Welcome to Unexplained Extra with me Richard McClain smith. For the weeks in between episodes, we look at the stories that, for one reason or other, didn't make it into the show. In last week's episode, When the Light Fades, we looked at the haunting tale of the Lightkeepers of Island More. The island is one of seven small rocky outcrops known collectively as the Flannin Isles, located seventy miles to the west of the Isle of Lewis in the Scottish Outer Hebrides.
The island was often referred to as the Other Country, a place where a mysterious other world had touched with our own mortal world. It is a sentiment reserved for a number of mythical and remote islands from around the globe. Though many will be familiar with the fantastical Atlantis or the lost land of Limuria, there is one island, once thought to be hated, a few hundred miles off the south coast of Ireland that may yet prove to be
the strangest of them all. The island is believed to have first been charted by famed Italian mayorcan cartographer Angelina Dulcet in thirteen twenty five. It would appear again in his later map of thirteen thirty nine. Widely considered his greatest achievement, the thirteen thirty nine Portland Chart now resides
in Paris in the National Library of France. Looking at it today, it is a masterpiece of composition and geometry, considered the finest map of the known world from a European perspective for its time, It covers a region of land encompassing northern Africa, West Asia, and the majority of Europe. Despite some notable inaccuracies of scale, it nonetheless depicts a clear picture of the various lands record, cognizable from any
modern day atlas. And yet if you look to the left hand side of the map you will see something fairly unexpected. Clearly marked just off the coast of Ireland is a small landmass that over time has become commonly known as High Brazil. The exact origins of the name Brazil is unknown, and it is not thought to be linked to the nation of Brazil, which instead derives its name from the Pernambuco tree, otherwise known as brazil wood. The likely providence is to be found in Celtic and
Irish folklore. Irish historians will be familiar with the Clan Ay Brazil, whose iron Age chief, the eponymous Brazil, is said to have lost his daughter in the River Gailem, which flows into Gorway Bay on the west coast of Ireland. However, it's most likely that the name is derived from another Brazil, known in Celtic folklore as the High King of the World. The immortal monarch was said to whole court on a strange mythical island known as High Brazil, a place of
great and eternal happiness. The island was said to be nothing less than the embodiment of the other world. As the myth goes, the strange land was believed to only appear every seven years, when it would rise from the waters shrouded in mist. Any attempt by a mortal to reach the island, however, would reveal it to be nothing
but a strange mirage, forever out of reach. What could possibly have compelled to such a reputable cartographer as Angelino Dulcert to include a mythical island on his most prestigious of maps. Had this island in fact been discovered, Are you always taking care of your family. Do you often take care of others and not yourself. Now it's time to take care of yourself. To make time for you. You deserve it. Telladoc gives you access to a licensed therapist to help you get back to feeling your best
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For free. Teledoc therapy is available through most insurance or employers. Download the app or visit teledoc dot com forward slash Unexplained podcast today to get started. That's teladoc dot com slash Unexplained Podcast. In fourteen ninety seven, famed explorer Giovanni Caboto made his name leading the first to European expedition to the mainland of North America since the Vikings. Eighty, Caboto launched the first of eight expeditions in search of
the mythical Celtic land of High Brazil. There is no known proof that Caboto reached the island, except for the report of one Spanish diplomat who traveled with Caboto to North America in fourteen ninety seven. The diplomat, named Pedro Deayala, maintained that he had made his journey with the men who had found High Brazil. Controversial historian and Irish mythologizer Roderick o'flahati also claimed sometime in the seventeenth century that he had encountered a man named Mora o'lee who had
visited the island for a period of two days. The claim remains unsubstantiated. Many have pointed to a sixteen seventy four expedition taken by the mariner Captain john Nisbitt as proof that the island had indeed been discovered. The claim is now known to be the invention of Irish author Richard Head. Regardless, the island of High Brazil continued to feature in many charts, appearing again in seventeen seventy six as a rock six degrees west of the southern point
of Ireland. The last non map to include the land was a British Admiralty chart drawn up in eighteen sixty five, after which the island appears to have vanished from the records. When thinking of such places, it is hard not to be reminded of Thomas Moore's own fictional land of Utopia,
perhaps the most symbolically fictitious of them all. And whatever you believe, whether there be a truth to the existence of High Brazil or any of the other mythical lands, it is a curious myth that somewhere out there lies paradise, if only we could discover it, when, after all, do we not have everything we need to make it ourselves. All elements of Unexplained are produced by me Richard McClain smith.
Please subscribe and rate the show on iTunes, and feel free to get in touch with any thoughts or ideas regarding the stories you've heard on the show. Perhaps you have an explanation of your own you'd like to share. You can reach us online at Unexplained podcast dot com or on Twitter at Unexplained Pod. Now it's time to take care of yourself, to make time for you. Teledoc gives you access to a licensed therapist to help you
get back to feeling your best. Speak to a licensed therapist by phone or video anytime between seven am to nine pm local time, seven days a week. Teledoc Therapy is available through most insurance or employers. Download the app, or visit telldoc dot com Forward slash Unexplained podcast today to get started. That's t e l a d oc dot com slash Unexplained podcast