1598 Septentrionalivm Partivm Nova Tabvla

This map of the North Atlantic is regarded as the earliest obtainable printed depiction of the Zeno brothers’ legendary North Atlantic voyage, one of the most enduring and controversial episodes in early modern cartography. Issued in Venice in the mid-sixteenth century for La Geografia di Claudio Tolomeo, edited by Girolamo Ruscelli and engraved by Giacomo Gastaldi, it brought the Zeno narrative into wide circulation and ensured its long-lasting influence on European geographic thought. From a geographic standpoint, the map presents a northern Atlantic world that blends recognizable lands with speculative and fictitious geography. Iceland and Greenland form the framework of the map, while the surrounding seas are populated by large islands rendered with confident coastlines and named places. The composition treats real and imagined lands alike, integrating them seamlessly into a coherent spatial vision that reflects Renaissance efforts to reconcile classical authority, traveler’s tales