Moderator message--well, really editorial message-- sorry--As this message
states it was also sent to the map history list. There was an immediate reply
on that list which
disagrees with the conclusions of Dr. Thompson. The presence and
meaning of the numerous 'islands' found on early maps of the Atlantic has
been discussed at great lengths in the literature for many years. It appears
that discussion will continue.-------------Johnnie
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----------------------------Original message----------------------------
Greetings,
Please excuse me for cross-posting on Map-L and Maphist and for
this long message, but I hope this will be of interest to many
of you.
Dr. Gunnar Thompson of the University of Hawaii at Manoa has made
another "discovery". Since he has only recently gotten "online"
and hasn't yet subscribed to the listserves, I am forwarding this
press release with his permission. Please feel free to respond by
also cc-ing to Dr. Thompson's email address which is included in
the press release which follows.
As a side note, the 1413 Mecia Viladestes map that is mentioned
in the press release is reproduced in color in the book _Sea
Charts of the Early Explorers_, by Michel Mollat du Jourdin;
translated by L. le R. Dethan. New York : Thames and Hudson Inc.,
c1984. Furthermore, the "Book of the Knowledge" was translated
and edited by Sir Clements Markham, K.C.B. London : Hakluyt
Society, 1912. Both items are in the collections of the
University of Hawaii's Hamilton Library.
Aloha,
Ross Togashi
University of Hawaii Library
Map Collection [log in to unmask]
************ Press release **************************************
DATE: March 15, 1996
FROM: Multicultural Discovery Project
University of Hawaii - Wist Annex 121 - CE
1776 University Ave.
Honolulu, HI 96822-2463 USA
CONTACT: Gunnar Thompson, Project Director
(808) 988-5581; 956-7904; FAX (808) 956-3814
[log in to unmask]
SUBJECT: Discovery - Irish Settlement in America by 1350 AD
HONOLULU - The Irish beat Columbus to America. That is what
Professor Gunnar Thompson announced at a College of Education
Colloquium held at the University of Hawaii Manoa campus.
Thompson found evidence of an Irish settlement in North America
on a map by the Majorcan cartographer Mecia Viladestes dated to
1413. This map has two places identified as Ireland. One is the
island west of England that we normally think of as Ireland. On
the Viladestes map it is called "Irlanda." The other isle is
called "Ibernia" which is an ancient name for Ireland. However,
Ibernia on this map is located west of Greenland.
Other Medieval maps show lands west of Greenland that were
later identified as North American territories. However, placement
of an isle on a map is not sufficient proof of an Irish settlement
in the New World. Several ancient sources tell of Irish isles in
the North Atlantic. The Arabian geographer Al-Idrisi mentioned
"Irlanda-al-Kabirah" or "Great Ireland located "beyond Greenland"
in his atlas of 1154 AD. Norse sagas from the 11th century
mentioned an Irish territory called "Vitramanland" or "Ireland
The Great" that was situated near the Norse Wineland colony in the
vicinity of modern-day Massachusetts. And 16th-century Danish
maps showed a land called "Estotiland" or "Albania" on the North
American mainland. The names Estotiland or Escotiland were commonly
given to settlements of a Gaelic tribe from Northern Ireland.
Since these maps were all made after the Columbus voyage, historians
have assumed that they represented belated attempts to deprive the
Spaniard of his rightful fame as discoverer of the New World.
"The issue of priority," says Thompson, "is settled by the
travel log of an anonymous Spanish Franciscan who traveled on
Atlantic seas during the mid-14th century." It was the friar's
travelog that convinced Thompson that Ibernia represents an Irish
Settlement in North America. the travelog, called "The Book of
Knowledge," was written circa 1350 and deposited in a Spanish
archive - so there is no question that it predates the Columbus
voyage. The book is an accounting of all the nations in the world
along with a description of their flags. It was written to aid
Christian travelers who could identify the religion and national
loyalty of the places they intended to visit.
Thompson says that "several features of the Ibernia described
in the friar's book are sufficient to establish an Irish settlement
in America. According to the friar, Ibernia had forests and fat
game birds that were delicious either boiled or roasted." Thompson
points out that the only forested lands west of Greenland were on
mainland North America. Furthermore, there were no fat game birds
in other northern isles like Greenland or Iceland. He believes the
friar's travelog contains the first historical mention of the
American turkey.
"The clincher," he says, "is the flag. The Franciscan's account
tells us that Ibernians flew the Norwegian flag. During the 14th
century, the king of Norway claimed sovereignty over all the
territories between the Baltic Sea and Nova Scotia. That explains
why an Irish settlement near Nova Scotia flew a Norwegian flag."
Thompson is a specialist in ancient cartography and transoceanic
exploration. He is the head of an international consortium of
scholars working on the Multicultural Discovery Project. He is
also an instructor in the counselor education program at the
University of Hawaii. His discovery of a 1414 survey map of North
America by the English friar Nicholas of Lynn, was reported in the
prestigious journal, _Cartographica Helvetica_, in January.
********** End of Press Release ********************************
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