The Wonderful World of Completely Random Facts — Issue 64

What Were the Canary Islands Named After?

The Canary Islands are off the northwest African mainland and are an autonomous community of Spain. It would seem that the Canary Islands were named after the bird of the same name, but this isn’t the case. The name of the islands came from the Latin Insula Canaria, meaning “islands of dogs,” and the bird, canary, was later named after the islands.

The origin of the island’s name can be traced back to when the Romans were exploring the islands, specifically from Pliny the Elder’s writings in 77 AD. He recorded the discoveries of an expedition to the islands by Mauretanian king Juba II and put them in his work Natural History. Juba II was an ally of the Romans and found “vast multitudes of dogs of very large size” on the islands. The problem was there was no evidence of big dogs on the island at this time.

It’s believed that Pliny the Elder may have been referring to colonies of Mediterranean monk seals, which were known as “sea wolves” or “sea dogs” to Roman sailors. These seals may have been where the island got its name and had nothing to do with dogs on land.

There is another theory that the name may have derived from the Canarii tribe of Berbers, who lived near the coast of Morocco, and that this…