Bacalao
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Categories: Pre-Columbian trans-oceanic contact | History of Newfoundland and Labrador | Phantom islands | Newfoundland and Labrador geography stubs
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This article is about the possible island called Bacalao. For Portuguese dish, see Bacalhau. For Italian equivalent, see baccala. For salted and dried fish product on which these are based, see clipfish.
Bacalao (also spelled Bacalhau, Bachalaos, Bacalhaos, Baccalieu, Baccalar) was a phantom island depicted on several early 16th century maps. It is presumed to refer to Newfoundland. The name first appears on a map in 1508, but there are earlier accounts of Bacalao. Off the north-east tip of Newfoundland's Avalon Peninsula, however, there is in fact a Baccalao Island. In 1472, the Portuguese navigator João Vaz Corte-Real was granted lands in the Azores by the king of Portugal, because of his discovery of the Terra do Bacalhau. Furthermore, Bartolomé de Las Casas wrote about Portuguese voyages of discovery to Tierra de los Bacallao. This has led some to believe that Corte-Real must have reached the Americas several decades before Columbus. Bacalao literally means "cod"; it as also a term used for "stockfish". Portuguese and Spanish fisherman fished for cod at the Grand Banks of Newfoundland in the 15th century, so this is a possible origin of the name.[1] The Cliffs of Baccalieu, a song by T. Withers, tells the tale of a ship that is caught in a storm and is nearly wrecked. References
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