Mayda

Willem Blaeus map from 1649 shows Mayda south of the Brazilian island

Mayda is the name of a phantom island that appeared on numerous maps in the 16th century. Occasionally it has been claimed that this name is of Arabic origin. It also appeared under the names Asmayda, Asmaida, Mayde, Maida, Brazir, Mam, I. Onzele, As Maydas, Bentusla, Bolunda and Vlaenderen, I. man orbulunda and Mayd . It was mostly depicted as a sickle shape, but its position varied considerably over time. Early maps placed the island west of Britain and southwest of Ireland . Later it was more likely to be found on the maps in the direction of America , near Newfoundland , Bermuda or near the Caribbean . She last appeared on a map by Rand McNally in 1906 .

origin

Confusion with the Brazilian island

The assumption that the map of the Venetian brothers Domenico and Francesco Pizzigano the 1367 Brasil island with Brazir is meant to be refuted because the Brasil island can also be found on the map. It is still possible that the cartographers made a mistake, so that they recorded the Brazilian island twice under different names.

Submerged island

Another possibility would be that the island of Mayda actually existed and was first recorded by the Venetian brothers after the discovery and is now below the surface of the sea. On August 22, 1948, the freighter Scientific American found land with a diameter of 28 miles west of the British Isles at a depth of 20 fathoms (about 36 meters). A depth of about four kilometers was actually assumed here. This was confirmed two days later by the American freighter Southland , which made a crescent-shaped elevation with a bay. This shoal may be related to the persistent rumors of an island Mayda here. Geological forces could have caused the island to come under the surface.

Mayda on historical maps

Map of the Venetian brothers Domenico and Francesco Pizzigano (1367) as Brazir (first recorded)
Catalan World Atlas (1375) as Insula de Mam
Pinelli card (1384) as I. Onzele
Map by Andrea Bianco (1448) as Bentusla
Waldseemüller card (1513) as As Maidas; from 1520 Mayd
Prunes map (1553) as Isola de Maydi or Mayda
Nicolay card (1560) as Mayda
Maps of Mercator and Ortelius (16th century) as Vlaenderen ( German Flanders )
Willem Blaeus map (1649) as As Maydas

swell

^ ^A ^b ^c ^d Edward Brooke-Hitching: Atlas of the invented places . ISBN 978-3-423-28141-6 , pp. 158 ff .
^ No Longer on the Map: Discovering Places that Never Were , Raymond H. Ramsay, New York 1972 ISBN 0670514330 pg 220
^ Matheus Prunes map (1553) , in: "Early Norse visits to North America, with ten plates", William Henry Babcock (1913), page 38

The great deep. The Sea and its thresholds , James Hamilton-Paterson
Legendary islands of the Atlantic: a study in medieval geography , William Henry Babcock, New York 1922 (American Geographical Society research series; 8)
"The Problem of Mayda, an Island Appearing on Medieval Maps," William Henry Babcock, Geographical Review , Vol. 9, no. 4 (Apr-Jun, 1920), pp. 335-346.
No Longer on the Map: Discovering Places that Never Were , Raymond H. Ramsay, New York 1972, ISBN 0670514330 .
Pizigani map (1367) , in: "Early Norse visits to North America, with ten plates", William Henry Babcock (1913), p. 17

[:0-1] A ^b ^c ^d Edward Brooke-Hitching: Atlas of the invented places . ISBN 978-3-423-28141-6 , pp. 158 ff .

[2] No Longer on the Map: Discovering Places that Never Were , Raymond H. Ramsay, New York 1972 ISBN 0670514330 pg 220

[3] Matheus Prunes map (1553) , in: "Early Norse visits to North America, with ten plates", William Henry Babcock (1913), page 38