# The Myth of Norumbega

- The first person to put "Norumbega" on a map was Giacomo
  Gastaldi.[@KirsNor98, 34]
  - "Once Giacomo Gastaldi had placed a fully fledged country of *Nurumberg* on
    his map *Tierra Nueva*, in an edition of Ptolemy's Geography published in
    Venice in 1548, geographical ignorance allowed the non-existent land to
    flourish on innumerable other maps and globes. Thus until well into the
    second half of the seventeenth century, the mythical country of Norumbega
    continued to appear on maps."[@KirsNor98, 34]
- "Just about everything concerning Norumbega is in dispute. The two generally
  agreed facts are: that in the mid-sixteenth century the name Norumbega
  referred to the Penobscot Bay area and, by extension, to what is now Maine
  and southern New Brunswick (an area of roughly between 44 and 46 degrees
  north); and that the name itself was spawned by a small inlet labeled
  *oranbega* on the maps drawn by Girolamo de Verrazzano in 1529 to illustrate
  his brother's account of a voyage made five years previously."[@KirsNor98,
  35]
  - As with most myths, the facts such as they are vary widely between sources.
  - The name "Norumbega" has a complicated history, unclear what its origin
    was. Horsford claimed it was a native word that was a corruption of a
    viking one.
- "Two other statements are also uncontentious: that in the sixteenth century
  the region of Norumbega was attracting English would-be colonists, and that
  once sufficient firsthand knowledge reached Europe from early attempts at
  settlement and from further exploration, both the cartographical Norumbega
  and the tales associated with it entirely disappeared."[@KirsNor98, 35]

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# References