Brasil, also known as Hy-Brasil and several other variants, is a phantom island said to lie in the

Atlantic Ocean 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 ...

west of

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

. 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 Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...

(meaning "descendants (i.e., clan) of Bresail"), one of the ancient clans of northeastern Ireland.

cf. The abbreviation ''cf.'' (short for the la, confer/conferatur, both meaning "compare") is used in writing to refer the reader to other material to make a comparison with the topic being discussed. Style guides recommend that ''cf.'' be used onl ...

Old Irish Old Irish, also called Old Gaelic ( sga, Goídelc, Ogham script: ᚌᚑᚔᚇᚓᚂᚉ; ga, Sean-Ghaeilge; gd, Seann-Ghàidhlig; gv, Shenn Yernish or ), is the oldest form of the Goidelic/Gaelic language for which there are extensive writt ...

: : island; : beauty, worth, great, mighty. Despite the similarity, the name of the country Brazil (

Portuguese Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...

: ) has no connection to the mythical islands (although

J. R. R. Tolkien John Ronald Reuel Tolkien (, ; 3 January 1892 – 2 September 1973) was an English writer and philologist. He was the author of the high fantasy works ''The Hobbit'' and ''The Lord of the Rings''. From 1925 to 1945, Tolkien was the Rawlins ...

's essay "On Fairy Stories" linked them). The South American country was at first named

Ilha de Vera Cruz Ilha de Vera Cruz (, ) ( Portuguese for ''Island of the True Cross'') was the first name given by the Portuguese navigators to the on the northeast coast of what later became Brazil. The name was later changed to Terra de Santa Cruz (''Land of th ...

(''Island of the True Cross'') and later

Terra de Santa Cruz The name ''Brazil'' is a shortened form of ''Terra do Brasil'' ("Land of Brazil"), a reference to the brazilwood tree. The name was given in the early 16th century to the territories leased to the merchant consortium led by Fernão de Loronha, to ...

(''Land of the Holy Cross'') by the Portuguese navigators who arrived there. After some decades, it started to be called "Brazil" due to the exploitation of native brazilwood, at that time the only export of the land. In Portuguese, brazilwood is called , with the word commonly given the etymology "red like an ember", formed from

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

("ember") and the suffix (from or ).

Appearance on maps

Nautical charts identified an island called "Bracile" west of Ireland in the Atlantic Ocean as far back as 1325, in a

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 wh ...

by Angelino Dulcert. Later it appeared as in the Venetian map of

Andrea Bianco The Bianco World Map is a map created by ''Andrea Bianco'', a 15th-century Venetian sailor and cartographer. This map was a part of a nautical atlas including ten pages made of vellum (each measuring 26 × 38 cm). These vellum pages w ...

(1436), attached to one of the larger islands of a group of islands in the Atlantic. This was identified for a time with the modern island of

Terceira Terceira () is a volcanic island in the Azores archipelago, in the middle of the North Atlantic Ocean. It is one of the larger islands of the archipelago, with a population of 53,311 inhabitants in an area of approximately . It is the location ...

in the

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 wi ...

, where a volcanic mount at the bay of its main town, Angra do Heroismo, is still named

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 ...

. A

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, Hu ...

of about 1480 labels two islands "Illa de brasil", one to the south west of Ireland (where the mythical place was supposed to be) and one south of "Illa verde" or

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 i ...

. On maps the island was shown as being

circular Circular may refer to: * The shape of a circle * ''Circular'' (album), a 2006 album by Spanish singer Vega * Circular letter (disambiguation) ** Flyer (pamphlet), a form of advertisement * Circular reasoning, a type of logical fallacy * Circular ...

, often with a central strait or river running east–west across its diameter. Despite the failure of attempts to find it, this appeared regularly on maps lying south west of

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; Galw ...

until 1865, by which time it was called Brasil Rock.

Map gallery

File:El mar Mediterráneo en el Atlas catalán de Cresques Abraham.jpg, Catalan atlas from 1375 File:Piri Reis map of Europe and the Mediterranean Sea.jpg,

Piri Reis Ahmet Muhiddin Piri ( 1465 – 1553), better known as Piri Reis ( tr, Pîrî Reis or ''Hacı Ahmet Muhittin Pîrî Bey''), was a navigator, geographer and cartographer. He is primarily known today for his maps and charts collected in his ''Kita ...

