Module 1 • Explore: Hear! Smell! See! Touch! Taste!
Teacher Notes 1a
Map 4: The first map.
The “Vinland map” is believed to be a fifteenth-century mappa mundi, redrawn from a thirteenth-
century original. The map is drawn with black ink on animal skin. Much discussion has surrounded the
authenticity of this map; however, as of summer 2009, it is now believed to be genuine.
It is the first known depiction of the North American coastline—including Greenland—created before
Columbus’s 1492 voyage.
The upper left caption reads: “By God’s will, after a long voyage from the island of Greenland to the
south toward the most distant remaining parts of the western ocean sea, sailing southward amidst the
ice, the companions Bjarni and Leif Eriksson discovered a new land, extremely fertile and even having
vines,...which island they named Vinland.”
Source: http://commons.wikimedia.org