51 lines
2.2 KiB
Markdown
51 lines
2.2 KiB
Markdown
---
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header-includes:
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- \usepackage{setspace}
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- \doublespacing
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---
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# Paragraph 1: The First Mentions of the Myth, and some of its Founding Properties
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The myth of Norumbega can trace its beginnings back to the Age of Exploration.
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The first description of Norumbega as a city was in 1548, on a map by Giacomo
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Gastaldi.[@KirsNor98, 34] How it found its way there is
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As with many myths and legengs, "just about everything concerning Norumbega is
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in dispute."[@KirsNor98, 35]
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Tracing the etymology of the name "Norumbega" reveals much about the Age of
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Exploration.
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The first person to explore the area associated with Norumbega was Giovanni da
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Verrazzano in 1524.[@KirsNor98, 36] Recounting his journey in a letter, he
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described a pleasant harbor inhabited by friendly and civil
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natives.[@KirsNor98, 39]. They were "very like the manner of the ancients" and
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practiced "more systematic cultivation [of crops] than the other
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tribes."[@KirsNor98, 39] "More civilized" natives seems to have been from the
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beginning a core aspect of the myth of Norumbega. Verrazzano named this place
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*Refugio*, "on account of its beauty."[@KirsNor98, 39]
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They are "now believed to have been [in] the area around Narragansett Bay,
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Rhode Island,"[@KirsNor98, 39] far distant from where Norumbega would
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eventually be described. However, due to geographical ambiguity at the time,
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Verrazzano's *Refugio* nevertheless became "at the heart of the Norumbega
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legend."[@KirsNor98, 39] Five years later, Giovanni's brother Girolamo marked a
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"small inlet labelled *oranbega.*"[@KirsNor98, 35] Around fifteen years after
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that, Jean Alafonce, sailing up a river we know now to have been the Penobscot,
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described a city called *Norombegue*.[@KirsNor98, 40-41] Just as with
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Varrazzano's *Refugio*, Alafonce described "clever inhabitants [...] The people
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used many words which sound like Latin and worship the sun, and they are fair
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people and tall."[@KirsNor98, 41] Over time, these similar stories of civilized
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natives and a river combined to form the basis for the myth of
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Norumbega.[@KirsNor98, 41]
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# Later Developments of the Myth in the Age of Exploration
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# How the Myth Found new Popularity in the Late 19th Century
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# Conclusion
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\pagebreak
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# References
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