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BY FRIDTJOF NANSEN G.C.V.O., D.Sc., D.C.L., Ph.D., PROFESSOR OF OCEANOGRAPHY IN THE UNIVERSITY OF CHRISTIANIA, ETC.
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IX. [CONTINUED] WINELAND THE GOOD, THE FORTUNATE ISLES, AND THE DISCOVERY OF AMERICA 1
XI. THE DECLINE OF THE NORSE SETTLEMENTS IN GREENLAND 95
XII. EXPEDITIONS OF THE NORWEGIANS TO THE WHITE SEA, VOYAGES IN THE POLAR SEA, WHALING AND SEALING 135
XIII. THE NORTH IN MAPS AND GEOGRAPHICAL WORKS OF THE MIDDLE AGES 182
XIV. JOHN CABOT AND THE ENGLISH DISCOVERY OF NORTH AMERICA 291
XV. THE PORTUGUESE DISCOVERIES IN THE NORTH-WEST 345
LIST OF THE MORE IMPORTANT WORKS REFERRED TO 384
[Illustration: From an Icelandic MS., fourteenth century]
WINELAND THE GOOD, THE FORTUNATE ISLES, AND THE DISCOVERY OF AMERICA
[Sidenote: Wineland == the African islands]
A confirmation of the identity of Wineland and the Insulæ Fortunatæ, which in classical legend lay to the west of Africa, occurs in the Icelandic geography (in MSS. of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries) which may partly be the work of Abbot Nikulás of Thverá (ob. 1159) (although perhaps not the part here quoted), where we read:
"South of Greenland is 'Helluland,' next to it is 'Markland,' and then it is not far to 'Vínland hit Góða,' which some think to be connected with Africa (and if this be so, then the outer ocean [i.e., the ocean surrounding the disc of the earth] most fall in between Vinland and Markland)."[1]
This idea of the connection with Africa seems to have been general in Iceland; it may appear surprising, but, as will be seen, it finds its natural explanation in the manner here stated. It also appears in Norway. Besides a reference in the "King's Mirror," the following passage in the "Historia Norwegiæ" relating to Greenland is of particular importance:
"This country was discovered and settled by the Telensians [i.e., the Icelanders] and strengthened with the Catholic faith; it forms the end of Europe towards the west, nearly touches the African Islands ('Africanas insulas'), where the returning ocean overflows" [i.e., falls in].