- 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 inmist , except for one day each seven years, when it became visible but could still not be reached. It probably has similar roots toSt Brendan's Island . The names Brazil and Hy-Brazil are thought to come from the Irish "Uí Breasail" (meaning "descendants (i.e., clan) ofBreasal "), one of the ancientclan s of northeastern Ireland.earches for the island
It appears that as the north Atlantic was explored, the name of Brazil may have been attached to a real place. A Catalan map 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 . Expeditions left Bristol in 1480 and 1481 to search for it, and a letter written shortly after the return ofJohn 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". [Seaver, K.A.(1995) "The Frozen Echo" Stanford University Press ISBN 0 8047 3161 6 p.212ff]Some historians claimFact|date=April 2007 that the navigator
Pedro Álvares Cabral thought that he had reached this island in1500 , thus naming the country ofBrazil . However, Cabral didn't choose the name 'Brazil'. The country was at first namedIlha de Vera Cruz ("Island of the True Cross"), laterTerra de Santa Cruz ("Land of the Holy Cross") and still later 'Brazil'. The generally accepted theory states that it was renamed for thebrazilwood , which has an extreme red color (so "brasil" derived from "brasa": "ember "), a plant very valuable in Portuguese commerce and abundant in the new-found land, though it seems far more likely that the Brazilwood was named after the country, which was named afther the mythical island.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 theIsle of Mam .Others 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 centralstrait orriver running east-west across its diameter. Despite the failure of attempts to find it, it appeared regularly on maps lying south west ofGalway Bay from1325 until1865 , by which time it was called Brazil Rock.In popular culture
Prose|date=November 2007The characters of the movie "
Erik the Viking " visit the island (spelled Hy-Brasil in the film's literature) during their quest to findValhalla and endRagnarok .Jack Vance 'sLyonesse Trilogy of fantasy novels is set in the mythical Elder Isles a generation or two before the birth of King Arthur. Situated southwest of Cornwall and west of Brittany, the Elder Isles consist of a large island called Hybras, "the Hy-Brasil of ancient Irish legend," surrounded by numerous smaller islands of various sizes."Hy-Brasil" is the title of the
2002 novel by Scottish writerMargaret Elphinstone . She creates an island-nation somewhere between Newfoundland and Ireland as a thought-experiment.Hy Brasil is featured in the
Promethea books byAlan Moore .In the novel "Engelbrecht Again!" by
Rhys Hughes the main characters meet a mermaid on the (mythical) island of Brasil while on their way to the (real) country of Brazil.A location in the online game Dragon Court is named Hie-Brasil.
In the Thessaliad (a spin-off of the more popular Sandman comics written by Bill Willingham) a Fetch, or a supernatural bounty hunter, disguised as a taxi driver had his claim to fame by hunting down all thirty-nine forgotten gods of Hy Brasil.
Hybrasil is the name of an Indie band fromCounty Wicklow ,Ireland .Hy Brasail is a Lost Ground in the
.hack Conglomerate . It is a Lost Ground only accessible during official events. The island lies right outside the harbor of Mac Anu, and the skyline of the city can be seen from its shores.In the
Saga of Pliocene Exile , a series of science-fiction novels byJulian May , "High Vrazel" is the seat of the Firvulag, an alien race based on theFir Bolg ofIrish mythology .
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