- Zeno map
The Zeno map refers to a map of the
North Atlantic first published in1558 inVenice by Nicolo Zeno, a descendant of Nicolo Zeno, of theZeno 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 the1390s under the direction of a prince namedZichmni . 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 , perpetrated by the younger Zeno to make a retroactive claim for Venice as having discovered the New World beforeChristopher 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 . One of these islands wasFrisland , where the Zeno brothers allegedly spent some time.Independent research also shows that since the
marine chronometer was not invented until the mid 1750's, it would have been impossible to determine thelongitude of theland mass shown on the map.Current scholarship regards the map as being based on existing maps of the
16th century , in particular:*The
Olaus Magnus map of the North, theCarta marina
*TheCaerte van Oostland ofCornelis Anthoniszoon
*Claudius Clavus -type maps of the North [Gray, Johnathan "Dead Men's Secrets" ]References
* 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.
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