naranjo's Estudios Historícos, Climatológos y Patológicos de las Islas Canarias from 1876. I have included the publication page in the file for more details.

Happy hunting!