Tin Islands. Yantarny Island, Thule Island, Tin Islands…. Tyrrhenidas and Adriatis

Tin Islands- most likely Britain. The import of tin became of great importance during the Bronze Age, because its deposit. unlike deposits. copper was very rare. The Greeks' assumption about the existence gave away. O. o. on 3. Ocean is quite understandable if... ... Ancient world. encyclopedic Dictionary

Tin Islands- (Greek Kassiteriden), most likely Britain. The import of tin acquired enormous importance during the Bronze Age, since its deposits, unlike copper deposits, were very rare. The Greeks' assumption about the existence gave away. O. o. on 3.… … Dictionary of Antiquity

Cassiterĭdes insulae, Κασσιτερίδες νη̃σοι. That's what they were originally called British Isles, from where the Phoenicians exported tin and lead (Plin. 34 ...

Coordinates: ... Wikipedia

1) an island within the British Isles; Great Britain. Other Romans are mentioned. by authors in the 1st century. BC e. as Britain (Britannia), name from Celts, ethnonym Britons, Britons. In the 5th century part of the Britons moved to the mainland, where Malaya was formed... ... Geographical encyclopedia

Abant Άβας Danaus Abant Άβαντες Abaris Άβαρις Abdera Abdera Abdulonoma Abdul Abdulonymus Abella Abella Abellinum Abellinum Abeona Abeona Abydos or Abid... ... Real Dictionary of Classical Antiquities

WORLD ECONOMY- a system of economic relations between countries of the world. World economic relations have been developing since ancient times, their importance is constantly increasing. They develop on the basis of the division of labor associated with differences in natural conditions and in... ... Legal encyclopedia

- (Malaysia) state in South East. Asia; consists of Western M. (Malaya), located on the Malay Peninsula, and East. M., occupying the northern zap. part o. Kalimantan (B. Sunda Islands); both parts are separated by the South. Chinese m. Part of the Commonwealth... ... Geological encyclopedia

- (Indonesia) Republic of Indonesia (Republik Indonesia). I. General information I. state in the South East Asia. Located on the islands of the Malay (Indonesian) archipelago, stretching between continental Asia and... ... Big Soviet encyclopedia

Federation of Malaysia, state in South East. Asia. The Federation was formed in 1963. The name Malaysia from the ethnonym Malays (self-name Melayu) is formed according to a rare word-formation model (cf. medieval Europe Austrasia, the name of a part of the state of... ... Geographical encyclopedia

