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Dave's Mythical Creatures and Places |
Island of Seven Cities
From a 1570 Ortelius map- shown as Sept cites
The island of Seven Cities was a common myth in medieval times. The story told that when the Moors conquered Spain, seven bishops and their followers took a ship and sailed out into the Atlantic. After a long voyage, they landed on an island and scuttled the ship. They separated and built seven different settlements.
Once, a Portuguese captain told Prince Henry the Navigator that he had found this island. He told that they had been forced to leave the island because the residents did not want any interaction with them, and that the cabin boys had taken some sand from the island to clean pots with, and it was two-thirds gold. Prince Henry ordered the captain to return to the island, but the men were terrified. The captain sailed off, and never returned to Portugal.
