
Northern part of Lanzarote and Chinijo Archipielago
'Lancelotto Malocello' (in
Latin, 'Lanzarotus Marocelus'; in
French 'Lancelot Maloisel') (fl.
1312) was a
Genovese navigator who gave his name to the island of
Lanzarote, one of the
Canary Islands. Malocello perhaps voyaged in search of the
Vandino and Ugolino Vivaldi, who had voyaged to the Canary Islands in
1291 on their way to
India and whose fate was unknown. Malocello arrived on the island in
1312, and remained there for almost two decades until he was expelled by a
Guanche revolt. Information about this revolt is scanty, but his stay on the island is supported by various sources, including the chronicles of the
Norman conquest of the island under
Jean de Bethencourt almost a century later, which state that the fortress constructed by Malocello could still be found on the island. Malocello's fortress was situated above
Teguise.
At the time of Malocello's arrival, a king named
Zonzamas ruled the island. Ico, his daughter, and
Guanarteme, her consort, succeeded Zonzamas. Their son Guadarfia was the ruler who would greet the expedition of Jean de Bethencourt in
1402.
Angelino Dulcert gives the first recorded name of the island as ''Insula de Lanzarotus Marocelus''; its native name was ''Tite-Roy-Gatra''. ''Lancelotto'' is the Italian form of the proper name
Lancelot.
An
Italian warship, the ''
Lanzerotto Malocello'', was named after him. It saw action during the
Spanish Civil War and
World War II.
[1]
Sources
★ José Juan Acosta; Félix Rodríguez Lorenzo; Carmelo L. Quintero Padrón, ''Conquista y Colonización'' (Santa Cruz de Tenerife: Centro de la Cultura Popular Canaria, 1988), p. 23.