Islands
a previously protruding section of lakeside land.
The largest archipelagos and islands peace
Name
Square
ISLANDS
ISLANDS- areas of land surrounded on all sides by the waters of oceans, seas, lakes, and rivers. From continents
differ relatively small in size. There are singles islands and their groups (archipelagos
Islands in the oceans and seas are divided into continental (separated from the continents) - volcanic
coral and alluvial. The largest islands(area over 400 thousand km2): Greenland, New. Guinea, Madagascar, Kalimantan, Baffin Island, Sumatra.
island
See the island
Dahl's Explanatory Dictionary
island
Cm.:
1. make jokes
2. island
Dahl's Explanatory Dictionary
Islands
than between Australia and the largest of islands(Greenland). The total surface known so far
islands
sometimes - distant (in many places it stands next to the words Tarshish, Tarshish). Islands nations (Gen.10:5; Zeph.2:11
Vikhlyantsev Bible Dictionary
Islands
orf.
Islands, -ov, used. in the names of states, e.g.: Marshall Republic Islands, Republic of Seychelles Islands, Islands Cape Verde
island
ISLAND, islands, Wed, ·more often collected. (reg.). A pole, a thin tree with shortened, chopped branches. Prepare island.
Ushakov's Explanatory Dictionary
Three Islands
Group of small islands near the Tersky coast White Sea, between capes Orlov and Korabelny
1/4 in. dl. and up to 350 soot. lat.), a jug and a flat stone Bakalda, filled with water into the strait. Islands
Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Efron
Islands
Under islands Actually, this means land surrounded on all sides by water. Sometimes about them in general
islands (Mediterranean Sea; 6:29, 15:23). Sometimes called islands of course the coastal lands
as, for example, the Philistines and Phoenicians (Isa. 23:2-6). Greek islands(Eze 27:7,15). Separate islands see under their proper names.
Archimandrite Biblical Encyclopedia. Nikephoros
Oceanic islands
Islands, located within the ocean floor (See ocean floor) or mid-ocean ridges
See mid-ocean ridges), that is, within the area bounded by the andesite line (See Andesite line). Cm. Islands.
Great Soviet Encyclopedia
Bear Islands
about 60 km2. Heights 40-100 m. M. o. consist of 6 small islands: Krestovsky (largest in area
Great Soviet Encyclopedia
Ionian Islands
lónioi nésoi)
group islands in the Ionian Sea, off the western coast of the Balkan Peninsula
Belong to Greece. Area over 2.2 thousand km2. Consist of 5 large islands(Kerkyra, Lefkada, Kefalonia
defined, steep shores, many convenient bays. Islands mountainous (height up to 1628 m), folded
Great Soviet Encyclopedia
Pitius Islands
Islas Pitiusas)
group islands in zap. parts of the Mediterranean, in the Balearic archipelago islands(Cm
Balearic islands). Administratively, they are part of the Spanish province of Baleares. Pl. 760 km2. Us. 48 thousand
Great Soviet Encyclopedia
Coral Islands
Islands, formed on the surface of coral structures (See Coral structures
Great Soviet Encyclopedia
Oran Islands
Rocky islands, the northernmost of the group islands Novaya Zemlya in the Barents Sea. Consist of two
Great Soviet Encyclopedia
Spicy Islands
English Spice Islands)
second name for Moluccas islands(See Moluccas islands).
Great Soviet Encyclopedia
Virgin Islands
Islands Virgin Islands, a group of small islands(about 100) in the West Indies. Possession
way by limestones of Meso-Cenozoic age. On large islands(St. Thomas, Tortola) - ancient
Great Soviet Encyclopedia
Canary Islands
Spanish Islas Canarias, literally - dogs islands, from lat. canis - dog: according to ancient Roman
scientist Pliny the Elder, on one of these islands there were big dogs)
group islands
significant islands: Gran Canaria, Tenerife, Fuerteventura. Square islands 7.3 thousand km2. Total number
Islands composed of basalts; many extinct and active volcanoes (in Tenerife, Palma, Lanzarote
Height up to 3718 m ( active volcano Teide on island Tenerife). The climate is tropical, trade wind
Great Soviet Encyclopedia
Caroline Islands
under US administration since 1947). Consists of 936 individual or grouped volcanic rocks islands
And islands: Palau (Babeltuap Islands, 391 km2), Yap (100 km2) - western group; Senyavina (Ponape Island)
334 km2), Truk (100 km2), Kusaie (110 km2) - eastern group.
All large islands volcanic
origin (height up to 791 m), surrounded by coral reefs. islands Western groups include
to the island arc system and experience a slow, steady rise; islands eastern group formed
Great Soviet Encyclopedia
British Isles
The composition of the B. o. includes 2 large islands- Great Britain and Ireland, archipelagos: Hebrides
islands, Orkney islands. Shetland islands(See Shetland islands), as well as smaller ones islands
Anglesey, Mull, Man, Skye, etc. Sometimes to B. o. also considered Norman islands as belonging
Great Soviet Encyclopedia
Begichev Islands
Islands in the southwestern part of the Laptev Sea at the exit from the Khatanga Bay, in the Yakut Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. Length
islands Bolshoi Begichev 61 km, width 57 km. The area is about 1800 km2. Surface - gently ridged
Great Soviet Encyclopedia
Solovetsky Islands
Group islands in the White Sea, at the entrance to Onega Bay (Arkhangelsk region of the RSFSR). Area 347
km2. The group includes 6 islands(the most significant are Solovetsky, Anzersky, Bolshoi Muksalma
hilly (height up to 107 m). Most of islands covered with pine and spruce forests, partially swampy
There are many lakes (some of them are connected by canals). In the 15th century on Solovetsky island. was founded
one of the largest monasteries in Russia (see. Solovetsky Monastery). Since 1974 Solovetsky islands are
Great Soviet Encyclopedia
Philippine Islands
Archipelago in the west part of the Pacific Ocean on which the Philippines is located.
Great Soviet Encyclopedia
Windward Islands
Caribbean islands, a group of volcanic islands in the West Indies, bordering the Caribbean Sea
eastern Lesser Antilles islands(See Lesser Antilles islands). Area about 6 thousand km2
Population over 1.1 million people. (1972). The largest islands: Guadeloupe, Martinique, Dominica, Saintes
islands predominantly mountainous (up to 1586 m high, Diabloten volcano on island Dominica
on island Martinique), Pointe-à-Pitre and Basse-Terre (on island Guadeloupe).
Great Soviet Encyclopedia
Antilles
orf.
Antillean islands
Lopatin's spelling dictionary
Sunda Islands
orf.
Sunda islands
Lopatin's spelling dictionary
Ionian Islands
orf.
Ionian islands
Lopatin's spelling dictionary
Cayman islands
orf.
Cayman islands, Cayman islands
Lopatin's spelling dictionary
Commander Islands
orf.
Commander's islands
Lopatin's spelling dictionary
Marquesas Islands
orf.
Marquesan islands
Lopatin's spelling dictionary
Marshall Islands
orf.
Marshall's islands, Marshall islands
Lopatin's spelling dictionary
Leeward Islands
orf.
Leeward islands(geographic)
Lopatin's spelling dictionary
Solomon islands
orf.
Solomonov islands, Solomonov islands
Lopatin's spelling dictionary
Japanese islands
Archipelago islands(the largest are Honshu, Hokkaido, Kyushu and Shikoku) in the western Pacific Ocean. On Ya. o. The main part of Japan is located.
Great Soviet Encyclopedia
Åland Islands
about 130 km. Consists of 6.5 thousand. islands(the largest is Åland, 640 km2), of which
Finnish independence in December 1917 around the question of belonging and status islands turned around
Great Soviet Encyclopedia
Andreanivsky Islands
Andrew Islands)
central group in the Aleutian archipelago islands(See Aleutian islands
There are 46 volcanic islands and many small rocks. Most significant islands Atka and Adak
Great Soviet Encyclopedia
Arginus Islands
(Arginusai)
in the Aegean Sea, southeast of the island. Lesvos. Near A. o. in 406 BC e. during the Peloponnesian War (See Peloponnesian War) 431-404 BC.
Great Soviet Encyclopedia
Island societies
Îles de la Société)
Partnerships islands, an archipelago in the South Pacific Ocean, in Polynesia (See
The administrative center is the city of Papeete. Consists of two groups - Windward islands(Ile du Van
on the East and Leeward islands(Ile-sous-les-Vans) to the W. Most large island- Tahiti. Majority islands
Great Soviet Encyclopedia
BAHRAIN ISLANDS
Bahrain is a group of islands in Persian. Bay Area OK. 600 km 2. Adm. center - Manama. Us. 143.2 t.h. (1959): Arabs, Iranians, as well as blacks and Indians. B. o. - a pearl fishing center, has rich oil reserves, the region has been exploited since 1932 by the United States.
CANARY ISLANDS
(Isias Canarias) - islands in the Atlantic Ocean near the north-west. coast of Africa, ter. Spain. In 1936-38, issue here. postal, airmail, and postal tax stamps - resp. overprints (Spanish) on stamps of Spain and with original pics.
Philatelic Dictionary
MARIANA ISLANDS
Japan stamps, 1945 - USA stamps.
Marian postage stamps islands
Philatelic Dictionary
FAROE ISLANDS
Overprints of the new denomination on Danish stamps.
Faroese postage stamp islands
Philatelic Dictionary
AEGEAN ISLANDS
there are stamps of Greece.
Aegean postage stamp islands. Occupation by Italy
Philatelic Dictionary
HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
Hawaiian Islands), Sandwich islands, - archipelago to the center. parts of the Pacific Ocean, 50th US state. Area
gg.), "Institute of Oriental Studies of the USSR Academy of Sciences", vol. 1, M.-L., 1950; Ziman L. Ya., Hawaiian islands, M
Soviet historical encyclopedia
Frisian Islands
(Frisian Islands), a chain of islands in the North. sea, stretching for 250 km along the coasts of the Netherlands, Germany and Denmark. Divided into Western, Eastern. and Sev. F. o. Pl. OK. 480 km²; sizes and shapes change as a result of the activity of waves and wind.
Antilles
Archipelago in the West Indies. Pl. 220 thousand km². Includes Greater Antilles islands(Cuba, Haiti
Jamaica, Puerto Rico) and Lesser Antilles islands(Virgin, Windward, Leeward, Barbados, etc.).
Hawaiian Islands
Sandwiches islands), an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, the largest in Polynesia; state
Geography. Modern encyclopedia
Cook Islands
Archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, in Polynesia; possession of New Zealand, have internal autonomy. Discovered in 1773 by the English navigator J. Cook and named in his honor. Pl. 241 km². The archipelago consists of two groups of islands: North.
Geography. Modern encyclopedia
Canary Islands
Group of mountainous volcanic islands, 100–120 km from northwest coast Africa
Geography. Modern encyclopedia
Commander Islands
Group islands on the border Bering Sea and the Pacific Ocean, 200 km east of the peninsula
Nikolskoye on the island Bering and Transfiguration on the island. Medny.
Commander's islands
Geography. Modern encyclopedia
Kurile Islands
Archipelago of volcanic islands on the border Sea of Okhotsk and the Pacific Ocean, between island Hokkaido
separated by the Kuril Straits. Islands form an arc for OK. 1175 km. Total area 15.6 thousand km
The shores are mostly steep, sandy on the isthmuses, and there are few sheltered bays. Islands mountainous
earthquakes.
Kuril islands. Shikotan Island
The climate is monsoon. Wed. August temperature from 10 °C
typhoons. There are many lakes, including in craters and lagoons. To the north islands thickets of alder and rowan
Geography. Modern encyclopedia
Nicobar Islands
Group of 19 islands in the north Indian Ocean, between the Bay of Bengal and Andaman Sea
Geography. Modern encyclopedia
Solomon islands
Archipelago of volcanic islands in the southwestern Pacific Ocean (Melanesia), to the east
from islands New Guinea. Discovered in 1568 by the Spanish navigator A. Mendaña de Neira, who
and Bougainville) is part of the state of Papua New Guinea, the rest is the state of Solomon Islands.
Geography. Modern encyclopedia
Lyakhovsky Islands
south group in the arch. New Siberian Islands, separated from the mainland by the Strait. Dmitry Laptev. Includes 4 islands: Bol. Lyakhovsky (area 5.3 thousand km²), Mal. Lyakhovsky (1.3 thousand km²), Stolbovoy (170 km²) and Semyonovsky. Plain up to 270 m high (Bol.
Dictionary geographical names
Laccadive Islands
(Laccadive Islands), a group of 27 coral atolls 3–4 m high in the Arabian Sea, belong to India (Union Territory of Lakshadweep). Pl. 28 km². The climate is subequatorial monsoon; precipitation approx. 1700 mm per year.
Dictionary of geographical names
Marquesas Islands
(Îles Marquises), a group of volcanic islands in the center. parts of the Pacific Ocean, in Polynesia; possession of France. Discovered in 1595 by the Spanish navigator A. Mendaña de Neira and named in honor of the Viceroy of Peru, Marquis Mendoza. Pl. 1274 km²; OK. 7.5 thousand people
Dictionary of geographical names
New Siberian Islands
Archipelago in the North. The Arctic Ocean, between the Laptev and East Siberian seas. Pl. OK. 38 thousand km². It consists of three groups of islands: Anzhu, De Long and Lyakhovsky. Relief in the main flat, height up to 374 m (Kotelny Island).
Dictionary of geographical names
Orkney Islands
(Orkney Islands), an archipelago within the British Islands off the north. tip of Scotland; belongs to Great Britain. Includes approx. 70 islands (the largest Mainland Island) total area. OK. 1000 km². Height up to 477 m; fjords, lakes. Temperate maritime climate.
Dictionary of geographical names
Paracel Islands
(Parasel Islands), Xishaquundao, a group of coral islands and reefs in the South China Sea, to the SE. from Fr. Hainan. Coconut palm groves; guano deposits. Seasonal fish; mining of pearls, corals, sea cucumbers. There is no permanent population. Disputed territory, which is claimed by Vietnam and China.
Dictionary of geographical names
Princes' Islands
(Kiziladalar – “red islands”), Kyzyl Adalar, archipelago in the Sea of Marmara (Turkey). 9 islands total area. 108.8 km². Mountainous, picturesque, with shady valleys and pine groves. Vineyards, gardens, resorts.
Dictionary of geographical names
Sverdrup Island
(Sverdrup Islands), a group of islands in the north of the Canadian Arctic Arch. total area OK. 75 thousand km² (Canada). The largest: Axel-Heiberg (40.9 thousand km²), Ellef-Ringnes (10.8 thousand km²), Amund-Ringnes (6.1 thousand km²).
Dictionary of geographical names
Solovetsky Islands
Archipelago at the entrance to Onega Bay of the White Sea (Arkhangelsk region). Pl. 347 km². Consists of 6 islands: large ones - Solovetsky, Anzersky (with highest point Golgotha, 107 m), Bol. and Mal. Muksalma; small islands – Bol. and Mal. Zayatsky. Hilly terrain, approx.
Dictionary of geographical names
Solomon islands
the rest of the part is the Solomon State Islands;
2) state in the southwest. part of the Pacific Ocean. Occupies the southeast. h
butter, frozen fish. Cash unit – Solomon dollar Islands.
Solomonov islands
Dictionary of geographical names
Bahamas
Bahamas), Commonwealth of the Bahamas Islands, state in the West Indies, (Central America), on the same name
more than half of government income. Big hotels, wonderful sandy beaches, water parks. Cash unit – Bahamian dollar.
islands of islands in Turkey, in the northeast of Mramara
Large encyclopedic dictionary
FAROE ISLANDS
Faroese ISLANDS(Faeroerne) - over 20 volcanic islands in the northeast Atlantic region
Large encyclopedic dictionary
SEYCHELLES
SEYCHELLES ISLANDS(Seychelles) - Republic of Seychelles Islands(Republic of Seychelles
Population 71.3 thousand people (1993) - Creoles, Seychellois (Seychellois Creoles Islands) etc. Urban
islands- Mahe, Silhouette, Praslin, La Digue - crystalline; small islands- mostly coral
Great Britain. Since June 1976 Seychelles Islands - independent republic. Seychelles Islands
Large encyclopedic dictionary
Orkney Islands
noun, number of synonyms: 1 archipelago 45
Marshall Islands
noun, number of synonyms: 2 archipelago 45 country 281
Dictionary of Russian synonyms

