Brazil (mythical Island)
Brasil, also known as Hy-Brasil and several other variants, is a phantom island said to lie in the Atlantic Ocean west of Ireland. Irish myths described it as cloaked in mist except for one day every seven years, when it becomes visible but still cannot be reached. Etymology The etymology of the names ''Brasil'' and ''Hy-Brasil'' is unknown, but in Irish tradition it is thought to come from the Irish (meaning "descendants (i.e., clan) of Bresail"), one of the ancient clans of northeastern Ireland. cf. Old Irish: : island; : beauty, worth, great, mighty. Despite the similarity, the name of the country Brazil (Portuguese: ) has no connection to the mythical islands (although J. R. R. Tolkien's essay "On Fairy Stories" linked them). The South American country was at first named Ilha de Vera Cruz (''Island of the True Cross'') and later Terra de Santa Cruz (''Land of the Holy Cross'') by the Portuguese navigators who arrived there. After some decades, it started to be called ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Brazil
Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area and the seventh most populous. Its capital is Brasília, and its most populous city is São Paulo. The federation is composed of the union of the 26 States of Brazil, states and the Federal District (Brazil), Federal District. It is the largest country to have Portuguese language, Portuguese as an List of territorial entities where Portuguese is an official language, official language and the only one in the Americas; one of the most Multiculturalism, multicultural and ethnically diverse nations, due to over a century of mass Immigration to Brazil, immigration from around the world; and the most populous Catholic Church by country, Roman Catholic-majority country. Bounded by the Atlantic Ocean on the east, Brazil has a Coastline of Brazi ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Portolan Chart
Portolan charts are nautical charts, first made in the 13th century in the Mediterranean basin and later expanded to include other regions. The word ''portolan'' comes from the Italian ''portulano'', meaning "related to ports or harbors", and which since at least the 17th century designates "a collection of sailing directions". Definition The term “portolan chart” was coined in the 1890s because at the time it was assumed that these maps were related to portolani, medieval or early modern books of sailing directions. Other names that have been proposed include rhumb line charts, compass charts or loxodromic charts whereas modern French scholars prefer to call them nautical charts to avoid any relationship with portolani. Several definitions of portolan chart coexist in the literature. A narrow definition includes only medieval or, at the latest, early modern sea charts (i.e. maps that primarily cover maritime rather than inland regions) that include a network of rhumb li ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Gerardus Mercator
Gerardus Mercator (; 5 March 1512 – 2 December 1594) was a 16th-century geographer, cosmographer and cartographer from the County of Flanders. He is most renowned for creating the 1569 world map based on a new projection which represented sailing courses of constant bearing ( rhumb lines) as straight lines—an innovation that is still employed in nautical charts. Mercator was a highly influential pioneer in the history of cartography. Monmonier, Mark: ''Rhumb Lines and Map Wars: A Social History of the Mercator Projection''. (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2004)Van der Krogt, Peter (2015), 'Chapter 6: Gerhard Mercator and his Cosmography: How the 'Atlas' became an Atlas,'; in: Gerhard Holzer, et al. (eds.), ''A World of Innovation: Cartography in the Time of Gerhard Mercator''. (Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2015), pp. 112–130 Along with Gemma Frisius and Abraham Ortelius, he is generally considered one of the founders of the Netherlandish ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Piri Reis
Ahmet Muhiddin Piri ( 1465 – 1553), better known as Piri Reis ( tr, Pîrî Reis (military rank), Reis or ''Hacı Ahmet Muhittin Pîrî Bey''), was a Navigation, navigator, Geography in medieval Islam, geographer and Cartography, cartographer. He is primarily known today for his maps and charts collected in his ''Kitab-ı Bahriye'' (''Book of Navigation''), a book that contains detailed information on early navigational techniques as well as relatively accurate charts for their time, describing the important ports and cities of the Mediterranean Sea. He gained fame as a cartographer when a small part of Piri Reis map, his first world map, prepared in 1513, was discovered in 1929 at the Topkapı Palace in Istanbul. His world map is the oldest known Turkish atlas showing the New World, and one of the oldest maps of America still existing anywhere (the oldest known surviving map of America is the map of Juan de la Cosa, map drawn by Juan de la Cosa in 1500). Piri Reis's map is cent ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Galway Bay
Galway Bay (Irish: ''Loch Lurgain'' or ''Cuan na Gaillimhe'') is a bay on the west coast of Ireland, between County Galway in the province of Connacht to the north and the Burren in County Clare in the province of Munster to the south; Galway city is on the northeast side. The bay is about long and from to in breadth. The Aran Islands (''Oileáin Árann'') are to the west across the entrance and there are numerous small islands within the bay. To the west of Galway, the rocks are granite but to the south they are limestone. The approaches to the bay between the Aran Islands and the mainland are as follows: * the North Sound (''An Súnda ó Thuaidh'') lies between Inishmore and Leitir Mealláin in Connemara; known as ''Bealach Locha Lurgan'' in Irish. * Gregory's Sound (''Súnda Ghríoghóra'') lies between Inishmore and Inishmaan; known as ''Bealach na h-Áite'' in Irish. * Foul Sound (''An Súnda Salach'') lies between Inishmaan and Inisheer; known as ''Bealach na Fear ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Strait
