THE VINLAND MAP / A COMMENTARY

• Published in: Cartographica: The International Journal for Geographic Information and Geovisualization
• Main Author: MOWAT, FARLEY
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: University of Toronto Press Inc. (UTPress) 1966
• Subjects: Earth-Surface Processes; Greenland; Groenland; Hudson Strait; Newfoundland; Terre-Neuve
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.3138/0431-3m00-w743-jk26; https://utpjournals.press/doi/pdf/10.3138/0431-3M00-W743-JK26

The accurate orientation and location of the portion of North America on the Vinland Map postulates that the map-maker had a clear understanding of the locations of Vinland and the other early Norse discoveries to the westward. It is the writer's theory that the name 'Vinland' originally referred to Leif Erikssen's landfall at Trinity Bay, Newfoundland, but that after succeeding Norse settlement voyages from Greenland, the name became a generic for the whole of the then known new world. The sources used for the Vinland Map are in excellent agreement with those used by Sigurd Stefansson for his 1570 map, which also derived from ancient Icelandic sources, except that the scribe chose to refer to Vinland as an island. An examination of the ancient Norse sagas reveals that both Helluland and Vinland were considered as an area quite distinct from the coastal linear territory known to the ancient Norse as Greenland, and, separated from it by Hudson Strait, was in fact part of a new world. It is probable that the irregularities of the coastline delineated on the 'Island of Vinland' were drawn from the imagination of the cartographer, but some of the main features such as Kaumajet Peninsula were certainly known to the Norse voyagers. The writer identifies the geographic locations of the main features indicated on the map, and postulates that the 'Island of Vinland' was based on sea charts made and used by the ancient Norse. L'orientation et l'emplacement exacts de la partie de l'Amérique du Nord sur la Carte Vinland accepte que le cartographe comprenait bien l'emplacement de Vinland et des autres découvertes nordiques vers l'ouest. La théorie de l'auteur est que le nom 'Vinland' se rapporte originairement à la défaite terrestre à Trinity Bay de Leif Erikssen, la Terre- Neuve, mais que, après une suite de voyages du Groenland à l'établissement nordique, le nom est devenu générique pour le monde entier, connu jusque là. Les sources dont on se servait pour établir la carte 'Vinland' sont en plein accord avec celles dont se ...