The NORUMBEGA Story

By AD 1616 Norumbega had been the name for modern New England for nearly a century and a half.

.

I never heard of Norumbega. How can that be? 
.

Before 1472, the Norse had known the New England region as Norvegr for nearly two centuries.   Then the Norwegians rowed a Portuguese observer, Corte-real, to America. He made the first map.   
.
By AD 1616, when Prince Charles changed all the New England place names to English, Norumbega had been the name on maps for modern New England for nearly a century and a half. 
.
The Norwegians did not use maps. They rowed with directions from self-verifying stanzas in their heads.  Corte-real talked to the Norwegians. He drew the first map.   He wrote his name and “Norombega” on the map.  
.
Corte-real did not hear Nordic sounds well.  The "en" sound, which the Norse have been used, is a shortened "hann" reflective pronoun that meant "his."  For example "Nor's," in English, would have sounded like "Nor hann."  Corte-real heard "Norom.”  Corte-real also had difficulty hearing the Norse “v” sounds.  He spelled "v" sounds with “b” instead. Corte-real drew his map in 1472.  Copies of the map still exist. 

.

Corte-real drew this map in 1472.

The Norwegians rowed using directions coded in Drottkvaett format.

Drottkvaett format is a series of self-verifying stanzas which were memorized.

How do you know Norvegr was in America for two centuries before Corte-real wrote Norumbega on the map? 

.

More than two centuries before Corte-real drew the map, Haakon IV was born in AD 1204 in the eastern Norvegr.  The name meant  “Nor’s stronghold.”  Nor was an ancient king living far, far north in what we today call Norway (Norge) or even in Bjarmeland (northern part of Russia).   

.

Haakon IV came into the world within awkward circumstances.  His mother was the mistress of the legitimate king, Haakon III.  Haakon III was in his last decade of life.  He was the king but the man, who ruled, was, Skule Baardsson.  Haakon IV grew up in his mother’s castle.  Skule was like a father to him.  Skule would become his father in law.

.
The common folk in Norvegr, at the time, were Christians.  They yearned for the peace promised by Christ.  But the landed aristocrats used European feudal warfare to rule.  The common folks, who could, rowed to the islands in the western sea.  

.

Before the 13^th century, Norse men rowed boats.  Only twenty days at sea were needed to row from Norvegr to America.  No rowing distance at sea was longer than 6 days.  Their chances of making the sea crossings in good weather were high. Seventy days rowing along coasts were needed to get to Norvegr in America, which was a sure thing. But it took memory and persistence.

.

In the 13^th century traveling the western sea was changing.  The sail offered a supplemental propulsion method for returning to Europe.  The tall, straight pines of Nor'n vege were used for the masts and booms of many, many Norse boats, which also had a full set of oars.  The European drawings of Viking boats with billowing sails were made of boats returning to Europe.

.
When Haakon III died in 1212, Skule became regent in the name of Haakon IV.   Haakon IV had a serious problem as he approached the age to be crowned king.  He would have to go to war against Skule to gain the right to rule. He did not want to kill Skule, so Haakon IV chose to row to the western sea.  Eventually he became the admiral of the greatest navy in the world in the 13^th century.  Skule ruled Norvegr. Haakon IV ruled the western sea from Norvegr in America.

.
In 1240, Skule was killed.  But Haakon was not crowned until 1247.  This time lapse before accepting the crown implies that Haakon was in Norvegr in America. Haakon made one last trip to Norvegr in America in 1261-62 before he died.  By 1263 all the Norse lands in the west were called "Norvegr."   The great storm that preceded Haakon's death in 1263 was a harbinger of the Little Ice Age to come. 

.
Before the 14th century was over, ice blocked the rowing route to America, storms destroyed shipping on the west coast of Europe, and the black plague devastated much of the previous knowledge in Europe and especially in Norway. 

.

In 1472 King Magnus of Norway knew that there was no way to row through America to reach the orient.  But he assigned two German Captains working for Denmark to show the Portuguese, which were represented by Corte-real, that no water route existed.  

.
So Corte-real drew the Norumbega map in 1472.  Back in Portugal the king’s agents studied the Norumbega map. The map indicated a vague sea passage to the north.  The Portuguese insisted that they should take another voyage to look at the routes north of Norumbega. 

.

Norwegian Captain Johannis Skolp rowed west again in 1476 with Portuguese observers on board.  Among the Portuguese observers was Columbus.  They rowed up a river, which we now call the Hudson River.  The Portuguese in 1476 put the name Johannis on the Norumbega map near the river.

.
Then, in the next decade, the Pope changed the game of exploring America.  He said that any explorer, who first discovered “Unoccupied” lands, could claim the land.  The English court knew that their fishermen had been using rowboats to fish in the cod waters off America for many years.   

.

But they needed documentation. So they hired a Captain John Chabotio, an Italian, who sailed an English ship when he landed in Norumbega in 1497.  He wrote the name, which the English wanted him to use,  "Cabot" and the date on the English copy of the Norumbega map.

.
The English thought that they could claim Discovery Rights for a vast land.  After all, Columbus had discovered an island. Cabot had "discovered" the continent of North America. 

.

But when they looked closely at the map, the English realized that the map had Norumbega written on it. Also the names of two other men were on the map. The English knew the rest of the world’s explorers had heard about the two men.  They had been on Norse voyages to America twenty and sixteen years before Columbus!  

.

By the Rights of Discovery, North America belonged to Norway!

.
The English kept the Norumbega map hidden.  They told authorities that their man, Cabot, had discovered the "New World."  But the English said that they did not know exactly where Cabot landed.  They thought maybe up in Nova Scotia.

.
The Norumbega map drawn by Corte-Real does imply that there was a sea passage to the North. An Englishman, Martin Frobisher made three attempts to sail through Hudson Strait in 1576-77-78.   

.

He demonstrated the flaw of using sailing ships against a prevailing wind. The technological developments of sailing ships in the 16th century could not achieve what Norse in rowboats were doing routinely two centuries before. 

.

Frobisher and Queen Elisabeth’s names appear on the Norumbega map, which indicates that the English crown really did know the Norumbega map existed.  Yet the English allowed the name of Columbus to go into the history books as the first explorer to discover the "New World."

.

The English claim, via Cabot, to the Rights of Discovery of the North America continent would have been voided if the English revealed the Norumbega map. 
.
Why?
.
Norway, not England, would have had the Rights to Discovery to the continent of America!

.
So, today, Columbus was first is taught by nearly every schoolteacher. 

.

But what happened to Norumbega? 

.

Ah. That is another story.