Saint Brendan's Island, also known as Saint Brendan's Isle or San Borondon, is a phantom island or mythical island, supposedly situated in the North Atlantic somewhere west of Northern Africa. It is named after Saint Brendan of Clonfert. He and his followers are said to have discovered it while travelling across the ocean and evangelising its islands. It appeared on numerous maps in Christopher Columbus's time, most notably Martin Behaim's Erdapfel of 1492. It is known as La isla de San Borondón and isla de Samborombón in Spanish.[1]
The first mention of the island was in the Latin text Navigatio Sancti Brendani Abbatis ("Voyage of Saint Brendan the Abbot") of the ninth century, which inserted the island into Irish and European folklore.
- ^ Haase, Wolfgang; Reinhold, Meyer (1993). The Classical Tradition and the Americas: European Images of the Americas and the Classical Tradition v. 1. Walter de Gruyter. p. 200. ISBN 978-3-11-011572-7.