Mayda

Last updated
Mayda
Mayda Pizigani.jpg
Mayda as seen on the 1367 Pizigani brothers' map
In-universe information
Type Phantom island

Mayda (variously known as Maida, Mayd, Mayde, Brazir, Mam, Asmaida, Asmayda, Bentusle, Las Maidas Bolunda and Vlaanderen [1] [2] ) is a non-existent island in the North Atlantic that has been shown on several published maps at various points in history. It was most often represented as being crescent-shaped and its position has varied widely over time. Early maps drew the island west of Brittany and southwest of Ireland, but it later moved towards the Americas (Newfoundland, Bermuda, West Indies).

Contents

History

The island first appeared under the name of Brazir, on the Pizigani brothers' 1367 map. It was crescent-shaped and sited southwest of the island of Brasil, on the same latitude of southern Brittany. [3]

It appeared as Asmaidas on a map of the New World accompanying Waldseemüller's 1513 edition of Ptolemy's Geography. [4]

Ortelius (in Theatrum Orbis Terrarum ) placed a crescent-shaped island in the traditional location of Mayda with the name "Vlaenderen" ("Flanders"). [5]

Submerged land of the appropriate shape has been found in the area of early maps ( 46°23′N37°20′W / 46.383°N 37.333°W / 46.383; -37.333 ) at a depth of 20 fathoms (120 ft; 37 m) which suggested to one author that Mayda may have existed. [6]

The island is the namesake of Mayda Insula, an island in the Kraken Mare on Saturn's moon Titan. [7]

Appearances on maps

Notes

  1. Babcock, William H. (1915). "The so-called mythical islands of the Atlantic in Mediæval maps". Scottish Geographical Magazine. 31 (10): 531–541. doi:10.1080/00369221508734208.
  2. Babcock, p.81
  3. 1 2 Babcock, p. 83
  4. Babcock, p. 82
  5. 1 2 Ramsay, p. 219
  6. Ramsay, p. 220
  7. "Mayda Insula". Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature. International Astronomical Union (IAU) Working Group for Planetary System Nomenclature (WGPSN). April 11, 2008. Retrieved June 28, 2017.
  8. Ramsay, p. 216
  9. 1 2 3 Ramsay, p. 217
  10. Ramsay, p. 217-8
  11. Ramsay, p. 218

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Arctic Archipelago</span> Canadian islands in the Arctic Ocean

The Arctic Archipelago, also known as the Canadian Arctic Archipelago, is an archipelago lying to the north of the Canadian continental mainland, excluding Greenland and Iceland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Antillia</span> 15th-century phantom island

Antillia is a phantom island that was reputed, during the 15th-century age of exploration, to lie in the Atlantic Ocean, far to the west of Portugal and Spain. The island also went by the name of Isle of Seven Cities.

The Cook Mountains is a group of mountains bounded by the Mulock and Darwin glaciers in Antarctica. They are south of the Worcester Range and north of the Darwin Mountains and the Britannia Range.

The Scaife Mountains is a group of mountains rising west of Prehn Peninsula and between the Ketchum Glacier and Ueda Glacier, at the base of the Antarctic Peninsula.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Abbot Ice Shelf</span> Ice shelf in Antarctica

The Abbot Ice Shelf is an ice shelf 250 nautical miles long and 40 nautical miles wide, bordering Eights Coast from Cape Waite to Pfrogner Point in Antarctica. Thurston Island lies along the northern edge of the western half of this ice shelf; other sizable islands lie partly or wholly within this shelf.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sinus Medii</span> Feature on the moon

Sinus Medii is a small lunar mare. It takes its name from its location at the intersection of the Moon's equator and prime meridian; as seen from the Earth, this feature is located in the central part of the Moon's near side, and it is the point closest to the Earth. From this spot, the Earth would always appear directly overhead, although the planet's position would vary slightly due to libration.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Piri Reis map</span> 1513 Ottoman nautical chart

