Frisland, also called Frischlant, Friesland, Frislanda, Frislandia, or Fixland, is a

phantom island A phantom island is a purported island which was included on maps for a period of time, but was later found not to exist. They usually originate from the reports of early sailors exploring new regions, and are commonly the result of navigati ...

that appeared on virtually all of the maps of the

North Atlantic The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the "Old World" of Africa, Europe and ...

from the 1560s through the 1660s.

History

Frisland appears to have been born out of the confusion between an imaginary island and the actual southern part of Greenland. Frisland originally may also have been a cartographic approximation of Iceland, but in 1558 the influential Zeno map charted the landmass as an entirely separate island south (or occasionally south-west) of Iceland. After this incorrect charting, the phantom island appeared that way on maps for the next 100 years. Its existence was given currency in manuscript maps of the 1560s by the Maggiolo family of Genoa, and the island was accepted and reproduced by cartographers

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 ...

and

Jodocus Hondius Jodocus Hondius (Latinized version of his Dutch language, Dutch name: ''Joost de Hondt'') (17 October 1563 – 12 February 1612) was a Flemish people, Flemish and Dutch engraving, engraver and cartographer. He is sometimes called Jodocus Hon ...

. Some early maps by Willem Blaeu, such as his 1617 map of Europe, omit it, but it reappeared on his 1630 world map as one of many islands shown off the eastern coast of Labrador, which was then believed to extend to within a few hundred miles of Scotland. It also appeared on a 1652 world map by

Visscher Visscher is a Dutch occupational surname. ''Visscher'' is an archaic spelling of Dutch ''visser'' meaning "fisherman". Varianta are ''Visschers'' and '' De Visscher''. The latter form is now most common in East Flanders.Vincenzo Coronelli map places it close to Greenland.

Frederick J. Pohl Frederick Julius Pohl (August 18, 1889 – February 21, 1991) was a prolific playwright, literary critic, editor and book writer. He is best known for his books espousing speculative and controversial historical theories of Pre-Columbian trans-oc ...

identified Frisland with an island he referred to as "Fer Island", modern English Fair Isle, an island lying between mainland

Shetland Shetland, also called the Shetland Islands and formerly Zetland, is a subarctic archipelago in Scotland lying between Orkney, the Faroe Islands and Norway. It is the northernmost region of the United Kingdom. The islands lie about to the no ...

and the

Orkney Orkney (; sco, Orkney; on, Orkneyjar; nrn, Orknøjar), also known as the Orkney Islands, is an archipelago in the Northern Isles of Scotland, situated off the north coast of the island of Great Britain. Orkney is 10 miles (16 km) north ...

islands in his book arguing the case that Henry I Sinclair, Earl of Orkney visited North America. Even in the mid-18th century, explorers' maps clearly depicted Frisland as separated from Greenland by a wide strait. The myth of Frisland was gradually dispensed with as explorers, chiefly from England and France, charted and mapped the waters of the North Atlantic.

Depiction

Frisland was shown as a roughly rectangular island, with three triangular promontories on its western coast. In some mappings, it is identified as "''Fixland''". ( map of 1553, from Library of Congress, see upper right of map; see also, page 88 for other clearer source; See also Catalan map of 1480 showing "Fixland"; original source map copied in this article, page 64)

History

Depiction

See also

References

Further reading