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Great Ireland
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Great Ireland or Ireland the Great (Irland it mikla in Old Norse), or Greater Ireland, also known in Old Norse as Hvítramannaland ("White Men's Land") and in Latin as Hibernia Major or Albania (not to be confused with the country of Albania) is a phantom island once believed by many Norsemen and others to be located near Vinland. The island was supposed to have been settled by Irishmen, possibly by the Irish monks called papar who were supposed to have fled Ireland when the Vikings arrived there to settle.
According to the Landnámabók, Ari Marsson discovered the island six days' sailing west of Ireland. The inhabitants, presumably Christians, baptized him but would not permit him to leave the island. White Men's Land is also mentioned in The Saga of Eric the Red, where it is related that the inhabitants of Markland speak of it to Thorfinn Karlsefni. In Eyrbyggja saga, Gudleif Gudlaugson and his crew are said to have visited the island, whose inhabitants spoke Irish. These Irishmen wanted to kill or enslave the Norsemen, but they were saved by the intervention of an Icelander who lived among them. They took this man to be Bjorn Asbrandson, who had been exiled from Iceland some thirty years earlier.
In modern times, attempts have been made to equate Great Ireland with the southeastern coast of the United States or other places.