{{short description|Phantom Island}} {{distinguish|Isla Bermejo}} {{Infobox fictional location | name = Bermeja | image = Bermeja.jpg | imagesize = 250px | caption = An 1846 map showing "I. Bermeja". | series = El Yucatán e Islas Adyacentes | creator = Alonso de Santa Cruz | type = Phantom island }} thumb|250px|A 1914 map showing U.S. claim on "Bermejo I." {{Location map|Mexico | caption = Alleged location of Bermeja | coordinates = {{coord|22|33|N|91|22|W}} | width = 250 }} '''Bermeja''' is a phantom islet once thought to lie off the north coast of the Yucatán Peninsula according to several maps of the Gulf of Mexico from the 16th to the 20th centuries.<ref name="DN">{{cite news|url=https://www.dn.se/nyheter/varlden/den-forsvunna-mexikanska-on-har-aldrig-funnits/|title=Den försvunna mexikanska ön har aldrig funnits|last=Sturkell|first=Erik |date=2009-02-13|publisher=Dagens Nyheter|language=Swedish|access-date=2009-06-24|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090614032548/https://www.dn.se/nyheter/varlden/den-forsvunna-mexikanska-on-har-aldrig-funnits-1.798624|archive-date=2009-06-14}}</ref> Despite being located somewhat precisely in relation to neighboring islands by notable Spanish cartographers of the 16th century,<ref name="Jornada-Report">{{cite news|url=http://www.jornada.unam.mx/2009/06/24/index.php?section=politica&article=016n1pol|title=No encuentran la Isla Bermeja|last1=Méndez|first1=Enrique|last2=Garduño|first2=Roberto|date=2009-06-24|publisher=La Jornada|language=Spanish|accessdate=2009-06-24|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180919024923/http://www.jornada.com.mx/2009/06/24/index.php?section=politica&article=016n1pol|archive-date=2018-09-19}}</ref> the island was not found in a 1997 survey,<ref name="SpaceDaily">{{cite web|url=http://www.spacedaily.com/2006/090211185744.8z1tpwk3.html|publisher=Space Daily|date=2009-02-11|title=Missing Mexican island fuels mystery|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090213081100/http://www.spacedaily.com/2006/090211185744.8z1tpwk3.html|archive-date=2009-02-13}}</ref> nor in an extensive 2009 study conducted by the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) on behalf of the Mexican Chamber of Deputies.<ref name="UNAM">{{cite web|url=http://www.jornada.unam.mx/ultimas/2009/06/23/no-existe-la-isla-bermeja-en-coordenadas-disponibles-investigadores-de-unam/|publisher=La Jornada|language=Spanish|title=No existe la isla Bermeja en coordenadas disponibles: investigadores de UNAM|date=2009-06-23|url-status=unfit|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090626061115/http://www.jornada.unam.mx/ultimas/2009/06/23/no-existe-la-isla-bermeja-en-coordenadas-disponibles-investigadores-de-unam/|archive-date=2009-06-26}}</ref> Interest in the island arose in late 2008, fueled by the fact that if such an island existed, it would be important for determining the boundaries for exploitation rights of oil in ''Hoyos de Dona'' (Doughnut Holes) in the Gulf of Mexico.<ref name="AFP">{{cite news|url=https://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5hGVIh33gGz0S27lrM-Cg9qTpsp2Q|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130103055754/http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5hGVIh33gGz0S27lrM-Cg9qTpsp2Q|url-status=dead|archive-date=2013-01-03|title=Mexico claims to Gulf shrink with island's loss|date=2009-06-23|publisher=AFP|accessdate=2009-06-24}}</ref>
The island was first mentioned by Alonso de Santa Cruz in ''El Yucatán e Islas Adyacentes'', a list of islands of the region published in Madrid in 1539.<ref name="Jornada-Report" /> Its precise location is given in ''Espejo de navegantes'' (Seville, ca. 1540) by Alonso de Chaves, who wrote that from a distance, the small island looks "blondish or reddish" (in Spanish: ''bermeja'').<ref name="Jornada-Report" /> According to {{ill|Michel Antochiw Kolpa|es}}, a French-Mexican cartographer, since 1844 British maps have reported the sinking of the island some {{convert|60|fathom|0|lk=in}} below.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.yucatan.com.mx/noticia.asp?cx=11$0200000000$3963232&f=20081126|title=Confirman la inmersión de una isla|last=Casares Cámara|first=Hernán|date=2008-11-26|publisher=Diario de Yucatán|language=Spanish|accessdate=2009-06-24}}{{dead link|date=January 2020}}</ref>
Explanations for its apparent disappearance include an erroneous observation by the early cartographers, shifts in the geography of the ocean floor, rising sea levels, and conspiracy theories claiming that the Central Intelligence Agency destroyed the island to expand the exclusive economic zone allotted to the United States.<ref name="Spiegel">{{cite news|url=http://www.spiegel.de/wissenschaft/natur/0,1518,632387,00.html|title=Nicht-Insel empört Mexikaner|last=Seidler|first=Christoph|date=2009-06-24|publisher=Der Spiegel|language=German|accessdate=2009-06-24|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090626130520/http://www.spiegel.de/wissenschaft/natur/0,1518,632387,00.html|archive-date=2009-06-26}}</ref>
==References== {{Portal|Islands}} {{reflist}}
==External links== * BBC World Service Documentary "[https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p02rh1p5 Mexico's Missing Island]"
{{coord|22|33|N|91|22|W|display=title}}
Category:Islands of Yucatán Category:Phantom islands of the Atlantic Ocean Category:Caribbean Sea Category:Uninhabited islands of Mexico