Cassiterides - « Tin Islands»

The advance of the North Sea onto the shores occurs not only because the earth's crust in this area is sinking. The waters themselves, the mighty surf, are destroying coastal areas of land. The steep coast of France in the Bas-Seine department, composed of chalk rocks, loses 20-25 centimeters every year. Geologists have calculated that in historical time alone, the southwestern tip of England, Cornwall, has lost about 600 cubic kilometers of land!

The Cornwall peninsula was once larger than it is today. And here there were large tin mines, now under water. Medieval sources speak of the city of Dunwich, which existed more than a thousand years ago. In documents from the 11th century there is a note that a number of lands belonging to this city cannot be subject to taxes, because they were swallowed up by the sea. Later manuscripts tell how the water flooded Dunwich monastery, the old harbor, churches, the road, the town hall, and swallowed up 400 buildings “in one fell swoop.” By the 16th century, less than one quarter of the city remained; the forest, located two kilometers from Dunwich, became the seabed. Over the course of several centuries, the city turned into a tiny village. Not only in the vicinity of Dunwich, but also in many other places off the coast of southwestern England, the remains of flooded forests, settlements, and human skeletons are found. Many coastal areas became the seabed - this happened several thousand years ago (different researchers date the time of flooding differently - from 25 to 50 centuries ago).

