1567
- Anton Van Den Wyngaerde - Gibraltar - Part 3
This is
actually the first picture of the Campo area created by Wyngaede. It is a long
narrow work that gave us a very good idea of what the nearby world was like on
the other side of the Bay. It was creates in 1567 the same year as the
Gibraltar sketches.
The title
is Africa Pars - or part of Africa - although Africa really has very little to
do with it. His was a theoretically impossible view from somewhere between Estepona
and Pedro de Alcántara that took in the sixty five kilometres of coast line
from Jubelaltar (A) - the Rock from the east - to La punte de Torre Blanco (Q) - La Punta de
la Torre Blanca on the west.
The view of the 65 kilometres of coastline from Estepona
As I did
in my previous two Wyngaerde articles I have divided the picture into smaller
sections for easier reading. I have also attached a complete copy of the
captions onto each section although this appears only once on the left hand
side of the complete picture - as shown above.
Section 1
Only
1 caption on this one - T = The road to Malaga
Section 2
O =
The mountain of Marbella - or the hill above the town of the same name.
P =
The town Marbella shown completely surrounded by defensive walls.
Q =
Torre Blanca Point - I can’t identify this tower which may have existed
somewhere close to Fuengiropa but which no longer exists.
Section 3
N =
Sierra Bermeja (see LINK) where Alonso de Aguilar - a brave friend of the
Marquis of Cadiz - Ponce de Leon - who was ambushed in Bermeja by Moorish
forces probably in the late 15th century.
V =
The Roman baths at Pedro de Alcántara which Anton labels erroneously as old
Moorish Baths. The aqueduct that once supplied water to these baths is included
in the sketch.
Section 4
Melila
= Melilla
El
Pinion = Peñón de Vélez de la Gomera - Both of these were towns on the coast of
Barbary. They would not have been visible from Estepona but Wyngaerde had
visited both of them during a military expedition in which they were retaken by
Spain.
R =
The walled town of Estepona.
Section 5
A =
Gibraltar
B =
Punta Carnero in Spain
C =
Gebel Musa - Often thought of as the African Pillar of Hercules (See LINK)
D =
Ceuta - When this sketch was drawn it was the property of the King of Portugal.
E =
Tetuan - or the area around it in Barbary.
K = Torre de la sal - Defensive medieval tower
near Estepona and still there
L =
Peña de las Palomas - I am not sure where this is.
M =
Tower of Arroyo Vaquero another medieval tower near Estepona and still also
there.
Section 6
S =
Summit of Sierra Carbonera
F =
La Torre Carbonera - In the wrong place - it should be on the summit of Sierra
Carbonera. Wyngaerde actually placed it correctly in one of his preliminary
sketches of Gibraltar
G =
The mouth of the Guadiaro River with its source in Ronda
H =
La Torre de la Chulera - Yet another medieval tower.
I =
La torre de la Duquesa - And another one.
See also
the following links: