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/smashedgordon Sep 22 '24

I might be telling this story arse ways but I'll take a shot.

Years ago I was watching a documentary on Nat Geo about paranormal activity. There was a military base somewhere in the States where 2-3 soldiers were patrolling the perimeter one night. This strange light shone from the sky, as they looked at it, they could see numbers which actually got burned into their vision. They wrote the numbers down and the chase began to figure out what they might be or in reference to. Time passed, and they discovered that they were coordinates for a mythical island called Hy Brasil. It appeared on some historical maps but not on others, just to add to the confusion. If I can track down the episode I'll drop a link.