Ancient Celtic legends tell of the island of Is, which sank to the bottom of the sea, and another island, also lost - it was called Lyonesse and was located between the tip of the Cornwall peninsula and the Isles of Scilly, which lie near Cornwall, to the southwest of it. Located on Lyonesse Big city, sank during the disaster - only one person managed to escape. Verifying the veracity of the legends, as well as excavating ancient tin mines, is a matter for future research by submarine archaeologists. To the south of this area were the famous Cassiterides - the Tin Islands, which are reported by many ancient sources and which are so unsuccessfully searched for in modern times. geographical map scientists of our day,

“Midacritus was the first to bring tin from the Cassiterides,” we read from Pliny. Historians suggest that the name Midacritus is a reworking of the Phoenician word "Melkart" and that Pliny's words should be understood as a message that the Tin Islands were the first to be reached Phoenician sailors. In Strabo's Geography we find detailed description Cassiterides, compiled from the words of the Roman ruler of Spain Publius Crassus, who visited them in 95-93 BC. “There are ten Cassiteridean islands,” writes Strabo, “they lie close to each other in the open sea north of the Artabrian harbor. One of them is deserted, but the rest are inhabited by people who wear black cloaks, walk in heel-length tunics, gird their breasts, and walk with sticks, like goddesses of vengeance in tragedies. They lead a nomadic life, mostly subsisting on their herds. They have tin and lead mines; They give these metals and cattle hides to sea traders in exchange for pottery, salt and copper products. In former times, only the Phoenicians carried on this trade... however, the Romans, after repeated attempts, discovered this sea route. After Publius Crassus crossed over to them and saw that metals were mined at shallow depths and the people there were peaceful, he immediately communicated the information to everyone who wanted to trade with them overseas, although this sea is wider than the sea that separates Britain from the mainland.” .

Thus, besides Spain and Britain, these two "Eldorados of tin", ancient world also had a third center - the Cassiterides, or Tin Islands. According to Professor Hennig, this third center did not actually exist, for the Cassiterides are nothing more than the name of the British Isles, together with the island of Ouessant, located off the coast of the Brittany peninsula (France). Other researchers (and in an equally categorical form) argue that Strabo’s above message about the Cassiterides “really means nothing more than the discovery and capture of tin mines by Crassus, located somewhere in the extreme north-west of Spain.” Still others say that the true Cassiterides were small islands, lying near the Spanish coast, between the mouth of the Minho River and Cape Finisterre. Still others believe that the Cassiterides are the Isles of Scilly, near the southwestern tip of England. Still others move the Cassiterides far to the west, into the open ocean, and identify them with the Azores. Finally, there is a point of view according to which “we are only dealing with legends about large tin deposits in Western Europe, from where it reached the Eastern Mediterranean through numerous intermediaries. At the same time, trade intermediaries had every reason to shroud the location of the country from which tin was exported in the fog of legends.”

However, there has never been tin in the Azores, so this “address” of the mysterious Cassiterides turns out to be inaccurate. The “addresses” of the islets of Scilly, located near Britain, and the islets located between the mouth of the Minho and Cape Finisterre off the coast of Spain are also not suitable. Finally, Spain itself does not correspond to the description of the Cassiterides - after all, it is an island, and not the huge Iberian Peninsula. And Britain, with its rich tin mines, also cannot be identified with the Tin Islands. After all, the same Strabo directly states in his “Geography” that on the other side of the Pillars of Hercules (the Strait of Gibraltar) lie “Gadir, the Cassiterides and the British Isles,” and gives a detailed description of Britain separately from the description of the Cassiterides.

Does this mean that the mysterious Tin Islands are located in the same place where other unidentified islands of ancient and medieval geographers may be located - at the bottom of the sea? Two great scholars of antiquity, Pliny and Ptolemy, say that the Cassiterides were about one hundred kilometers west of the northwestern tip of the Iberian Peninsula. Nowadays there are no islands in this area. Meanwhile, oceanographers discovered shallow banks here.

In 1958, an oceanographic expedition on the Discovery 2 vessel, studying the relief of the Galician Bank, located off the northwestern tip of Spain, discovered a flat underwater peak at a depth of about 400 fathoms. The bank may have been a large block of land that had sunk several thousand feet as a result of the same type of faulting that created rift valleys in Africa. “The lowering could, of course, have occurred in historical times,” writes the English scientist Gaskell, whom we mentioned. “However, excellent photographs of the ocean floor at this site do not reveal any traces of human activity, and the samples taken do not contain any building stone or fragments of ancient pottery.”

French researchers S. Hutin and Le Danois believe that the Cassiterides could have been located near the Great and Little Sol banks, located south of Ireland and west of Cape Finisterre, somewhere between 48 and 49 ° north latitude and 8 and 10 ° west longitude, with the depths of the first being about 65 meters, the second - only about 20 meters.

Amber products were highly valued in the ancient Mediterranean countries. After all, it was brought from afar, from the shores of distant northern countries, lying somewhere on the edge of the earth. Now we know that in fact these countries were not so northern: the “supplier” of amber was, as now, the Baltic coast and South coast North Sea. But the location of the main “Eldorado Amber” is still unknown. It is clear that it was located in the Baltic or the North Sea; there could be no other address. However, this address is very approximate: it is far from the mouth of the Elbe to the mouth of the Neva, but any point between these rivers could turn out to be such an “Eldorado”.

However, not just anyone - ancient authors talk about the “Island of Amber,” which is located one day’s journey from the mouth of the legendary Eridanus River. What kind of river is this? The rivers Rhine, Elbe, Vistula, and Neva were called “Eridanus”; The island of Helgoland, the island of Bornholm, the Estonian island of Saarema, as well as many other islands of the Baltic and North Seas were compared with the Amber Island. But all these hypotheses remained just hypotheses. Either the islands - candidates for "Eldorado", like Heligoland or Bornholm - never had amber, or they were not at the mouth big river, but somewhere else.

Ancient authors speak unanimously about the fact that the Eridanus River is great and full of water. No wonder the poet Ovid calls her “maximus” - “the greatest”. Ancient Greek legends explained the origin of precious amber as follows: the god Helios entrusted control of the solar chariot to his son Phaeton, the young man was unable to control the horses, a terrible drought occurred on the earth, forests caught fire, rivers began to dry up, and then Zeus the Thunderer struck Phaeton with lightning. Having ignited, Phaeton fell into the Eridanus River. The young man’s sisters, the Heliades (daughters of Helios), mourning their brother, turned into poplars, and their tears, hardening, became amber. This myth also passed on to the Romans: Ovid wrote about Eridian, Phaethon and the Heliades; Lucian of Samosata in his essay “On Amber, or Swans” says the following: “The poplars on the Eridanus River, mourning Phaeton, shed tears for him (after all, these poplars were sisters to Phaeton) - pure amber!”

Ancient texts call the “amber river” by one name - Eridanus (although some geographers of antiquity believe that it flows in the mythical country of the Hyperboreans in the farthest north, others believe that it is the Rhone, others - the Po, etc.). Amber Island has several names: Abalus, Abalcia, Basilia, Baunonia, Glesaria. The latter can be translated as “one of the amber islands”; this is not a proper name, but an epithet (the ancient Germans called amber the word “glee”). “Baunonia” means “bean island”, “Basilia” means “royal”. Obviously, these are also epithets - one characterizes the “bean-shaped” shape of the shores, and the other - the form of government on the island (“royal” - i.e. independent, ruled by its own king). The word "Abalus" (and its derivative "Abalcia") is, according to linguists, of Celtic origin. It is possible that the name of the legendary Avalon or Avalun, where King Arthur and his knights of the Round Table lived, is also connected with this root. The Celts once occupied large areas of Europe, but they were not on the shores of the Baltic, which means, most likely, Abalus - the Amber Island - was located on the shores of the North Sea. According to most historians, the Elbe should be considered the “Amber River”. In its lower reaches there are rich deposits of amber, although mixed with brown coal (after the Second World War, one of the German factories even fired its boilers with a mixture of brown coal and amber!). However, within one day's sail from the Elbe, you cannot find another island other than Heligoland, and there has never been amber there and, according to geologists, there cannot be!

