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/ándrows, ándras/ [cf. quot., also the Greek island Andros] n. the largest island of the Bahamas. Its earliest names include Isla Santa (1501 Cantino map), Abacoa (1523 Turin map), and Cabacos (1529 Ribero map) according to Curry (1928:26). The name Andros seems to have been first used in the 18th century, when it is found in a 1731 reference to "the islands of Andros and Ilathera" (Catesby 30) and on a 1771 map as Andres and in 1786 as Andross (Fenning & Collyer 58). Bell (1934:141) suggests that the name derives "perchance from the fact that upon the ceding of the island of St. Andro (sic) on the African (sic) Mosquito Coast to Spain, the inhabitants were given Andros to settle upon." The British protectorate of the Mosquito Shore (1741-1786) on what is today the eastern coast of Nicaragua and Honduras, included the island of San Andres. Parsons (1918:ix) notes that "the bulk of (Andros') original settlers . migrated to the island from the Mosquito Coast in 1783". An 1823 document (quoted by Porter 1945:58) refers to the island as St. Andrews. Bell (op. cit.) suggests an alternative source, "Sir Edmund Andros, Commander of the Forces in Barbados in 1672" without explaining the possible connection.