You've probably already had a class in which the history teacher taught you the various names that Brazil has had since Land of Vera Cruz The Federative Republic of Brazil, passing through Iisland of Vera Cruz, land of Santa Cruz etc. Well then, but do you know the probable origin of the name "Brazil"? There is another story that says that the name of Brazil was derived from the plant “pau-brasil”. This view is not absolutely incorrect, given that pau-brasil was the most coveted commercial product in the first years of exploration of Brazilian lands by the Portuguese. But there is another version that matters to be known.
Recently, some historians have studied the possible origins of the expression “Brazil” and how it was associated with the geographic region where Brazil is located today (understood as a country, nation, etc.). These researches ended up going back to ancient legends of northern Europe, especially of the regions inhabited by Celts and Britons (now the United Kingdom and Ireland), which ended up feeding the imagination of the French, Portuguese and Spanish people.
This ancient legend was about an island called Brazil. This island, like the island of Atlantis, would have been populated by mythological beings and memorable heroes. The Celtic term "Brazil" (Breasail) can even allude not only to the island, but also to a homonymous hero.
These imaginary Atlantic island legends would have penetrated the West through a compilation entitled “Nauigatio Sancti Brendani”. The imaginative force of these stories was such that even in the highly accurate nautical maps of the beginning of the era of overseas navigations, islands like “Brazil” were drawn.
However, the position of this island on the maps used by navigators, over time, was placed more and more to the south, in the region where, approximately, Brazil was found. The acceptance of the name “Brazil” to refer to the Colony may have been endorsed both by the extraction and trade of pau-brasil and by the legend of the island.
The fact is that such origins are always difficult to trace, so as time goes on, new light is shed on these facts.
By Me. Cláudio Fernandes