Visited Amber Island in the 4th century BC. e. a native of Massilia (Marseille) named Pytheas. “Pytheas’ discoveries did not immediately receive recognition among ancient scientists, writes the Soviet historian A.V. Ditmar in the book “To the Lands of Tin and Amber,” dedicated to the famous Pytheas from Massilia. “There was a time when he was considered a liar and a deceiver - his research was so great and unusual for that era.” Currently, Pytheas is considered one of the greatest geographers and travelers of antiquity. Unfortunately, only quotes from his works or references to them have reached us - Professor Hennig rightly considers the loss of the originals to be the most difficult loss suffered by history geographical discoveries.

In addition to the Amber Island, Pytheas also visited “the most distant of all known lands” - the island of Thule, to which it took five days to sail from the Orkney Islands, and the Cassiterides - the “Tin Islands”, to which it took three days to sail from the shores of Celtica (France). . In the Middle Ages, the island of Thule turned into “Ultima Thule” - “Extreme Thule”, the northernmost limit of the inhabited earth, where any life is impossible due to the cold, the “frozen ocean”, etc. However, Pytheas describes this island as a country with quite -still a mild climate; fruits can grow on its fertile soil; Tule residents keep livestock and practice beekeeping.

Already at the beginning of the 9th century, the mentioned Dikuil tried to identify the island of Thule with the known lands. In his opinion, Thule is Iceland, discovered by his compatriots and colleagues, Irish monks. However, Pytheas speaks of the inhabitants of Thule, and Iceland was settled only more than a thousand years after the journey of the great native of Massilia. Fridtjof Nansen believed that Thule was one of the regions of his homeland, Norway. Other researchers identified the island visited by Pytheas with the Shetland Islands, etc. But none of the addresses indicated by scientists correspond to the Thule that Pytheas describes.

The "address" of the Tin Islands, the Cassiterides, caused even more controversy. In addition to Pytheas, they are mentioned by Strabo, Pliny, Ptolemy, Avienus, Posidonius - in a word, almost all ancient authors who wrote about the countries of the inhabited earth. Licinius Publius Crassus, the Roman governor in Spain, visited these islands at the beginning of the 1st century BC. e., “saw that metals were mined at shallow depths and the people there were peaceful,” and conveyed this information “to everyone who wanted to trade with them overseas, although this sea is wider than the sea that separates Britain from the mainland.” Strabo, using the story of Publius Crassus, gives a detailed and realistic description of the Cassiterides and the inhabitants of the “Isles of Tin.” There is no doubt that we are not talking about mythical, but about very real islands in the Atlantic, lying somewhere southwest of Britain and northwest of Spain... But on the maps we use now, in this There are no islands in the area, except for tiny pieces of land, and they are not located in the open ocean, but near the very shores of Spain, France, and England.

Some scientists believe that Crasset sailed to these islets - only some call the Isle of Ouessant near the Brittany Peninsula, others call the Isles of Scilly off the southwestern tip of England, and still others call equally tiny pieces of land off the coast of Spain. There are other “addresses” - for example, the Azores, mainland Spain and insular England. But, as Professor Thomson rightly notes, none of the actually existing groups of islands corresponds to the descriptions of the Cassiterides given by ancient authors (and certainly cannot be considered Spain or England: after all, when describing the location of the Tin Islands, ancient geographers “counted” the distance precisely from these lands).

Perhaps the Cassiterides are a legend similar to the legends about fairy island St. Brandan, the island of the Seven Cities and others? However, here, as in the case of Amber Island and Thule, we are not dealing with the fruits of popular imagination (or the imagination of cartographers), but with the works of trustworthy authors, and some of them, such as Pytheas, personally visited the islands, about which they narrate. It would be illogical to consider that the Tin Islands, Thule and Amber Island are just fiction. After all, the only reason to doubt their reality is that these islands cannot be found on modern map Atlantic. But maybe they once existed? And where ocean waves now roam freely, in ancient times there were islands, even inhabited ones?

This assumption deserves attention if we remember the history of the Atlantic - and not the “geological” one, the scale of which is measured in periods of time of millions and tens of millions of years, but only those events that took place before the eyes of “reasonable man” and even “civilized man”, living in the era of the 19th and 20th centuries, finally, even literally before our eyes!

Islands are born, islands die...

The Azores Islands are home to whalers who still go to the ocean to this day. sailing ships and hunt whales “by hand”, without guns - last mohicans whaling of past centuries. From towers, observers scan the ocean in the hope of seeing a fountain emitted by a whale. On September 27, 1957, from such a tower installed on the island of Faial, it was noticed that a strange disturbance was occurring on the surface of the sea two kilometers from the coast. Then a giant column of steam rose to the sky, the ocean began to boil, and the entire island of Faial began to tremble with frequent tremors. A cloudy substance appeared in the water - pumice thrown out by an underwater volcano. The next morning from ocean waters appeared new island ok - a hill more than a hundred meters high and about a kilometer wide. And since the volcano at the bottom of the Atlantic continued its work, after five weeks the island joined Faial, turning into a peninsula. Fire and water acted silently, only occasionally the silence was broken by the dull rumbles of underground (or rather, underwater) tremors. The volcano ejected stones, ash, gas, dust and volcanic “bombs” from its depths to a height of several kilometers. The thick veil of smoke was cut through by the flash of lightning. The eruption of the underwater volcano Kapelyuns continued for more than a year. Its result was the birth of a new land - hundreds of hectares of land covered with a thick layer of ash.

In November 1963, south coast Iceland's underwater volcano has created a new island. It was called Surtsey - “the island of Surt,” the fiery giant, about whom the Edda and other Icelandic myths and tales tell. Two years later, not far from Surtsey, another island arose, which received the playful name Surtlingur (“Surtenok”) or Surtla (“Surtashka”). In December 1967, in the waters South Atlantic, in the area of Deception Island, the English ship John Biscoe observed the birth of another island, again formed as a result of the activity of an underwater volcano. In the last century, another new island appeared near Sicily. The British were the first to discover it, and therefore the British flag was raised on the island and it was declared a possession of the British Empire. However, on new land The Kingdom of Naples presented its claims (this happened before the unification of Italy into one state). The island had not only two owners, but also two names - “Fernandez” and “Julia”. Disputes between the British and Neapolitans ceased only after the island... disappeared, sinking to the bottom of the sea.

