Brazil (mythical island)

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

[edit] Searches 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 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".^[1]

Some historians claim^{[citation needed]} 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 Ilha de Vera Cruz (Island of the True Cross), 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": ember), 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.

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 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.

[edit] In popular culture

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The characters of the movie Erik the Viking visit the island (spelled Hy-Brasil in the film's literature) during their quest to find Valhalla and end Ragnarok.

Jack Vance's Lyonesse 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 writer Margaret Elphinstone. She creates an island-nation somewhere between Newfoundland and Ireland as a thought-experiment.

Hy Brasil is featured in the Promethea books by Alan 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 from County 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 by Julian May, "High Vrazel" is the seat of the Firvulag, an alien race based on the Fir Bolg of Irish mythology.