Brazil (mythical island)
Brazil, also known as
Hy-Brazil or several other variants, is a
phantom island which features in many
Irish myths. It was said to be cloaked in
mist, except for one day each seven years, when it became visible but could still not be reached. It probably has similar roots to
St Brendan's Island. Another basis may be
Helluland (probably
Labrador), discovered by the
Vikings. The names
Brazil and
Hy-Brazil are thought to come from the Irish
Ui Breasail (meaning "descendants (i.e., clan) of Breasal"), one of the ancient clans of northeastern Ireland.
Despite the myths surrounding it, belief in the island was so strong that several expeditions left to search for it in the late
fifteenth century, the last led by
John Cabot. Some claimed to have seen the island, or even landed on it, the last supposed sighting being in
1872. Roderick O'Flaherty in
A Chorographical Description of West or H-Iar Connaught (1684) tells us "There is now living, Morogh O'Ley, who immagins he was himself personally on O'Brasil for two days, and saw out of it the iles of Aran, Golamhead, Irrosbeghill, and other places of the west continent he was acquainted with."
On maps, the island was shown as being
circular, soon with a central
strait or
river running east-west across its diameter. Despite the failure of attempts to find it, it appeared regularly on maps lying south west of
Galway Bay from
1325 until
1865, by which time it was called
Brazil Rock.
Some historians claim that the navigator
Pedro Álvares Cabral thought that he had reached this island in
1500, thus naming the country of
Brazil. However, Cabral didn't choose the name 'Brazil.' The country was at first named the
Island of Vera Cruz, later 'Terra de Santa Cruz' (Land of the Holy Cross) and still later 'Brazil.' The generally accepted theory states that it was renamed for the
brazilwood, which has an extreme red color (so "brasil" derivated from "brasa": burning coal/wood), a plant very valuable in
Portuguese commerce and abundant in the new-found land.
The island has also been identified with
Terceira in the
Azores, which was at one time named
Brazil, while another phantom island sometimes known as
Brazil was the
Isle of Mam.
The characters of the movie
Erik the Viking visit the island of Hy-Brazil during their quest to find
Valhalla and end
Ragnarok.