It is not only such ephemeral islands formed by the activity of underwater volcanoes that are disappearing. We have already talked about the slow death of Berezan Island. The waters probably swallowed up ancient Hades, the island and the city on it. Strabo writes that Hades was located to the west of the Pillars of Hercules, and in front of the Pillars themselves there were two small islands; one of them was dedicated to the goddess Hera. We know that the Pillars of Hercules in the era of Strabo were considered Abilik (a rock on the African coast of the Strait of Gibraltar) and Kalpa (a rock on the coast of Spain). But now there are no islands against them - apparently they have disappeared, just like Hades. The island located next to Hades, which Strabo also mentions, also sank.

The North Sea has been waging a centuries-long offensive on the shores of England, France, and Holland. It also consumes islands. Once near the present island of Nordstrand (" North wind") was the island of Südstrand ("South Wind"). In the Middle Ages, it sank to the bottom of the sea, and from Nordstrand the sea took away the city of Runholt and a large piece of land. Legends say that on the site of the terrible Goodwin shoals off the coast of England there was a flowering island of Lomea. It was ruled by Count Goodwin, who aroused the wrath of God, and he sent a flood that consumed the count, his castle, and the entire island. There is another, more plausible version of the death of the island of Lomea. The island has long been threatened with death from sea waters that tirelessly wash away its shores. However, instead of a dam, for the construction of which parishioners raised a large sum of money, a bell tower was built in the city of Hastings, which owned the island. This bell tower can still be seen in the ancient English city. The island, without a protective dam, was gradually swallowed up by the sea, and in its place the Goodwin Shoals were formed.

The famous English geologist Charles Lyell provided evidence that the second version of the death of the island of Lomea is true. Lyell even set the date of his death - 1099.

Thus, throughout historical time, and sometimes literally before our eyes, the birth of islands and their death in the waters of the Atlantic and its seas have occurred and are occurring. In 1932, near the island of St. Paul, which lies in the center of the Atlantic, near the equator, two more islands appeared, born from the eruption of an underwater volcano. They were then swallowed up by the waters of the Atlantic. This happened before people's eyes. And several thousand years ago in this area, as some scientists suggest, a large area of land went under water (the area of St. Paul Island, which is part of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, is insignificant - only 300 square meters!). Here is what oceanographer H. Pettersson writes: “A large island, covered with vegetation, with a fairly wide shelf, crowned the Mid-Atlantic Ridge north-northwest of the St. Paul Rocks and was swallowed up during a seismic-volcanic catastrophe several thousand years ago "

Islands, ridge and ocean

Underwater eruptions that give birth to islands in the ocean usually occur in the area of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge: near the rocks of St. Paul, near the island of Faial (the birth of new islands was observed here not only in 1957, but also twice in the last century), near Iceland ( besides Surtsey, islands were born and disappeared here in 1783, 1422 and 1240). Some explorers and legendary islands on ancient maps associate the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, as well as mysterious lands in the ocean, as reported by ancient authors. These islands could be sections of a ridge that once reached the surface of the ocean, and then sank under water.

The only large section of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge that now rises above sea level is the island of Iceland. Its gaping cracks, volcanoes, mountain ranges arising from solidified lava present a picture, according to Professor O.K. Leontyev, close to the one “that would open before the observer if it were possible to directly examine the rift valley of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge " It is likely that other parts of the ridge, now covered with water, also rose from the ocean. This is convincingly evidenced by guyots - seamounts with flat tops. Once these mountains were above water, and the surf waves gradually “cut” them off; then, as the entire region sank under water, the flat-topped mountains became submerged; some of them are sometimes submerged for a kilometer or more. There are especially many guyots in Pacific Ocean. But there are similar flat-topped mountains in the Atlantic, they are part of the great mountain system Mid-Atlantic Ridge. This means that these areas once had dry land. Coral reefs say the same thing - after all, corals can live only at shallow depths.

Rufus Festus Avienus, who lived in the 4th century BC. e., reports an island in the Atlantic that is “rich in herbs and sacred to Saturn. So violent are the nature of its forces that if anyone, sailing past it, approaches it, the sea will ripple around the island, it itself will shake, the entire open sea will rise, trembling deeply, while the rest of the sea remains calm, like a pond.” Historians of geographical discoveries believe that this describes the island of Tenerife (Canary archipelago), on which there is an active volcano. However, there is no “heaving of the sea” here. But the description of Avien is quite applicable to the eruption of an underwater volcano. It is possible that the “Island of Saturn” is one of those sections of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge that later disappeared under water. Soviet researcher N.F. Zhirov believes that Avien talks about a particularly seismically active zone of the ridge in the area of the equator and the rocks of St. Paul (it occupies about 700,000 square kilometers, and about a hundred strong earthquakes were recorded here, plus the birth and death of a new island , which we talked about above). It is possible that the “island of Saturn” was much closer to the shores of Europe, in the area of the Azores. After all, it was there that several cases of the birth of new lands in the ocean were observed as a result of the activity of underwater volcanoes.

Majority legendary islands ancient maps are placed in the area of the Atlantic where the mountains of the underwater Horseshoe Archipelago and the ridge stretching from Gibraltar to the Azores Islands (where it, as you remember, intersects with the Mid-Atlantic Ridge) are now located. These mountains are located at shallow depths; in this area of the ocean there are many shoals and banks. Back in 1925, the American scientist W. H. Babcock wrote in his book “The Legendary Islands of the Atlantic”: “... it does not seem impossible that some of these jars could have been visible and even inhabited at a time when man had already reached a moderate degree of civilization.” Now that oceanographers have mapped the outlines of the underwater country lying west of Gibraltar, much strong evidence can be given in favor of this hypothesis.

Some banks are submerged only 40–50 meters. Without a doubt, several thousand years ago, when the level of the World Ocean was lower than now, instead of banks there were islands. And if we assume that the areas now submerged to depths of up to 200 meters were previously dry land, then between Gibraltar and the west coast North Africa there must have been an entire archipelago, the islands of which occupied an area of about 350 square kilometers!

“If...” Until recently, it was believed that the level of the World Ocean had never dropped below 130 meters of the current level (at least over the last 35 thousand years). However newest discoveries force us to reconsider the magnitude of fluctuations in the level of the World Ocean. It turns out that 13,000-17,000 years ago it was more than 150 meters lower than the modern one. But the area of the underwater Horseshoe Archipelago is seismically active; not only the advance of ocean waters could occur here, but also the subsidence of land as a result of earthquakes, etc. It is likely that in a relatively recent time (in geological terms) the Horseshoe Archipelago was above water, and not underwater and separate islands they have perished within the memory of mankind. The same can be said about another sunken archipelago - the “South Azores”.

