Escape from Nova Zembla Island and Dating the Dutch-Drake La Heroike Interprinse… Map

• Published in: Cartographica: The International Journal for Geographic Information and Geovisualization
• Main Author: Bahill, A. Terry
• Other Authors: Systems and Industrial Engineering, University of Arizona
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: University of Toronto Press Inc. (UTPress) 2024
• Subjects: Arctic Circle; Arctic Sea; North Pole; polar region; punctuated equilibrium; Sir Francis Drake; sixteenth-century maps; toponyms; Willem Barents; Arctic; Nova Zembla Island
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10150/672598; https://doi.org/10.3138/cart-2023-0011

Nova Zembla is a tall, skinny island north of Russia above the Arctic Circle. This article is about the maps that describe Nova Zembla and the geographical region surrounding it that were published from 1562 to 1650. From 1562 until 1592, all maps spelled it “Nova Zemla” and drew it either as one of the giant circumpolar islands or as a peninsula of one. Thereafter, some maps used “Zemla,” and some used “Zembla,” but almost all maps represented it as an independent island. This article discusses the explorers who sailed near Nova Zembla in the last half of the sixteenth century and how they created the history of the name Nova Zembla. The evolution of the spelling and shape of Nova Zembla is analogous to punctuated equilibria in paleontological evolution. Using maps containing Nova Zembla, this article shows that the Dutch-Drake La Heroike Interprinse . . . map was made in the last decade of the sixteenth century, probably around 1594. 12 month embargo; first published 12 April 2024 This item from the UA Faculty Publications collection is made available by the University of Arizona with support from the University of Arizona Libraries. If you have questions, please contact us at [e-mail].