Medieval document that is supposed to be the oldest known European map of North America. The Vinland map is believed to be a European copy of a Norse map that shows the location of Viking colonies in North America around the year 1000 C.E. It is drawn in pen and ink on two parchment leaves measuring about 23 by 25 centimeters (9 by 10 inches) each, and it shows a map of the world as it was known in medieval times. In the upper left-hand corner of the map is an island, labeled in Latin Vinlandia insula, or the Isle of Vines. There is also a Latin text giving the story of how Bjarni Herjolfson and Leif Eriksson discovered Vinland by sailing west and south from Greenland.
For about 30 years, scholars regarded the Vinland Map as a modern forgery. There were several good reasons for doing this. The map appeared suddenly in 1957 in the hands of a Swiss bookseller. No references to such a map appeared anywhere in the historical record. Despite the doubts of many major historians, a Connecticut book dealer bought the map for about $4,000 and brought it to Yale University. The university set up a team of scholars, led by George Painter, assistant keeper emeritus of printed books at the British Museum, to determine if the map was authentic. The team worked on the map for eight years and, in 1965, declared that the map was indeed authentic. When the material of the map was submitted for analysis, however, scientists found traces of a modern chemical compound titanium dioxide in the ink. Titanium dioxide was not used in inks before 1920. Yale University then declared the Vinland Map a modern forgery and locked it away in its vaults.