South of the Azores, at a relatively shallow depth, there is big number flat-topped mountains, guyots. Above some guyots the depth is less than 500 meters: for example, above the underwater mountain, named after the oceanographic vessel Atlantis, there is only a 267-meter layer of water, above Mount Cruiser - 294 meters, etc. These guyots were once islands. They found themselves under water not only due to rising sea levels, but also due to the lowering of the earth's crust. After all, the Azores Islands located to the north of this area are still slowly sinking to the bottom of the ocean. About 400 years ago, part of the island of São Miguel became the bottom of a new bay, and the entire archipelago is sinking today at a rate of 5 millimeters per year. It is quite possible that the sinking rate was even higher before. And if you add up the magnitude of the dive with the magnitude of the rise in the level of the World Ocean in recent millennia (more than 150 meters), it becomes clear that the tops of the seamounts south of the Azores once rose above the waters of the Atlantic. If we take this total value to be 500 meters, then the inevitable conclusion is that in addition to the Azores, there was also the South Azores archipelago - and some of these islands may have appeared on ancient maps. And the Azores themselves could have been larger several thousand years ago than they are now.

Number Faroe Islands also there was once more than there is now. Under the water Atlantic Ocean There is the Faroe Highlands, some of whose peaks are covered with a relatively thin layer of water. According to Professor N.F. Zhirov, “somewhere in the Faroe Highlands was the island of Thule, which then sank into the ocean.” The peculiarities of the climate of Thule, which amazed Pytheas (the island was located far in the north, but cereals were sown here, bees were raised, and fruit trees grew), are explained, according to Zhirov, by the fact that “this island was in the main stream of a powerful sea current, somewhat warmer, than the Gulf Stream."

It is possible that many of the islands that Irish sagas and myths tell about also sank to the bottom of the Atlantic - which is why they cannot be identified with the currently known lands. They could be sunken islands in the area of modern Rockall, a tiny island on a large underwater hill with its plateaus, ridges and banks, as well as the surface parts of the Reykjanes Ridge and the Porcupine Rise, which then sank into the water.

Charles Lyell proved the veracity of the version of the death of the island of Lomea and the birth of the Gudviia shoals. Perhaps other geologists and oceanologists will be able to prove that the Celtic legends about the islands of Avalon, Ne, Lyonesse, swallowed up by the sea, are also not just a figment of fantasy, but have a real basis - the flooding of some islands not far from England (or one island, which bore three different names - Avalon, Is, Lyonesse). After all, even the shores of England itself are slowly sinking to the bottom, and in many places on the coast of this island the remains of flooded forests and even settlements are found. Flint tools and the ruins of ancient structures have been discovered in the waters surrounding the Isles of Scilly off the southwestern tip of Britain. And in the open sea, 250 kilometers west of Ireland, a fishing trawl lifted a pot with a Latin inscription from the bottom. Perhaps one of the legendary islands of Celtic legends and ancient maps was once located here.

The Tin Islands, or Cassiterides, as you remember, were searched for in various areas of Europe and were even identified with the Azores. Many researchers believe that the mystery of the Cassiterides will be solved only when we start looking for them at the bottom of the Atlantic. True, here there is no unanimity among scientists: some believe that they were located in the area of the modern Galician Bank, at the northwestern tip of Spain, others place them south of Ireland, in the area of the Big and Small Sol banks, over which there is an insignificant layer of water : Big Sol is submerged at 65 meters, Malaya Sol is only at 20 meters.

Professor Richard Hennig believes that the Amber Island - Abalus - sank in the waters of the North Sea. Moreover, he does not agree with those scientists who consider the ancient Abalus and the now disappeared island of Südstrand, often mentioned in ancient sources, to be the same land. “According to the so-called Waldemar Land Book,” Hennig writes in the first volume of his remarkable monograph “Unknown Lands,” “the island of Südstrand was already in 1231 in close proximity to the mainland, and not at a distance of one day’s sailing from it, but 1500 years earlier (i.e., during the time of Pytheas. - A.K.) was probably still part of the continent itself.” Hennig locates the sunken Abalus in the North Sea, somewhere between the disappearing Heligoland and the recently disappeared Südstrand.

Perhaps ancient sailors not only discovered islands that have now sunk to the bottom, but also witnessed their destruction. For example, on the map of Admiral Piri Reis there is an inscription that says that between Iceland and Greenland in 1456 “an island burned.” We have reached us an excerpt from a description of the voyage of the Carthaginian Hanno along the African coast, which lasted several months. Hanno managed to reach the Gulf of Guinea and sail along its shores, perhaps even crossing the equator. Moreover, Hanno reports that he and his companions “passed by a sultry country full of incense. Huge streams of fire poured out of it into the sea. The country is inaccessible due to the heat. We quickly sailed away from there in fear. We rushed around for four days and at night we saw the earth full of flames. In the middle there was a very high fire, larger than the others. It seemed as if he was touching the stars. During the day it turned out to be the greatest mountain, called Theon-Ochema, the Chariot of the Gods. Three days later, having sailed through fiery streams, we arrived at a bay called the Southern Horn" (before that, Hanno sailed along big bay Western Horn, where “large islands ended up”).

Scientists are still arguing about what point in Africa the brave Carthaginian reached. The Horn of the South, as well as the Chariot of the Gods, are placed in various parts of the African coast, from Morocco to Corisco Bay in the Congo! Some researchers consider the Tenerife volcano in the Canary archipelago to be the “Chariot of the Gods”, others consider Cape Verde, and most modern scientists believe that this is Mount Cameroon (even in our century there have been three strong eruptions of this volcano). However, Hanno reports “fiery streams” pouring into the ocean when the ships sailed through “a country full of incense” - there is no such “fiery country” on the shores of Africa. And the description of the “Chariot of the Gods”, surrounded by earth, “full of flame”, also does not really correspond to Cameroon, which, although great, cannot turn an entire country into “fiery”: the area of \u200b\u200blavas poured out by Cameroon has been studied and it is not too large . Perhaps Ganno witnessed the death of some part of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge caused by underwater volcanic activity.

This hypothesis was expressed by N.F. Zhirov in the book “Atlantis (Main Problems of Atlantology),” published in 1964. Even earlier, his idea was presented in artistic form by Professor A.I. Nemirovsky in the story “Behind the Pillars of the Mel-Kart”. Zhirov believes that “perhaps the Carthaginian Hanno witnessed the death of the southern remnants of Atlantis, for in the periplus (“the periplus of Hanno” is the name given to a Greek manuscript of the 10th century, a copy of an original that has not reached us. - A.K.) it is not indicated from which side of the ship Hanno saw the burning earth. We assume this was the place south of the islands Cape Verde (in the area of the former Equatorial Archipelago of Atlantis)."

Our book is called “The Atlantic without Atlantis,” and we will not consider issues related to this legendary continent, no matter how interesting they may seem (we will refer the reader to Zhirov’s monograph, as well as to the book of the author of these lines, “Secrets of the Three Oceans,” appendix to which, dedicated to Atlantis, was written by Zhirov and is the last work of this researcher, who died in December 1970). Let us only note that, regardless of Plato’s Atlantis, real or fictitious, in the periplus of Hanno we could be talking about some land in the Atlantic, which now rests on the bottom of the ocean.

