phantom islands
Maps' false landmasses
Phantom islands are landmasses that appeared on maps for years or centuries before being determined not to exist.
Some arose from misidentified clouds, icebergs, or optical illusions; others from navigational errors or outright fabrication.
A few persisted on charts into the twentieth century: Sailors searched for phantom islands that had been copied from map to map for generations.
The term sometimes extends figuratively to any persistent false belief.
- explorersThose who venture unfamiliar lands
- Age of ExplorationPeriod of global seafaring
- elusiveHard to find
- mythicalOf folklore, not fact
- mysteriousBeyond easy comprehension
uncharted · uncharted waters · nautical myths · ancient maps · old maps · here be dragons · illusions · ghost ships · legend · Atlantis · Thule · mirage · Lemuria · geography · Avalon · folklore · navigational hazards · Bermuda Triangle
- mystical placesAtlantis, Avalon, Shangri-La, El Dorado, Lemuria
- Ocean MysteriesBermuda Triangle, ghost ships, shipwrecks, lost treasure, sea monsters
- phantom geographyAtlantis, Lemuria, Mu, terra incognita, El Dorado
- Map odditiesBermuda Triangle, terra incognita, here be dragons, exclaves, enclaves
- Island MythsMaui, Kane, fire goddess, guardian spirits, sacred chants
- Arctic mythsThule, ice giants
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