The Voynich Manuscript as an Iberian-African Voyage Record

[Kaybo]

The VMs 'critter' has had a number of potential interpretations and pangolin has certainly been one of them. There are, however, several problems with that identification. First, it is generally considered that the scales are on backwards and the long, flat tail is missing, *if* it is a pangolin.

More importantly, in addition to the 'critter' itself, there are two other artistic elements directly beneath it. The first of these is a nebuly line. As demonstrated in the VMs cosmos, the VMs artist knew the standard, medieval use of a nebuly line as a wolkenband (cloud band) and as a cosmic boundary, often found in religious imagery as a separation between the mundane and the divine. Why would a pangolin be associated with a cosmic boundary and what are all the little dashed markings below the nebuly line?

The answer is found in BNF Fr. 13096 f. 18. The critter associated with a cosmic boundary is the Agnus Dei and the dashed markings are the droplets of blood. Furthermore, the structural sequence with the lamb on one side of the cosmic boundary and the droplets of blood on the other side has only been shown in this historical illustration. Although produced in 1313, provenance indicates this manuscript was later in the library of the Dukes of Burgundy.

That are interesting thoughts, but maybe a bit of an over interpretation? For me its a pillow. Valuable animals were presented on pillows in books of that time. 
However, the pangolin was a very spiritual animal for West Africa. It connects to the ghost world. 

All paintings are not 100% correct and more of a symbolic nature. They are painted from descriptions or from sketches that maybe only contain parts of the plants and the rest was made up. That is what you would expect from the first travel books to Africa at that time. Systematic paintings start a lot later, around 1500. 

More context to African journey theory:
There are nearly no books left from the time of Henry the navigator today.
But in later books that mention the early roteiros it was always talked about books that were unreadable anymore, corrupted and therefore useless.
We have at least two sources that stated that:
„Crónica dos feitos da Guiné“ (Gomes Eanes de Zurara, ca. 1453)

"Décadas da Ásia“   (João de Barros ca 1552)