Capraria

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Author:Laxman Burdak, IFS (Retd.)

Capraria was an Arabian Island mentioned by Pliny.[1]

Variants

Jat Gotras Namesake

Mention by Pliny

Pliny[2] mentions Fortunate Islands.... There are some authors who think that beyond these are the Fortunate Islands1, and some others; the number of which Sebosus gives, as well as the distances, informing us that Junonia2 is an island seven hundred and fifty miles distant from Gades. He states also that Pluvialia3 and Capraria4 are the same distance from Junonia, to the west; and that in Pluvialia the only fresh water to be obtained is rain water.


1 Or Islands of the Blessed—the modern Canaries.

2 Supposed to be the modern island of Fuerteventura.

3 Supposed to be that now called Ferro.

4 Probably the modern Gomera. In B. iv. c. 36, Pliny mentions them as six in number, there being actually seven.

Mention by Pliny

Pliny[3] mentions Fortunate Islands.... He (Juba) states also that a second island has the name of Junonia, but that it contains nothing beyond a small temple of stone: also that in its vicinity there is another, but smaller, island12 of the same name, and then another called Capraria, which is infested by multitudes of huge lizards.


12 Or the Lesser Junonia; supposed to be the same as the modern Lanzarote.

La Gomera

La Gomera (pronounced [la ɣoˈmeɾa]) is one of Spain's Canary Islands, in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Africa. With an area of 370.03 km2, it is the third-smallest of the archipelago's eight main islands. It belongs to the province of Santa Cruz de Tenerife. La Gomera is the third least populous of the eight main Canary Islands, with 22,426 inhabitants.[4] Its capital is San Sebastián de La Gomera, where the cabildo insular (island council) is located.

History

The names given by Romans to the individual islands of Canary Islands were Ninguaria or Nivaria (Tenerife), Canaria (Gran Canaria), Pluvialia or Invale (Lanzarote), Ombrion (La Palma), Planasia (Fuerteventura), Iunonia or Junonia (El Hierro) and Capraria (La Gomera).[5]

References

  1. Natural History by Pliny Book VI/Chapter 37
  2. Natural History by Pliny Book VI/Chapter 37
  3. Natural History by Pliny Book VI/Chapter 37
  4. "Real Decreto 1458/2018, de 14 de diciembre, por el que se declaran oficiales las cifras de población resultantes de la revisión del Padrón municipal referidas al 1 de enero de 2018" [Royal Decree 1458/2018, of 14 December, by which the population values resulting from the review of the municipal register of 1 January 2018 are declared official] (PDF). BOE (in Spanish). 29 December 2018.
  5. Natural History of Pliny the Elder".