The Piri Reis map is a world map compiled in 1513 by the Ottoman admiral and cartographer Piri Reis. Approximately one third of the map survives, housed in the Topkapı Palace in Istanbul. When rediscovered in 1929, the remaining fragment garnered international attention as it includes a partial copy of an otherwise lost map by Christopher Columbus.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Matthias Ringmann</span> Alsatian humanist and cosmographer

Matthias Ringmann (1482–1511), also known as Philesius Vogesigena was an Alsatian German humanist scholar and cosmographer. Along with cartographer Martin Waldseemüller, he is credited with the first documented usage of the word America, on the 1507 map Universalis Cosmographia in honour of the Italian explorer Amerigo Vespucci.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Prince Charles Mountains</span> Mountain range in Antarctica

The Prince Charles Mountains are a major group of mountains in Mac. Robertson Land in Antarctica, including the Athos Range, the Porthos Range, and the Aramis Range. The highest peak is Mount Menzies, with a height of 3,228 m (10,591 ft). Other prominent peaks are Mount Izabelle and Mount Stinear. These mountains, together with other scattered peaks, form an arc about 420 km (260 mi) long, extending from the vicinity of Mount Starlight in the north to Goodspeed Nunataks in the south.

Canisteo Peninsula is an ice-covered peninsula, about 30 nautical miles long and 20 nautical miles wide, which projects between Ferrero Bay and Cranton Bay into the eastern extremity of the Amundsen Sea.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Waldseemüller map</span> 1507 German world map

The Waldseemüller map or Universalis Cosmographia is a printed wall map of the world by German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller, originally published in April 1507. It is known as the first map to use the name "America". The name America is placed on South America on the main map. As explained in Cosmographiae Introductio, the name was bestowed in honor of the Italian Amerigo Vespucci.

The Mariner Glacier is a major glacier over 60 nautical miles long, descending southeast from the plateau of Victoria Land, Antarctica, between Mountaineer Range and Malta Plateau, and terminating at Lady Newnes Bay, Ross Sea, where it forms the floating Mariner Glacier Tongue.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kraken Mare</span> Largest hydrocarbon lake on Titan

Kraken Mare is the largest known body of liquid on the surface of Saturn's moon Titan. It was discovered by the space probe Cassini in 2006, and was named in 2008 after the Kraken, a legendary sea monster. It covers an area slightly bigger than the Caspian Sea on Earth, making it the largest known lake in the Solar System.

Davies Bay is a bay on the coast of Antarctica, 10 nautical miles wide, between Drake Head and Cape Kinsey.

Strauss Glacier is a glacier, 40 nautical miles long, flowing between the Ickes Mountains and Coulter Heights to enter the sea at the east side of Land Bay, Marie Byrd Land, Antarctica.

Domenico and Francesco Pizzigano, known as the Pizzigani brothers, were 14th-century Venetian cartographers. Their surname is sometimes given as Pizigano in older sources.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Zuane Pizzigano</span>

Zuane Pizzigano, was a 15th-century Venetian cartographer. He is the author of a famous 1424 portolan chart, the first known to depict the phantom islands of the purported Antillia archipelago, in the north Atlantic Ocean.

The island of Satanazes is a legendary island once thought to be located in the Atlantic Ocean, and depicted on many 15th-century maps.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Medici-Laurentian Atlas</span>

The Medici-Laurentian Atlas, also known simply as the Medici Atlas, is an anonymous 14th-century set of maps, probably composed by a Genoese cartographer and explicitly dated 1351, although most historians believe it was composed, or at least retouched, later. The atlas is currently held by the Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana in Florence, Italy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mayda Insula</span> Island on Kraken Mare on Titan

Mayda Insula is an island in the Kraken Mare, a body of liquid composed primarily of methane, on Saturn's largest moon Titan. Mayda Insula is the first island (insula) to be named on a planet or moon other than Earth.

References