Zeno map
The Zeno map is a map of the North Atlantic first published in 1558 in Venice by Nicolo Zeno, a descendant of Nicolo Zeno, of the Zeno brothers.
The younger Zeno published the map, along with a series of letters, claiming he had discovered them in a storeroom in his family's home in Venice. According to Zeno, the map and letters date from around the year 1400 and purportedly describe a long voyage made by the Zeno brothers in the 1390s under the direction of a prince named Zichmni.[1] The voyage supposedly traversed the North Atlantic and, according to some interpretations, reached North America.
Most historians regard the map and accompanying narrative as a hoax,[2] perpetrated by the younger Zeno to make a retroactive claim for Venice as having discovered the New World before Christopher Columbus.
The evidence against the authenticity of the map is based largely on the appearance of many non-existent islands in the North Atlantic and off the coast of Iceland.[3] [4] One of these non-existent islands was Frisland, where the Zeno brothers allegedly spent some time.
Current scholarship regards the map as being based on existing maps of the 16th century, in particular:
- The Olaus Magnus map of the North, the Carta marina
- The Caerte van Oostland of Cornelis Anthoniszoon
- Claudius Clavus-type maps of the North
[edit] References
- ^ Wright, Helen Saunders (1910). The great white North: the story of polar exploration from the earliest times to the discovery of the Pole. The Macmillan co.. pp. 8. http://books.google.com/books?id=ieG_CFj7OLIC&dq=helen+wright+great+white+north.
- ^ http://www.biographi.ca/009004-119.01-e.php?&id_nbr=592
- ^ Lainema, Matti; Juha Nurminen (2009). A History of Arctic Exploration: Discovery, Adventure and Endurance at the Top of the World. Conway. p. 101. ISBN 978-1844860692. http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=IkvmKuIKJeMC&pg=PA101&dq=Zeno+non-existent++islands&hl=en&sa=X&ei=Tx8QT-fDBYHIhAfCmeWdAg&ved=0CDEQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=Zeno%20non-existent%20%20islands&f=false.
- ^ Mills, William James (2003). Exploring Polar Frontiers: A Historical Encyclopedia. ABC-CLIO. p. 247. ISBN 78-1576074220. http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=PYdBH4dOOM4C&pg=PA247&dq=Zeno+non-existent++islands&hl=en&sa=X&ei=Tx8QT-fDBYHIhAfCmeWdAg&ved=0CGYQ6AEwCQ#v=onepage&q=Zeno%20non-existent%20%20islands&f=false.
[edit] Further reading
- Cooper, Robert L. D. (Ed.) The Voyages of the Venetian Brothers Nicolo & Antonio Zeno to the Northern Seas in the XIVth Century. Masonic Publishing Co. 2004. ISBN 0-9544268-2-7.
