Ninguaria

Author:Laxman Burdak, IFS (Retd.)

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Ninguaria was an Arabian Island mentioned by Pliny.

Variants

• Ninguaria (Pliny.vi.37)
• Tenerife
• Teneriffe
• Nivaria = Ninguaria

Jat Gotras Namesake

• Nivar = Nivaria = Ninguaria (Tenerife) (Pliny.vi.37)

Mention by Pliny

Pliny mentions Fortunate Islands.... According to the same author, in sight of these islands is Ninguaria¹³, which has received that name from its perpetual snows; this island abounds also in fogs. The one next to it is Canaria¹⁴; it contains vast multitudes of dogs of very large size, two of which were brought home to Juba: there are some traces of buildings to be seen here. While all these islands abound in fruit and birds of every kind, this one produces in great numbers the date palm which bears the caryota, also pine nuts. Honey too abounds here, and in the rivers papyrus, and the fish called silurus¹⁵, are found. These islands, however, are greatly annoyed by the putrefying bodies of monsters, which are constantly thrown up by the sea.

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13 Or "Snow Island," the same as that previously called Invallis, the modern Teneriffe, with its snow-capped peak.

14 So called from its canine inhabitants.

15 As to the silurus, see B. ix. c. 17.

Tenerife

Tenerife (/ˌtɛnəˈriːf/; Spanish: [teneˈɾife]; formerly spelled Teneriffe) is the largest and most populous island of the Canary Islands. It is home to 43% of the total population of the archipelago. With a land area of 2,034 square kilometres and a population of 978,100 inhabitants as of January 2022, it is also the most populous island of Spain and of Macaronesia.

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).

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