The Cartography of Myth
100 Imaginary Lands, Phantom Islands, and Lost Continents That Fooled Explorers
Trace centuries of cartographic folklore, from mapmaker hoaxes to lost golden cities.
Sunken Continents & Ancient Realms (1–20)
1. AtlantisPlato’s legendary island empire said to have sunk into the Atlantic Ocean in a single day and night.
2. LemuriaA hypothetical sunken continent once theorized in the Indian Ocean to explain lemur distribution patterns.
3. MuA supposed lost Pacific continent popularized by Augustus Le Plongeon and James Churchward.
4. LyonesseA mythical kingdom in Arthurian legend connecting Cornwall to the Isles of Scilly before sinking.
5. YsA legendary city built on the coast of Brittany that was swallowed by the sea due to royal sin.
6. Hy-BrasilAn elusive phantom island shrouded in mist off the Irish coast, appearing on maps from 1325 to 1865.
7. ThuleOriginally described by Pytheas as a distant northern land, later mapped as a mythical Arctic realm.
8. AvalonThe legendary island paradise where King Arthur’s sword Excalibur was forged and he was healed.
9. TartessosA semi-mythical ancient civilization and port city in the Iberian Peninsula swallowed by coastal changes.
10. HyperboreaA mythical paradise located beyond the north wind, inhabited by an immortal, blissful race of giants.
11. AntillaA mysterious mid-Atlantic island charted by medieval sailors as a refuge during the Islamic conquest.
12. St. Brendan’s IsleA floating paradise island visited by Irish monks during their seventh-century oceanic voyages.
13. MaydaA crescent-shaped phantom island charted west of Portugal, appearing on Portuguese portolan charts.
14. Buss IslandAn island supposedly discovered during Martin Frobisher’s 1578 voyage, which later completely vanished.
15. FrislandA massive fictitious North Atlantic island invented in the Zeno narrative and copied for over a century.
16. Isle of DemonsA phantom island off Newfoundland populated by devils and wild beasts on sixteenth-century maps.
17. EstotilandA legendary northern landmass mapped near the Arctic, invented by Venetian explorers.
18. DrogeoA fertile region south of Estotiland inhabited by giant savages on Renaissance maps.
19. IcariaA mythical island near Frisland mapped by cartographers before being quietly excised as a phantom.
20. PacemA fictitious island kingdom charted in medieval East Asian trade routes by European compilers.
