Skálholt card
The Skálholt map is a cartography by the Icelandic teacher Sigurd Stefánsson from the Skálholt bishopric from 1570 . On the basis of the saga collections available to him, such as the Flateyjarbók (14th century) and the Skálholtsbók (15th century), it represents an attempt to map the viking expeditions of the Vikings at the turn of the millennium into the Northwest Atlantic. The map was copied many times in the Scandinavian countries and England. The map available today is a copy of the Icelanders Björn Jonsen and Theodor Thorlak from 1669, which is based on a description of Greenland in Latin.
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In addition to Norway, Britain with Ireland and the Shetland , Orkney and Faroe Islands drawn to the east of Iceland , a whole "northwest continent" appears on the map in the west, starting with Greenland. This is titled with the names and locations appearing in the sagas and shows the course of the sailing route that the Vikings around Thorfinn Karlsefni used to the "new world" Vinland. The path leads over Helluland and Markland into a Skraelingeland , with a Promontorium Winlandiae peninsula .
Promontory Winlandiae
This Latin expression is translated as Vorland or Vinland's outpost . The information on the map is said to have been indicative of the excavation at the northern tip of the island of Newfoundland off the Gulf of St. Lawrence . Possibly this information is to be equated with the Leifsbuðir (building of Leif Eriksson ) described in the Grænlendinga saga and the archaeological site at L'Anse aux Meadows .
Web links
- Stefansson's map statement from the Univercity of New Foundland (English)
- Description of Greenland and the Skálholt Map (English)