A strait is an oceanic landform connecting two seas or two other large areas of water. The surface water generally flows at the same elevation on both sides and through the strait in either direction. Most commonly, it is a narrow ocean channel that lies between two land masses. Some straits are not navigable, for example because they are either too narrow or too shallow, or because of an unnavigable reef or archipelago. Straits are also known to be loci for sediment accumulation. Usually, sand-size deposits occur on both the two opposite strait exits, forming subaqueous fans or deltas. Terminology The terms ''channel'', ''pass'', or ''passage'' can be synonymous and used interchangeably with ''strait'', although each is sometimes differentiated with varying senses. In Scotland, ''firth'' or ''Kyle'' are also sometimes used as synonyms for strait. Many straits are economically important. Straits can be important shipping routes and wars have been fought for control of them. ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Circle
A circle is a shape consisting of all points in a plane that are at a given distance from a given point, the centre. Equivalently, it is the curve traced out by a point that moves in a plane so that its distance from a given point is constant. The distance between any point of the circle and the centre is called the radius. Usually, the radius is required to be a positive number. A circle with r=0 (a single point) is a degenerate case. This article is about circles in Euclidean geometry, and, in particular, the Euclidean plane, except where otherwise noted. Specifically, a circle is a simple closed curve that divides the plane into two regions: an interior and an exterior. In everyday use, the term "circle" may be used interchangeably to refer to either the boundary of the figure, or to the whole figure including its interior; in strict technical usage, the circle is only the boundary and the whole figure is called a '' disc''. A circle may also be defined as a special ki ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Greenland
Greenland ( kl, Kalaallit Nunaat, ; da, Grønland, ) is an island country in North America that is part of the Kingdom of Denmark. It is located between the Arctic and Atlantic oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Greenland is the world's largest island. It is one of three constituent countries that form the Kingdom of Denmark, along with Denmark and the Faroe Islands; the citizens of these countries are all citizens of Denmark and the European Union. Greenland's capital is Nuuk. Though a part of the continent of North America, Greenland has been politically and culturally associated with Europe (specifically Norway and Denmark, the colonial powers) for more than a millennium, beginning in 986.The Fate of Greenland's Vikings , by Dale Mackenzie Brown, ''Archaeological Institute of America'', ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Catalan Chart
Catalan charts or Catalan portolans are portolan charts in Catalan language. Portolan charts are a type of medieval and early modern map that focuses on maritime geography and includes a network of rhumb lines.Maps and their Makers, J.C.C Crone, Hutchinson & Co, London, W.I (1964) Most medieval portolan charts were made in Italian-speaking cities (mainly Genoa and Venice), with a substantial minory made in Catalan-speaking Majorca. In the 19th century, historians of cartography emphasized the differences of style and content between Italian and Catalan charts, but other authors have nuanced this distinction since then. Common properties of all portolan charts Portolan charts all share the characteristic windrose networks, which emanate out from compass roses located at various points on the map. These better called windrose lines, are generated by observation and the compass, and designated lines of bearing (though not to be confused with modern rhumb lines, meridians or is ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Monte Brasil
Monte Brasil is the remnants of a tuff volcano (and peninsula) connecting the south coast of Terceira in the central Azores, overlooking the city of Angra do Heroísmo. Monte Brasil is flanked by two bays: the Bay of Angra (named for the city) to its east, and the Bay of Fanal to its west, and was used as a defensive point during the history of Angra, resulting in the construction of various forts and redoubts, including the Fortress of São João Baptista overlooking the city. History The formation of Monte Brasil was the result of various eruptions of the Guilherme Moniz volcano, a large central volcano on the island of Terceira, this difficult to identify owing to subsequent eruptions and lava flows.França et al (2003), p.31 Although this structure is eroded, there is considerable evidence of its influence, including, specifically: * a number of trachyte domes and basaltic eruptive centres around the interior; * two Surtseyan cones: Monte Brasil and the Cabras Islets; and * s ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Angra Do Heroísmo
Angra do Heroísmo (), or simply Angra, is a city and municipality on Terceira Island, Portugal, and one of the three capital cities of the Azores. Founded in 1478, Angra was historically the most important city in the Azores, as seat of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Angra, Bishop of the Azores, government entities, and having previously served as the capital city of Portugal during the Liberal Wars. The population in 2011 was 35,402, in an area of 239.00 km². It was classified as a World Heritage Site, World Heritage site by UNESCO in 1983. Name Angra is the Portuguese language, Portuguese word for "inlet", "cove", or "bay". The epithet ' ("of Heroism", "the Heroic") was granted to the city by Maria II of Portugal, Maria II to commemorate its citizens' Battle of Praia da Vitória, successful defense of the island against a Miguelist assault in 1829. History Some claim that Angra was founded by Álvaro Martins, who sailed with Didrik Pining on his expedition to the New W ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Azores
) , motto =( en, "Rather die free than subjected in peace") , anthem= ( en, "Anthem of the Azores") , image_map=Locator_map_of_Azores_in_EU.svg , map_alt=Location of the Azores within the European Union , map_caption=Location of the Azores within the European Union , subdivision_type=Sovereign state , subdivision_name=Portugal , established_title=Settlement , established_date=1432 , established_title3=Autonomous status , established_date3=30 April 1976 , official_languages=Portuguese , demonym= ( en, Azorean) , capital_type= Capitals , capital = Ponta Delgada (executive) Angra do Heroísmo (judicial) Horta (legislative) , largest_city = Ponta Delgada , government_type=Autonomous Region , leader_title1=Representative of the Republic , leader_name1=Pedro Manuel dos Reis Alves Catarino , leader_title2= President of the Legislative Assembly , leader_name2= Luís Garcia , leader_title3= President of the Regional Government , leader_name3=José Manuel Bolieiro , le ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |