Bacalao, Bacallao, or Terra do Bacalhau was a phantom island depicted on several early 16th century Portuguese maps and nautical charts. The name is a variation of bacalhau, meaning "cod" or "stockfish". According to Gaspar Frutuoso in his work Saudades da Terra, written in the 1570s, the Portuguese navigator João Vaz Corte-Real in 1472 was granted lands in the Azores by the king of Portugal, because of his discovery of the Terras do Bacalhau. Historians do not consider the work of Frutuoso as very reliable, as it contains a great deal of misinformation. Off the northeast tip of Newfoundland's Avalon Peninsula is an island named Bacalaos, its name attested at least since 1556. See also Brasil (mythical island) Cape Cod Pre-Columbian transoceanic contact theories Sacred Cod of Massachusetts Vinland Notes Bibliography Pre-Columbian trans-oceanic contact History of Newfoundland and Labrador by location Phantom islands of the Atlantic