Mayda is the name of a non-existent island that has been shown on several published maps at various points in history. It was most often represented as having the shape of a sickle and its position has varied widely over time. Early maps drew the island west of Brittany and southwest of Ireland. Later it moved towards the Americas (Newfoundland, Bermuda, West Indies). Its last appearance, in 1906, was on a Rand McNally map. It is believed that its existence solely served to fill empty spaces on maps.^{[citation needed]} Using a sickle A sickle is a curved, hand-held agricultural tool typically used for harvesting grain crops before the advent of modern harvesting machinery. ... Historical province of Brittany, showing the main areas with their name in Breton language The traditional flag of Brittany (the Gwenn-ha-du), formerly a Breton nationalist symbol but today used as a general civic flag in the region. ... World map showing the Americas The Americas are the lands of the Western hemisphere historically considered to consist of the continents of North America and South America with their associated islands and regions. ... For other uses, see Newfoundland (disambiguation). ... The Caribbean or the West Indies is a group of islands in the Caribbean Sea. ... Rand McNally & Company is the preeminent American publisher of maps, atlases, and globes for travel, reference, commercial, and educational uses. ...

Mayda also appeared being called: Asmayda, Asmaida, Mayde and Mayd. The name has sometimes been said to be of Arabic origin. It appears as Asmaidas on a map of the New World accompanying Waldseemüller's 1513 edition of Ptolemy. Arabic can mean: From or related to Arabia From or related to the Arabs The Arabic language; see also Arabic grammar The Arabic alphabet, used for expressing the languages of Arabic, Persian, Malay ( Jawi), Kurdish, Panjabi, Pashto, Sindhi and Urdu, among others. ... Frontispiece of Peter Martyr dAnghieras De orbe novo (On the New World). Carte dAmérique, Guillaume Delisle, 1722. ... Martin Waldseemüller (19th century painting) Martin Waldseemüller (Latin name Martinus Ilacomilus, ca. ... A medieval artists rendition of Claudius Ptolemaeus Claudius Ptolemaeus (Greek: ; ca. ...

References

• The Great Deep. The Sea and its thresholds, James Hamilton-Paterson
• Legendary islands of the Atlantic: a study in medieval geography, William H Babcock, New York 1922 (American Geographical Society research series; 8)
• "The Problem of Mayda, an Island Appearing on Medieval Maps", William H Babcock, Geographical Review, Vol. 9, No. 4 (Apr-Jun, 1920), pp.335–346
• No Longer on the Map: Discovering Places that Never Were, Raymond H. Ramsay, New York 1972