# Mayda

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"Isle of Mam" redirects here. Not to be confused with [Isle of Man](/source/Isle_of_Man).

For other uses, see [Mayda (disambiguation)](/source/Mayda_(disambiguation)).

**Mayda** (variously known as **Maida**, **Mayd**, **Mayde**, **Brazir**, **Mam**, **Asmaida**, **Asmayda**, **Bentusle**, **Las Maidas Bolunda**, and **Vlaanderen**) is a [phantom island](/source/Phantom_island) in the North Atlantic Ocean that appeared on maps from the 14th century until the early 20th century.[1] Typically depicted as crescent-shaped and positioned west of [Brittany](/source/Brittany) or southwest of [Ireland](/source/Ireland), approximately at 46° to 48° N latitude, Mayda was among the most persistent of the Atlantic phantom islands.[2] [Alexander von Humboldt](/source/Alexander_von_Humboldt) observed around 1836 that of the numerous legendary Atlantic islands, only Mayda and [Brazil Rock](/source/Brasil_(mythical_island)) still appeared on contemporary charts.[1]

## Description

Mayda was most commonly represented as a crescent-shaped island, a form that distinguished it from the circular depictions typical of other phantom islands such as [Brasil](/source/Brasil_(mythical_island)).[3] The island's position varied considerably across different maps, though it was most often placed in the open Atlantic far west of lower Brittany and more or less southwest of Ireland.[1] Over time, its charted location migrated westward toward the Americas, with some later maps positioning it near [Newfoundland](/source/Newfoundland_(island)), [Bermuda](/source/Bermuda), or the [West Indies](/source/West_Indies).[4]

## History

### Medieval appearances

The island first appeared as **Brazir** on the [Pizzigani brothers'](/source/Domenico_and_Francesco_Pizzigano) 1367 [portolan chart](/source/Portolan_chart), depicted in crescent form southwest of the island of [Brasil](/source/Brasil_(mythical_island)) at approximately the latitude of southern Brittany.[2][4] It subsequently appeared under the name **Mam** or **Insula de Mam** on the [Catalan Atlas](/source/Catalan_Atlas) of 1375, and as **Jonzele** on the Pinelli map of 1384.[5]

The [Andrea Bianco atlas](/source/Bianco_world_map) of 1436 depicted the island as **Bentusla** (or **Bentufla**), maintaining its characteristic crescent shape near the latitude of Brittany.[5] The [1513 edition](/source/Waldseem%C3%BCller_map) of [Ptolemy's *Geography*](/source/Geography_(Ptolemy)) edited by [Martin Waldseemüller](/source/Martin_Waldseem%C3%BCller) showed the island as **Asmaidas**.[6] The prefixed syllable "As-" may initially suggest an [Arabic](/source/Arabic) origin for the name, but the same map also renders [Gomera](/source/La_Gomera) as "Agomera", [Madeira](/source/Madeira) as "Amadera", and [Brazil](/source/Brasil_(mythical_island)) as "Obrassil", indicating merely a cartographic convention of adding superfluous vowels to island names.[1]

[Abraham Ortelius](/source/Abraham_Ortelius), in his *[Theatrum Orbis Terrarum](/source/Theatrum_Orbis_Terrarum)* (1570), placed a crescent-shaped island in Mayda's traditional location but labelled it **Vlaenderen** ("[Flanders](/source/Flanders)").[7]

### Later persistence

Mayda proved remarkably persistent on charts. It appeared on [Willem Blaeu](/source/Willem_Blaeu)'s 1649 *Americae nova Tabula* and continued to feature on maps well into the 19th century.[7] [John Purdy](/source/John_Purdy_(hydrographer))'s world map of 1834 still included the island, as noted by Humboldt.[1] A relief map published in [Chicago](/source/Chicago) and copyrighted 1906 exhibited Mayda, which the geographer William H. Babcock characterised as "a crowning instance of cartographic conservation".[1]

## Etymology

The origin of the name Mayda remains uncertain. While the island's name has sometimes been attributed to [Arabic](/source/Arabic_language) origins—the Moors having sailed the eastern Atlantic after their conquest of Spain and named some of the [Azores](/source/Azores)—the name does not appear in any known Moorish texts or maps.[1] Babcock noted that the name "is unlike all the other names in the sea" and that "its origin remains unexplained".[1]

## Legacy

The island is the namesake of [Mayda Insula](/source/Mayda_Insula), an approximately 168 kilometres (104 mi) diameter feature in the [Kraken Mare](/source/Kraken_Mare) on [Saturn's](/source/Saturn) moon [Titan](/source/Titan_(moon)), named by the [International Astronomical Union](/source/International_Astronomical_Union) in 2008.[8]

## In popular culture

The island of Mayda is a principal location in the novel *[A Web of Air](/source/A_Web_of_Air)* (2010) by [Philip Reeve](/source/Philip_Reeve), where it is depicted as a crater city off the coast of [Portugal](/source/Portugal).[9]

## See also

- [Brasil (mythical island)](/source/Brasil_(mythical_island))
- [List of phantom islands](/source/List_of_phantom_islands)

## Notes

1. Babcock, William H. (1920). "The Problem of Mayda, an Island Appearing on Medieval Maps". *[Geographical Review](/source/Geographical_Review)*. **9** (4): 281–285. [doi:10.2307/207733](https://doi.org/10.2307/207733). [JSTOR 207733](https://www.jstor.org/stable/207733)

1. Babcock 1922, p. 83.

1. Babcock, William H. (1915). ["The so-called mythical islands of the Atlantic in Mediæval maps"](https://zenodo.org/record/1430407). *Scottish Geographical Magazine*. **31** (10): 531–541. [doi:10.1080/00369221508734208](https://doi.org/10.1080/00369221508734208)

1. Ramsay 1972, p. 216.

1. Ramsay 1972, p. 217.

1. Ramsay 1972, pp. 217–218.

1. Ramsay 1972, p. 219.

1. ["Mayda Insula"](https://planetarynames.wr.usgs.gov/Feature/14401). *Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature*. [International Astronomical Union](/source/International_Astronomical_Union) Working Group for Planetary System Nomenclature. Retrieved 28 June 2017.

1. Reeve, Philip (2010). *A Web of Air*. Scholastic. ISBN 978-1-4071-1517-7.

## References

- Babcock, William Henry (1922). [*Legendary Islands of the Atlantic: A Study in Medieval Geography*](https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/65103). No. 8. Research Series. American Geographical Society of New York.
- Ramsay, Raymond (1972). "The Maybe of Mayda". *No Longer on the Map: Discovering Places That Never Were*. New York: Viking Press. ISBN 0-670-51433-0.

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Mayda](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mayda) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mayda?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.