This mysterious ‘phantom island’ appeared on maps for hundreds of years but has never been found

Near the Canary Islands archipelago off the west of Africa, there is a legend about the island of San Borondón, also known as Saint Brendan’s Island. What makes San Borondón especially intriguing is that it supposedly appears and disappears without any clear explanation.

The first known appearance of Saint Brendan’s Island on a map dates back to the late 13th century, specifically in 1755, on the Hereford Mappa Mundi created in England. On this map, the island is depicted in the shape of a ship. It was described as being 480 kilometers long and 155 kilometers wide—dimensions that, if real, would make it the largest of the Canary Islands.

However, the island has not been reliably seen since then, though myths and legends about it persist. One of the most well-known stories dates back to the 6th century, when Saint Brendan of Clonfert, an Irish monk, embarked on a journey across the Atlantic in search of the “Earthly Paradise,” reportedly following instructions from an angel. After seven years at sea, he is said to have arrived at a lush, green island, which later became known as San Borondón.

In 2011, the Spanish newspaper ABC published an article referencing this mythical land, recalling a previous headline: “The mysterious Sirena Island, northwest of El Hierro (Canary Islands), has been seen again.” The article noted that, “history tells us that the island of San Borondón has only been sighted a few times, always vanishing beneath the clouds—and this tradition remains unbroken.”

Several years earlier, in 1958, the same newspaper reported: “The wandering island of San Borondón has been photographed for the first time.” Known as the “eighth Canary Island,” San Borondón continued to captivate imaginations. Legends claimed, for instance, that the sand on its beaches was mixed with fine grains of pure gold.

To this day, no definitive scientific explanation has been found to account for the phenomenon of San Borondón. However, some physicists suggest that underwater volcanic activity in the region could give rise to temporary islands, which eventually vanish when the volcanic activity subsides.

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