Aeningia

Aeningia is an island mentioned in "the Natural History" by Pliny the Elder, written in the 1s century CE. According to Pliny, Aeningia was inhabited by Sarmatians (Sarmati), Veneti (Venedi), Scirii (Sciri) and Hirri, bordering Vistula. [ [http://www.thelatinlibrary.com/pliny.nh4.html C. Plinii natvralis historiae liber IV] . In Latin.] Aeningia was probably a corrupted form of "Aestingia" (Estland) and referred to the area of the present-day Baltic states and northern Poland. [ [http://runeberg.org/geohist/0036.html 28 (Geografiens och de geografiska upptäckternas historia) ] ]

Some early European historians interpreted the name as a corrupt form of Finland, constructing a hypothetical Latin name "Finningia" as the original name. This probably originated from Olaus Magnus who was the first to place "Finningia olim regnum" on the map in 1539 [ [http://www.bell.lib.umn.edu/map/OLAUS/carta.html Olaus Magnus' map of Scandinavia] . See section F.] or from Jacob Ziegler, who placed Finlandia and Einingia next to each other in present-day southwestern Finland in 1532. [ [http://virtual.finland.fi/finfo/English/map/map4.html Jacob Ziegler's map of Scandinavia] .]

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