The island of Bermeja, off the coast of Mexico, has gone missing. It appeared on maps from 1539-1844.


Bermeja, sometimes called Bermejo, was accurately depicted on maps created by noted Spanish cartographers over several centuries and was shown on Mexican maps until 1990.

But a search for the island in 1997 could not find it.

Until then, it was the official land point from which Mexico set its 200 nautical-mile economic zone, giving Mexico drilling rights to huge petroleum deposits in the Gulf of Mexico.

One theory is that changing sea levels, and shifting sand, left the low lying island under water.

The other theory is that is was destroyed by the CIA, giving the US more power over the oil in the Gulf of Mexico.

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