Bermeja

Bermeja is a phantom islet lying off the north coast of the Yucatán Peninsula according to several maps of the Gulf of Mexico from the 16th to the 20th centuries.

[1] Despite being located somewhat precisely in relation to neighboring islands by notable Spanish cartographers of the 16th century,[2] the island was not found in a 1997 survey,[3] nor in an extensive 2009 study conducted by the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) on behalf of the Mexican Chamber of Deputies.

1540) by Alonso de Chaves, who wrote that from a distance, the small island looks "blondish or reddish" (in Spanish: bermeja).

[2] According to Michel Antochiw Kolpa [es], a French-Mexican cartographer, since 1844 British maps have reported the sinking of the island some 60 fathoms (360 ft; 110 m) below.

[6] Explanations for its apparent disappearance include an erroneous observation by the early cartographers, shifts in the geography of the ocean floor, rising sea levels, and conspiracy theories claiming that the Central Intelligence Agency destroyed the island to expand the exclusive economic zone allotted to the United States.

A 1914 map showing U.S. claim on "Bermejo I."