Erikson, Eskimos and Columbus: Medieval European Knowledge of America

Why did medieval Europeans seem to have such specific knowledge about a land - even a continent - that their most daring adventurers had not yet discovered? Historians have long debated the sources of geographical information on which pre-Columbian European maps were based. Especially controversial is the question of the extent to which indigenous peoples in the high Arctic, as well as Norse colonists in Greenland, contributed to Europeans’ knowledge of America. In this book, James Enterline presents evidence that the Eskimos’ surprisingly competent cartographic skills provided the basis for medieval maps of areas in America which no European had yet reached. He argues that the controversial Yale Vinland Map, made public in 1965, is just one of many pre-Columbian maps, all apparently recording Norse contact with America or native Americans. Based on an exhaustive chronological survey of early maps, Enterline shows how details in the coastline of what European mapmakers thought was Arctic Asia in fact correspond closely to features on the Arctic coast of North America. Likely to spark further discussion, the book challenges the history of European America’s origins. It should appeal to historians, geographers and all those interested in discovery, exploration and maps.