The Goodwin Shoals, near the Pas de Calais Strait that separates England from the mainland, have claimed 50,000 lives and swallowed hundreds of ships over the past two centuries, with a total value of more than half a billion dollars. A thousand years ago, in their place was the inhabited island of Lomea. Legends say that the island was swallowed up by a flood. The ruler of the island, Count Goodwin, provoked the wrath of God, and the waters of the flood swallowed up the sinful count, his castle, and the entire island. There is another, more plausible version of the death of the island of Lomea: it has long been threatened by sea waters constantly washing away the shores. However, instead of a dam, for the construction of which the parishioners raised a lot of money, a bell tower was erected in the city of Hastings, which owned the island... and Lomea was swallowed up by the sea. Charles Lyell, one of the founders of modern geology, not only provided evidence in favor of the second version, but also established the exact date of the death of the island - 1099.

To the south of the legendary islands and the very real sunken coast of southwestern England there were once the famous Cassiterides - the Tin Islands, which were reported by many ancient geographers and which are so unsuccessfully found on the modern geographical map of our days. And it is quite possible that on the shelf of the North Sea, in addition to Amber Island, Avalon, Isa, Lyonesse and Lomea, submarine archaeologists will still find the mysterious Cassiterides.

"Tin Islands"

“Midacritus was the first to bring tin from the Cassiterides,” we read from Pliny. Historians suggest that the name Midakrit is a reworking of the Phoenician word Melqart, and Pliny only reports that Phoenician sailors were the first to reach the Tin Islands. In Strabo's Geography we find a detailed description of the Cassiterides, compiled from the words of the Roman ruler of Spain, Publius Crassus, who visited them in 95–93 BC. e. “There are ten Cassiteridean islands,” writes Strabo, “they lie close to each other in the open sea north of the Artabrian harbor. One of them is deserted, but the rest are inhabited by people who wear black cloaks, walk in heel-length tunics, gird their breasts, and walk with sticks, like goddesses of vengeance in tragedies. They lead a nomadic lifestyle, mostly feeding from their herds. They have tin and lead mines; They give these metals and cattle hides to sea traders in exchange for pottery, salt and copper products. In former times, only the Phoenicians carried on this trade... however, the Romans, after repeated attempts, discovered this sea route. After Publius Crassus crossed over to them and saw that metals were mined at shallow depths and the people there were peaceful, he immediately communicated the information to everyone who wanted to trade with them overseas, although this sea is wider than the sea that separates Britain from the mainland. »

Thus, in addition to the two “Eldorados of Tin” - Spain and Britain, the ancient world also had a third center - the Cassiterides. According to Professor Hennig, this third center did not exist, for the Cassiterides are nothing more than the name of the British Isles, together with the island of Ouessant, which lies off the coast of the French peninsula of Brittany. Other researchers (and in an equally categorical form) argue that Strabo’s message we cited “really means nothing more than the discovery and capture of tin mines by Crassus, located somewhere in the extreme north-west of Spain.” Still others say that the original Cassiterides were small islands lying not far from the Spanish coast, between the mouth of the Minho River and Cape Finisterre. Still others believe that the Cassiterides are the Isles of Scilly near the southwestern tip of England. Still others move the Cassiterides far to the west, into the open ocean, identifying them with the Azores archipelago. Finally, there is a point of view according to which “we are only dealing with legends about large deposits of tin in Western Europe, from where it reached the Eastern Mediterranean through numerous intermediaries. At the same time, trading intermediaries had every reason to shroud the location of the country from which tin was exported in fog.” However, there was never tin in the Azores, and this Cassiterides "address" is clearly erroneous. Scilly’s “addresses” near Britain and the islands off the coast of Spain are also not suitable. And Spain itself, a huge peninsula, does not correspond to the description of the ten islands, just like the British Isles, for the same Strabo directly indicates in his “Geography” that on the other side of the Pillars of Hercules, that is, the Strait of Gibraltar, lie “Gadir, Cassiterides and British Isles", and gives a detailed description of Britain separate from the story of the Cassiterides.

“The Romans acquired tin in the northwestern part of Spain. The "Tin Islands" which appear in their descriptions lie beyond this part of Spain, and are distinguished by certain curious peculiarities which prevent them from being confused with Britain, writes Professor J. Thompson in his History of Ancient Geography. “Not one of the actually existing groups of islands corresponds to these descriptions”... Does this mean that the mysterious Cassiterides are located in the same place as Amber Island - at the bottom of the sea? Pytheas visited the Tin Islands, as well as the Amber Island, so there is no doubt about their reality. Pliny and Ptolemy, two of the most famous scientists of antiquity, say that the Cassiterides were about 100 kilometers west of the northwestern tip of the Iberian Peninsula. Nowadays there are no islands in this area, but studies at the bottom have discovered shallow banks here.

In 1958, an expedition on the oceanographic vessel Discovery 2, studying the relief of the Galician Bank, located off the northwestern tip of Spain, discovered a flat underwater peak at a depth of about 400 fathoms. The bank may have been a large block of land that subsided several hundred meters as a result of rifts similar to those that created the rift valleys in East Africa. “The subsidence, of course, could have occurred in historical times,” writes English oceanologist G. Gaskell. “However, excellent photographs of the ocean floor at this site do not reveal any traces of human activity, and the samples taken do not contain any building stone or fragments of ancient pottery.” French explorers S. Hutin and Le Danois believe that the Cassiterides could have been located near the Great and Little Sol banks, located south of Ireland and west of Cape Finisterre, somewhere between 48 and 49 degrees north latitude and between 8 and 10 degrees western longitude, with the depths of the first being about 65 meters and the second being only about 20 meters. The Cassiterides could have been located not in the Atlantic, but in the English Channel and even in the North Sea. For this sea is a continuous shelf.

North Sea Atlantis

During the last glaciation, when the level of the World Ocean was more than 100 meters lower than today, the North Sea did not exist. The British Isles were connected by land to the Scottish and Orkney Islands, as well as to continental Europe. The peninsulas of Jutland and Scandinavia were part of a single landmass. Huge glaciers covered almost all of Scandinavia, Scotland and all northern part the present North Sea.

Geological and oceanographic data indicate that the current English Channel was the valley of a powerful ancient river, the tributaries of which were the Thames, Seine, Scheldt, Meuse, Rhine and a number of other, smaller rivers of North-Western Europe, now flowing into the North Sea. Detailed measurements have shown that the valleys of these rivers form an extensive network that runs along the slopes of a huge sandbank called Dogger Bank, a famous fishing “paradise” known to all trawlers and fishing vessels in Europe and America. The huge, oblong shoal of the Dogger Bank stretches from southwest to northeast for more than 250 kilometers. Its width reaches three tens of kilometers, and its depths do not fall below 37 meters. Several thousand years ago, on the site of Dogger Banks in the central North Sea, there was big Island. And this island was inhabited - not only peat bog and mammoth bones were recovered from the Dogger Bank shelf, but also tools primitive man and other evidence of human activity.

It might be useful to read: