The Zeno Voyage

Did a Scottish noble named Henry Sinclair discover the New World in the fourteenth century? For centuries, some have speculated that a mysterious document known as the Zeno Narrative provides cryptic proof of this amazing assertion.Now for the first time in more than a century, Fred W. Lucas's powerful "criticism and indictment" of this shocking claim is back in print, demonstrating that Zeno Narrative and its accompanying map are little more than a hoax drawn from a range of...
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Did a Scottish noble named Henry Sinclair discover the New World in the fourteenth century? For centuries, some have speculated that a mysterious document known as the Zeno Narrative provides cryptic proof of this amazing assertion.Now for the first time in more than a century, Fred W. Lucas's powerful "criticism and indictment" of this shocking claim is back in print, demonstrating that Zeno Narrative and its accompanying map are little more than a hoax drawn from a range of Renaissance maps and books, including images drawn from Olaus Magnus, whose depiction of Iceland the author of the Zeno text reused to represent a mysterious land some imagined was America.From sixteenth century Venice to Victorian London, Lucas traces the history of Nicol#65533; Zeno's fantastical tale of a trip to an unknown island by his ancestors, the brothers Nicol#65533; and Antonio Zeno, and their meeting with the powerful prince Zichmni. Lucas shows how each aspect of this story was fabricated, and he details the shocking number of people, including famous explorers and scholars, who accepted the story as true.Out of print since 1898, this book is essential reading for everyone interested in pre-Columbian trans-Atlantic voyages and medieval seafaring.