Altamura Island ( or ''de Altamura'') is an island of

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

, in the

Gulf of California The Gulf of California (), also known as the Sea of Cortés (''Mar de Cortés'') or Sea of Cortez, or less commonly as the Vermilion Sea (''Mar Vermejo''), is a marginal sea of the Pacific Ocean that separates the Baja California peninsula from ...

. It is located in the ''bahía de Santa María'', on the west coast of the

state State most commonly refers to: * State (polity), a centralized political organization that regulates law and society within a territory **Sovereign state, a sovereign polity in international law, commonly referred to as a country **Nation state, a ...

Sinaloa Sinaloa (), officially the (), is one of the 31 states which, along with Mexico City, compose the Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided into 18 municipalities, and its capital city is Culiacán Rosales. It is located in northwest Mexic ...

, southwest of Saliaca Island, separated by an area of shallow water. It is located west of

Culiacán Culiacán, officially Culiacán Rosales, is a city in northwestern Mexico, the capital and largest city of both Culiacán Municipality and the state of Sinaloa. The city was founded on 29 September 1531 by the Spanish conquistadors Lázaro de ...

. Its area is , and it is approximately long, while its width ranges from to . It is one of the largest private islands in the world. It is a

barrier island Barrier islands are a Coast#Landforms, coastal landform, a type of dune, dune system and sand island, where an area of sand has been formed by wave and tidal action parallel to the mainland coast. They usually occur in chains, consisting of an ...

with open beaches and large sand dunes. In the southern part there are

intertidal zone The intertidal zone or foreshore is the area above water level at low tide and underwater at high tide; in other words, it is the part of the littoral zone within the tidal range. This area can include several types of habitats with various ...

s made of

silt Silt is granular material of a size between sand and clay and composed mostly of broken grains of quartz. Silt may occur as a soil (often mixed with sand or clay) or as sediment mixed in suspension (chemistry), suspension with water. Silt usually ...

clay Clay is a type of fine-grained natural soil material containing clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolinite, ). Most pure clay minerals are white or light-coloured, but natural clays show a variety of colours from impuriti ...

sand Sand is a granular material composed of finely divided mineral particles. Sand has various compositions but is usually defined by its grain size. Sand grains are smaller than gravel and coarser than silt. Sand can also refer to a textural ...

and

gravel Gravel () is a loose aggregation of rock fragments. Gravel occurs naturally on Earth as a result of sedimentation, sedimentary and erosion, erosive geological processes; it is also produced in large quantities commercially as crushed stone. Gr ...

; in the remaining part of the island there is coastline, as well as large

dunes A dune is a landform composed of wind- or water-driven sand. It typically takes the form of a mound, ridge, or hill. An area with dunes is called a dune system or a dune complex. A large dune complex is called a dune field, while broad, flat ...

of sand in the northwestern part. It is part of the ''bahía de Santa María'' complex, and there is a great variety of

marine life Marine life, sea life or ocean life is the collective ecological communities that encompass all aquatic animals, aquatic plant, plants, algae, marine fungi, fungi, marine protists, protists, single-celled marine microorganisms, microorganisms ...

migratory birds Bird migration is a seasonal movement of birds between breeding and wintering grounds that occurs twice a year. It is typically from north to south or from south to north. Migration is inherently risky, due to predation and mortality. The ...

and even

whales Whales are a widely distributed and diverse group of fully Aquatic animal, aquatic placental mammal, placental marine mammals. As an informal and Colloquialism, colloquial grouping, they correspond to large members of the infraorder Cetacea ...

History

The current name of the island occurs for the first time inside Mexico newspaper ''El Siglo Diez y Nueve'' dated November, 9th 1854 and, in particular, inside a geographical account given by an unknown correspondent based in Guyamas: ElSigloDiezyNueve, p. 3 From the account given by the unknown correspondent, it can be inferred that as of September, 27th 1854 the island didn't appear in any of the maps examined. A few hypotheses have recently been suggested about the origin of the island's name, which is formally identical to that of the city of

Altamura Altamura (; ; ) is a town and ''comune'' of Apulia, in southern Italy. It is located on one of the hills of the Altopiano delle Murge, Murge plateau in the Metropolitan City of Bari, southwest of Bari, close to the border with Basilicata. , i ...

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

. Berloco In particular, on an ancient map dated 1579 by

Abraham Ortelius Abraham Ortelius (; also Ortels, Orthellius, Wortels; 4 or 14 April 152728 June 1598) was a cartographer, geographer, and cosmographer from Antwerp in the Spanish Netherlands. He is recognized as the creator of the list of atlases, first modern ...

, occurs the name ''Atamirato'' which might be a pre-existing name given by the

Indigenous people of Mexico Indigenous peoples of Mexico (), Native Mexicans () or Mexican Native Americans (), are those who are part of communities that trace their roots back to populations and communities that existed in what is now Mexico before the arrival of Europe ...

or it may have derived from Altamira, which was also common as a surname of nobles. This name allegedly became "Altamura" and, in this respect, it's worth noting the presence in the area of Mexico in front of the island of Italian missionaries in the

17th century The 17th century lasted from January 1, 1601 (represented by the Roman numerals MDCI), to December 31, 1700 (MDCC). It falls into the early modern period of Europe and in that continent (whose impact on the world was increasing) was characterized ...

and

18th century The 18th century lasted from 1 January 1701 (represented by the Roman numerals MDCCI) to 31 December 1800 (MDCCC). During the 18th century, elements of Enlightenment thinking culminated in the Atlantic Revolutions. Revolutions began to ch ...

centuries. The work ''Bibliothecae Dominicanae'' (1677) by

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

Dominican Ambrogio del Giudice (nicknamed "Altamura") may also have played a role in the current name of the island since the book provided accounts of some religious people who evangelized or lived in Mexico.

References

External links

Private Islands

Isla Altamura, un paraíso dentro de la Bahía Santa María

Bibliography

* * *{{Cite journal , title= Isla Altamura - Sulle (possibili) origini storiche di un toponimo , author=Fabrizio Berloco , year=2024 , journal=InStoria , issue=196 , issn=1974-028X , ref=Berloco , url=http://www.instoria.it/home/isla_altamura.htm Islands of Sinaloa Islands of the Gulf of California Uninhabited islands of Mexico