Did you know Brazil is an island?

No, you didn’t read it wrong! And perhaps Brazil doesn’t even exist…!

But relax, your Geography teacher didn’t lie to you. We are talking about a mythical Irish island. The Irish monk Saint Bernard went on an expedition in 565 and there are reports that his sailors saw this island – which could be in the North Atlantic or even near South America’s coast, but invisible because of great fog. Some cartographers in 14th century put this mysterious islands in their maps, but it has been represented in different locations in the map.

In this Catalan map from 1350, it was near Ireland:

According to medieval legends and some reports, the Brazil island is only visible to the human eye every 7 years. One of the people who claimed to have seen the island is captain John Nisbet – and even being a mythical island, the Crown gave him the right to explore the place – which John never found again… Some say that the island was actually a temporary volcanic formation.

Some historians attribute the name “Brazil” to the island associating it to the words “brasas” and “braazi”, which mean “great land”. There’s also the word “brasino” .

The existence of the island hasn’t been proven, but at least its name is peculiar, isn’t it?

What other mysteries would you like to see here on the game? Tell us in the comments!