The World known by Western Europeans pre-1400? (Romans, England, 60s)

[Davy-040]

By doing some research i made this simplified map about how Western Europeans thought the World looked like before the 1400's.



Am i right or should the area be larger or smaller?

[Davy-040]

Well i know i made 1 mistake by not including the Canary Islands.
Romans already wrote about the islands in the 1st century.

Madeira and the Azores were discovered late though, 1419 and 1427.

[Linda_d]

Would western Europeans have actually known about places like Malasia and SE Asia? Didn't they have only the vaguest ideas, bordering on rumor or fantasy, about most of Asia east o Levant?

[TheKezarWoodsman]

Theyknew about iceland, and possiblygreenland.

[TheKezarWoodsman]

Greenland was about 1000-1050.

[Davy-040]

Originally Posted by wolfhelm

Greenland was about 1000-1050.

Portuguese brothers Gaspar and Miguel Corte-Real were the first Europeans known to reach and map Greenland in 1499.

[Davy-040]

I don't think the Nordics were considered Western Europeans in the Viking Age. Christianity didn't hit until the 10th century.

[Davy-040]

Originally Posted by Linda_d

Would western Europeans have actually known about places like Malasia and SE Asia? Didn't they have only the vaguest ideas, bordering on rumor or fantasy, about most of Asia east o Levant?

Marco Polo sailed from Southern China to Southern Iran between 1292 and 1294, crossing the Malacca Strait, even had to stay half year in Sumatra because of monsoon season.

[mwruckman]

Originally Posted by wolfhelm

Theyknew about iceland, and possiblygreenland.

Leif Ericsson son of Eric the Red went even further he sailed across the Gulf of Labrador to the coast of Labrador. His saga accurately describes Goose Harbour he turned south and reached New Foundland and possibly wintered there constructing a camp at Aux Meadows. Which has been excavated by Canadian, Norwegian and American archeologists in the 1960s. Viking tools, a coin, rune stones and knife were found allowing a date and a connection with Ericsson. Leif or some of his party went south to a land they named Vineland which had wild grapes and had people who were not friendly. Candidates for Vineland might be Nova Scotia, Cape Cod and eastern New England or even Long Island or The Jersey Shore . After battles with some of the natives the Vikings turned around and went no further.

[mwruckman]

Originally Posted by Davy-040

I don't think the Nordics were considered Western Europeans in the Viking Age. Christianity didn't hit until the 10th century.

The Vikings made themselves Western Europeans by conquering most of England derived from the name one of the Viking tribes called the Angles from Denmark (Think Angland) . The Danes took about 2/3 of present day England that became known as the Danelaw. Their major strong point was a place called York (a good Danish name). They also settled the Channel coast of France which came to be known as Normandy (land of the Norse men). In 1066 William Duke of Normandy defeated and killed King Harold of England at Hastings and the rest is British history. The Vikings created what later became the Hanseatic League and such cities a Danzig, Konigsburg, Riga, Rostock, Hamburg, and Bremen. Another Viking tribe the Rus went much further east.