Mayda

Mayda (variously known as Maida, Mayd, Mayde, Brazir, Mam, Asmaida, Asmayda, Bentusle, Las Maidas Bolunda and Vlaanderen[1][2]) is a non-existent island in the North Atlantic that has been shown on several published maps at various points in history. It was most often represented as being crescent-shaped and its position has varied widely over time. Early maps drew the island west of Brittany and southwest of Ireland, but it later moved towards the Americas (Newfoundland, Bermuda, West Indies).

"Isle of Mam" redirects here. It is not to be confused with Isle of Man.
For the town, see Mayda, Jaynagar.
Mayda
Mayda as seen on the 1367 Pizigani brothers' map
Information
TypePhantom island

History

The island first appeared under the name of Brazir, on the Pizigani brothers' 1367 map. It was crescent-shaped and sited southwest of the island of Brasil, on the same latitude of southern Brittany.[3]

It appeared as Asmaidas on a map of the New World accompanying Waldseemüller's 1513 edition of Ptolemy's Geography.[4]

Ortelius (in Theatrum Orbis Terrarum) placed a crescent-shaped island in the traditional location of Mayda with the name "Vlaenderen" ("Flanders").[5]

Submerged land of the appropriate shape has been found in the area of early maps (46°23′N 37°20′W) at a depth of 20 fathoms (120 ft; 36.5 m) which suggested to one author that Mayda may have existed.[6]

The island is the namesake of Mayda Insula, an island in the Kraken Mare on Saturn's moon Titan.[7]

Appearances on maps

Notes
  1. Babcock, William H. (1915). "The so-called mythical islands of the Atlantic in Mediæval maps". Scottish Geographical Magazine. 31 (10): 531–541. doi:10.1080/00369221508734208.
  2. Babcock, p.81
  3. Babcock, p. 83
  4. Babcock, p. 82
  5. Ramsay, p. 219
  6. Ramsay, p. 220
  7. "Mayda Insula". Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature. International Astronomical Union (IAU) Working Group for Planetary System Nomenclature (WGPSN). April 11, 2008. Retrieved June 28, 2017.
  8. Ramsay, p. 216
  9. Ramsay, p. 217
  10. Ramsay, p. 217-8
  11. Ramsay, p. 218
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References
  • Hamilton-Paterson, James (1992). The Great Deep. The Sea and its Thresholds. New York: Random House. ISBN 978-0-679-40596-2.
  • Babcock, William Henry (1922). Legendary Islands of the Atlantic: A Study in Medieval Geography. Research Series. Issue 8. American Geographical Society of New York.
  • Ramsay, Raymond (1972). "The Maybe of Mayda". No Longer on the Map: discovering places that never were. New York: Viking Press. ISBN 0-670-51433-0.
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