Page 210 - Lanzarotto Malocello from Italy to the Canary Islands

210 from Italy to the Canary Islands

convent of San Barnaba in 1385) but for his bold thesis differing from
all the others, according to which Genoa would have had no interest in
making Atlantic voyages, because - at most - the Genoese could have been
more interested in concessions (not actual colonies) in the eastern Medi-
terranean. The colonial possession “in Canaria” would have held greater
interest for the Iberian countries, to open up a more wide-ranging trade
network. From this, Barozzi argues that the thesis that the expedition had
been ordered by the Genoese government or by a private consortium of
merchants has no basis, and neither does the idea that Lanzarotto had taken
to the sea to search for the Vivaldi brothers; furthermore, no coeval Ge-
noese historian or chronicler ever spoke of Lanzarotto and his discovery.
Lastly, for the record, Wikipedia lists the date of 1312 for the arrival of
Lanzarotto Malocello in the Canary Islands.