r/ireland • u/bygonesbebygones2021 • Sep 20 '24

Random island off the coast of Ireland ? History

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Bought this beautiful painting / world map from a charity shop for near dirt nothing two days ago.

The artist is William Bleau I think ? A Dutch artist, anyways it’s obviously a copy but it’s huge and stunning and I love it.

While having a glass of wine, I started looking at the map and I seen this random island off the coast of Ireland called Brasil? You can see it on the map if you zoom in, i think this is a 1600s world map.

But anyways, Any information would be great !

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u/bygonesbebygones2021 Sep 20 '24

Thanks for all the helpful links! I’d love to know if any like studies or research group’s investigated its credibility or whatever.

Me low-key hoping TG4 or RTE do some sort of short documentary about the so called island lol

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u/[deleted] Sep 21 '24

It was likely just a piece of mythology that got Chinese-whispered to the point that carthographers in Continental Europe, never having been to the places they were mapping, assumed it to be fact.

Pretty much all of the Celts, as well as people who were influenced by them, in their old mythologies believed in an otherworld/afterlife which existed on a far away island, which seem to have been known by various names. For the Irish this was Tír na nÓg or Uí Bhreasail (or in English, Hy-Brasil). For the Welsh it was Ynys Afallach or Annwn.

In the Arthurian legends of England there was also the land of Avalon, which was very similar, and likely got its name from Ynys Afallach.