In 1539 Olaus Magnus, an exiled Swedish priest living in Italy, published a remarkably detailed map of the Nordic countries, from Iceland in the west to Finland in the east. The map, called ‘Carta Marina’, introduced a scope of information about these countries that broke completely new ground in terms of comprehensiveness and general accuracy. The geographical outline of the Nordic countries is quite accurate and the map includes all the major island groups such as the Faroes, Orkneys and Shetland Islands. In addition to the geography and numerous ethnographic sketches, the map also provides, as it name indicates, an extraordinary wealth of information about the waters surrounding the Nordic countries.

Rossby, H.T., and P. Miller. 2003. Ocean eddies in the 1539 Carta Marina by Olaus Magnus. Oceanography 16(4):77–88, https://doi.org/10.5670/oceanog.2003.14.

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