The Canarian legend of San Borondón

One of the most popular legends of the Canary Islands tells the story of a ninth island, San Borondón, which appears and disappears near El Hierro and can be seen among the sea of clouds from Tenerife, La Palma, El Hierro and La Gomera.

The island of San Borondón

Medieval cartographers already depicted it as part of the archipelago on their maps. It was even believed that San Borondón had once been detached from the American continent.

Origin of San Borondón and its legend

Many islands have been associated with the Canary Islands, from the Blessed to the Fortunate Ones themselves. Reference has also been made to Atlantis itself. But no story has been as real as that of San Borondón. This island appeared in the 1479 Treaty of Alcazobas, which divided the Atlantic between Portugal and Castile. It was even photographed in the late 1950s and published by ABC.

Drawing of the island of San Borondon

The first mention of San Borondón appears in a 9th century text narrating the travels of the Irish monk Saint Brandán, to whom the island owes its name. The abbot Saint Brandán the Navigator dedicated his life to evangelising in unknown lands in the Atlantic Ocean.

Drawing of the island of San Borondon

Saint Brandán made a maritime expedition to the Canary Islands in 516. According to his account, he arrived at a lush island of black sand that appeared and disappeared, but not because of the action of the sea mist, but because it was a giant fish. Brandán also said that on this island the sun never set and the trees were full of fruit.

The sea, a place for dreamers

Stories such as that of San Borondón motivated many sailors to undertake voyages in search of these paradises.

In an attempt to find the ninth Canary Island, several expeditions were made. One of the first took place at the end of the 15th century and was led by Fernando de Viseu, nephew of Henry the Navigator of Portugal. In the time of Philip II, the engineer Leonardo Torriani also claimed to have travelled around the island. Around the same time, a Portuguese navigator, Pedro Vello, would add to the legend of San Borondón with one of the best accounts. 

San Borondón Island

Pedro Vello landed on a mysterious island to the west of La Palma and El Hierro when he had to change course to take shelter from a storm. He said that, once on land, the wind picked up again so much that he rushed to the ship, leaving two sailors "forgotten" on land. 

All these stories, more or less fantastic, continued to feed the myth of San Borondón. The fact that, at a time when the oceans were practically completely conquered, the myth of an island that appeared and disappeared still survived shows that there must at least have been a great geographical misunderstanding surrounding San Borondón, a misunderstanding that Hernán Pérez de Grado, the first regent of the Royal Court of the Canary Islands, tried to dispel, ordering an official investigation into the mysterious island after numerous sightings in the previous months.  

Map of San Borondón

And so the legend continued to grow until Gaspar Domínguez organised the last official expedition to discover the ninth Canary Island in 1721. It was unsuccessful, and so San Borondón remained hidden and expeditions ceased.  

Mapping a ghost island

San Borondón appears on a number of medieval and modern maps. It was the countless accounts that encouraged many cartographers to include the ninth island on their maps.

The Hereford Planisphere, dated 1290, is the first map to make reference to St. Baron in a Latin inscription stating: "The six Fortunate Isles are the Isles of St. Brandan".

Map of the Canary Islands and San Borondón

During the 14th century, Pizzigano drew the island at a short distance from El Hierro. At the time, San Borondón was believed to be located some 550 kilometres west-northwest of El Hierro, although others claimed it was much closer. It was also presumed to be around 500 kilometres long from north to south and 150 kilometres wide from east to west. The last map that respected the legend of the ghost island was Gautier's Geographical Chart of 1755.

If you would like to know more about the history of Canaria, here are some articles that may be of interest to you: The Canarian tradition of the shepherd's leap; Malagueña canaria, the most sentimental song.

Paula Vera

Photos: descubrir.com; tiempo.com; pinterest.com; elespañol.com

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