Ireland could, indeed, have its own version of Atlantis. Information gathered by historian Fiona Broome, as well as Celtic mythological enthusiasts, shows the intersection of myth and reality in regards to the island of Hy-Brasil, which is also known by the variants Hy-Breasal, Hy-Brazil, Hy-Breasil, Brazir, among others.
However, as the Atlantic began to be more thoroughly explored, the name of Hy Brazil may have been attached to a real place, providing some evidence that attached itself to the Irish myth. Hy-Brasil was noted on maps as early as when Genoese cartographer Dalorto placed the island west of Ireland. On successive sailing charts, it appears southwest of Galway Bay. Sign up to IrishCentral's newsletter to stay up-to-date with everything Irish!
The most distinctive geographical feature of Hy-Brasil, is that it appears on maps as a perfect circle, with a semi-circular channel through the center.
The central image on the Brazilian flag, a circle with a channel across the center, was the symbol for Hy-Brasil on early maps. The circular perimeter of the island was confirmed by both Saints Barrind and Brendan, who separately walked the shore to determine where the island ended, but never found it.
Most likely, they were walking in circles. Donegal, Ireland. He and his crew were in familiar waters west of Ireland, when a fog came up. As the fog lifted, the ship was dangerously close to rocks. While getting their bearings, the ship anchored in three fathoms of water, and four crew members rowed ashore to visit Hy-Brasil. They spent a day on the island and returned with silver and gold that was given to them by an old man who lived there.
Love Irish history? Share your favorite stories with other history buffs in the IrishCentral History Facebook group. The last documented sighting of Hy-Brasil was in when author T. Legends and myths of ancient Ireland contain many references to heroes who, attracted by this fantastic vision, launched into the sea in search of it. Anyone able to touch the island would achieve eternal life in a delightful paradise.
But every time they approached it, the island disappeared again below the sea. Peter Beresford Ellis, author of several books and dictionaries about the Celtic world, confirms that the Irish mythology and old chronicles contain many stories of Hy Brasil, dating from a thousand years before the Portuguese discovery of Brazil.
We also find Bresal as the high king of the Celtic world, and the island of Bresal was known as the place where he used to establish his court every seven years. Login Subscribe To renew a subscription please login first. Following the definition of the German naturalist Alexander von Humboldt, it comes from brasa and is associated with the reddish colour of brazilwood pau-brasil in Portuguese , a dyewood tree commonly found along the Atlantic coast of South America at the time of its European discovery in the sixteenth century.
It lists no less than sixteen possible explanations for the origin of brasil—the word, not the country name. Among them one stands out: brasil could have its origin in the Irish language, more precisely in Hy-Brazail or Hy Brasil, an ancient island of the Atlantic Ocean.
According to Barry Cunliffe, Professor of European Archaeology at Oxford University, Hy Brasil is the most intriguing of all the legendary islands of the Atlantic, said to lie not far off the west coast of Ireland, and so named and placed on charts from the fourteenth century:.
This is the basis for the argument that the name of the country Brazil is Irish in origin and not from the well-established brazilwood version. But the story of Hy Brasil is not well known among Brazilians and it is certainly not what we were taught in school. In the past, the legendary island generated heated debates among Brazilian historians.
Map of Britain and Ireland by Grazioso Benincasa, Venice, produced in before the convention of placing north at the top was adopted. The Isola di Bracil Island of Brasil is represented as a large red circle off the coast of Ireland—27 years before the discovery of Brazil by the Portugese.
Although very attractive, this alternative view is not accepted in Brazilian academic circles. And also, despite the hypothesis raised, it was not possible to demonstrate any association between Brazil Island and brazilwood.
The first known appearance of the Island of Brasil on a map was in and the last one was probably in — years of mystery. Why did it take so long for an island that apparently never really existed to disappear from maps? One detail pointed out by researchers is that the Island of Brasil was depicted for a long time at the same coordinates. Although it appeared in some nautical charts among the Canary Islands, Azores, Madeira and even on the coast of Canada, the island was mostly faithful to its position to the west of Ireland.
Era of discovery Once anchored in maps, mythical islands like Hy Brasil were no longer the uncertain target of trivial adventure and became the destination of more experienced explorers.
In case it really existed, the island would be strategically positioned on the route to lands beyond the sea and could be used as a stop-over for resting and for collecting fresh water during long journeys.
It could also be seen as a land in its own right to be conquered and colonised. Therefore Hy Brasil entered the era of discovery. After two months at sea, they returned to Bristol without finding Hy Brasil. In the following year, two other ships, Trinity and George, left England in search of the Island of Brazil, but also returned unsuccessfully.
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