A reproduction of the Zeno map from a 1793 book

The Zeno map refers to a map of the North Atlantic first published in 1558 in Venice by Nicolo Zeno , a descendant of a person by the same name, Nicolo Zeno, of the Zeno brothers.

The younger Zeno published the map, along with a series of letters, with the claim that he had discovered them in a storeroom in his family's house in Venice. According to his claim, the map and letters were made around the year 1400 and purport to describe a voyage by the Zeno brothers made in the 1390s under the direction of a prince named Zichmni. The voyage supposedly traversed the North Atlantic and, according to some interpretations, reached North America.

Most historians today regard the map and accompanying narrative as a hoax, perpetrated by the younger Zeno to retroactively put forth a claim for Venice as having discovered the New World prior to Christopher 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 was Frisland.

Current scholarship regards the map as being based on existing maps of the 16th century, in particular:

• The Olaus Magnus map of the North
• The Caerte van Oostland of Cornelis Anthoniszoon
• Claudius Clavus -type maps of the North

External link

• The Zeno map