' map of Europe and the Mediterranean Sea from 1513 File:Europe map ca1570.jpg, Map of Europe from 1570 File:Abraham Ortelius Map of Europe.jpg,

Abraham Ortelius Abraham Ortelius (; also Ortels, Orthellius, Wortels; 4 or 14 April 152728 June 1598) was a Brabantian cartographer, geographer, and cosmographer, conventionally recognized as the creator of the first modern atlas, the '' Theatrum Orbis Terra ...

' map of Europe from 1595 File:1595 Europa Mercator.jpg,

Gerardus Mercator Gerardus Mercator (; 5 March 1512 – 2 December 1594) was a 16th-century geographer, cosmographer and Cartography, cartographer from the County of Flanders. He is most renowned for creating the Mercator 1569 world map, 1569 world map based on ...

's map from 1595

Searches for the island

Expeditions left Bristol in 1480 and 1481 to search for the island; and a letter written by

Pedro de Ayala Don Pedro de Ayala also Pedro López Ayala (died 31 January 1513) was a 16th-century Spanish diplomat employed by Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castile at the courts of James IV of Scotland and Henry VII of England. His mission t ...

, shortly after the return of John Cabot (from his expedition in 1497), reports that land found by Cabot had been "discovered in the past by the men from Bristol who found Brasil". In 1674, a Captain John Nisbet claimed to have seen the island when on a journey from

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

to Ireland, stating that the island was inhabited by large black rabbits and a magician who lived alone in a stone castle, yet the character and the story were a literary invention by Irish author

Richard Head Richard Head ( 1637 – before June 1686) was an Irish author, playwright and bookseller. He became famous with his satirical novel ''The English Rogue'' (1665), one of the earliest novels in English that found a continental translation. Life ...

. Roderick O'Flaherty in ''A Chorographical Description of West or H-Iar Connaught'' (1684) tells us "There is now living, Morogh O'Ley ( Murrough Ó Laoí), who imagines he was personally on O'Brasil for two days, and saw out of it the iles of Aran, Golamhead y_Lettermullen.html"_;"title="Lettermullen.html"_;"title="y_Lettermullen">y_Lettermullen">Lettermullen.html"_;"title="y_Lettermullen">y_Lettermullen_Errisbeg.html" ;"title="Lettermullen">y_Lettermullen.html" ;"title="Lettermullen.html" ;"title="y Lettermullen">y Lettermullen">Lettermullen.html" ;"title="y Lettermullen">y Lettermullen Errisbeg">Irrosbeghill, and other places of the west continent he was acquainted with." Hy-Brasil has also been identified with Porcupine Bank, a shoal in the Atlantic Ocean about west of Ireland and discovered in 1862. As early as 1870 a paper was read to the Geological Society of Ireland suggesting this identification. The suggestion has since appeared more than once, e.g., in an 1883 edition of ''

Notes and Queries ''Notes and Queries'', also styled ''Notes & Queries'', is a long-running quarterly scholarly journal that publishes short articles related to " English language and literature, lexicography, history, and scholarly antiquarianism".From the inne ...

''.

In popular culture

Irish poet

Gerald Griffin Gerald Griffin ( ga, Gearóid Ó Gríofa; 12 December 1803 – 12 June 1840) was an Irish novelist, poet and playwright. His novel ''The Collegians'' was the basis of Dion Boucicault's play The Colleen Bawn. Feeling he was "wasting his time" w ...

wrote about Hy-Brasail in the early nineteenth century. Mary Burke's short story uses the myth as an allegory of the breach caused by the Northern Irish Troubles. Mary Burke, “Hy-Brasil” in ''The Faber Best New Irish Short Stories, 2004-5'' Ed. David Marcus. London: Faber & Faber, 2005, 101–05.

Etymology

Appearance on maps

Map gallery

Searches for the island

In popular culture

See also

References

Further reading