Zichmni
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Zichmni is the name of an explorer-prince appearing in a 1558 book by Nicolo Zeno of Venice, allegedly based on letters and a map written around the year 1400 by the author's ancestors, the brothers Nicolo and Antonio Zeno. Zichmni was a great lord of some islands on the southern coast of Frislanda, a fictitious island larger than Ireland south of Iceland.
The letters upon which the book are based allegedly provide a first-hand account by the Zeno brothers of a voyage of exploration undertaken in the year 1398 by a prince named Zichmni, who crossed the North Atlantic to Greenland and possibly reached North America. The authenticity of the account of the voyage is highly controversial, and many historians consider either the 1558 book, or the letters upon which it is based, to be a hoax.
Some later historians who credit the account as authentic have speculated that Zichmni was the Scottish nobleman Henry Sinclair. This identification is also considered to be highly controversial.[1]
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- Cooper, Robert L. D. (Ed.) The Voyages of the Venetian Brothers Nicolo & Antonion Zeno to the Northern Seas in the XIVth Century. Masonic Publishing Co. 2004. ISBN 0-9544268-2-7.
