Placer (geography)

Placer ( pt, parcel or ''pracel'') is a term used by Portuguese and Spanish navigators and cartographers to refer to a certain kind of submerged bank or reef. Commonly the bottom of such a reef is sandy, but there are some where the bottom is muddy or stoney. Although most reefs designated as placer are flat and shallow, exceptionally there are some that do not share those characteristics and are known as ''placer acantilado''. A placer usually provides an anchorage for seagoing vessels.Martín Fernández de Navarrete, ''Diccionario marítimo español'', 1831
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Etymology

The word placer derives from the Spanish ''placer'', meaning shoal or alluvial/sand deposit, from ''plassa'' (place) from Medieval Latin ''placea'' (place) the origin word for "place" and "plaza" in English. The word in Spanish is thus derived from placea and refers directly to an alluvial or glacial deposit of sand or gravel.

Spanish navigator and explorer Pedro Sarmiento de Gamboa commented that ''placer'' likely originated as a term derived from placer mining in the Antilles, where pearl fishing was done mostly on shallow sandy reefs, which were compared to the sandy grounds in rivers where gold nuggets were found.

Since the word ''Placer'' in Spanish means 'pleasure', according to 16th century scientist Juan Pérez de Moya a placer is every dangerous submerged shallow bank. Moya claims that the landforms that received this denomination did so in an ironical manner, for it would be everything but a pleasure to navigate those treacherous waters under the constant risk of running aground.
However, other navigators contradict Moya by claiming that such a shallow ground would provide mariners with a much welcome anchorage after a long open sea journey, for in some ''placeres'' the waters are not as rough as in the open seas.

Use of the term

The term appears in Spanish nautical charts as ''placer'', although Pedro Sarmiento de Gamboa writes it as ''placel''.
The Portuguese language equivalent and derived term is ''pracel'' or ''parcel''. In present times some of the geographical names used by the Spanish cartographers, such as ''Placer de los Colorados,'' ''Placer de los Estudios,'' ''Placer de Playa Grande,'' ''Placer de Montechristi,'' ''Placer de Quatro Cayos'', ''Placer de la Gallega'', ''Placer de las Tortugas'' and ''Placer de los Siete Hermanos'' have become obsolete or have been superseded by English terms. Still, many other ''placeres'' mentioned in 19th-century Spanish Navigation Instruction Manuals were not even named. Not all ''placeres'' are in the open sea; the ''Isla Cangrejos'' in the Orinoco Delta was described as having a ''placer'' that stretched from its NE point composed of ground-coffee coloured hard sand.''Derrotero de las islas Antillas, de las costas de Tierra Firme y de las del Seno Mexicano'' p. 50
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*Paracel Islands. Portuguese navigators whose vessels frequented the South China Sea as early as at the beginning of the 16th century, were the first to refer to the Paracel Islands as ''Ilhas do Pracel''. French explorers and cartographers used the Portuguese terms ''Pracel'' or ''Parcel''. In the "Map of the coast of Tonquin and Cochinchina", made in 1747 by Pierre d'Hondt, the dangerous cluster of reefs of the ''Ilhas do Pracel'' was labeled ''"Le Paracel"''.Nguyễn Đại Việt, ''Paracel and Spratly Islands on Charts and Maps made by Westerners''
Hoàng Sa và Trường Sa trên Bản đồ Tây Phương
2009.
*'' Parcel dos Abrolhos'' and '' Parcel das Paredes'', in the Abrolhos Archipelago area off the Brazilian coast in the Atlantic Ocean.
*'' Placer de los Roques'', also known as Cay Sal Bank.
*'' Placer de la Serranilla'', historical name of the Serranilla Bank.''Derrotero de las islas Antillas y de las costas orientales de América'' p. 333
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*'' Placer de la Víbora'', former name of Pedro Bank.
*'' Placer de Rosalinda'', Spanish name of Rosalind Bank.
*'' Placer de la Misteriosa'', Spanish name of Misteriosa Bank''.''Derrotero de las islas Antillas, de las costas de Tierra Firme y de las del Seno Mexicano'' p. 420
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*'' Placer de la Guaira'', Spanish name of La Guaira Bank''.
*''Placer de los Caicos'', Spanish name of the Caicos Bank.''Derrotero de las islas Antillas y de las costas orientales de América'' p. 95
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*'' Placer de las Bóvedas'', in the Mediterranean Sea east of Estepona, a good fishing and scuba diving site.Pesca Palos - El Placer de las Bóvedas
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Cartography

See also

*Ocean bank
*Reef

References

{{reflist, 2

External links

Fishing in the Placer de la Guaira

Spanish words and phrases
Geography terminology
Undersea banks

es:Placer (geografía)
pt:Parcel