A map from 1601 that intriguingly places Romania in a place I’m pretty sure Romania has never been.
Actually, Romania was a name adopted only around 1848..
This comment caused me to do some (very brief) research, and this is what our friends at Wikipedia say:
The earliest preserved document written in the Romanian language is a 1521 letter that notifies the mayor of Braşov about an imminent attack by the Turks. This document is also notable for having the first occurrence of “Romanian” in a Romanian text, Wallachia being called here the Romanian Land—Ţeara Rumânească (Ţeara < Latin Terra = land). As in the case of the ethnonym “român/rumân”, Romanian documents use both forms, Ţara Românească and Ţara Rumânească, for the country name.
A common Romanian area embracing Wallachia, Moldavia and Transylvania is mentioned by the chronicler Miron Costin in the 17th century.
In the first half of the 18th century the erudite prince Dimitrie Cantemir systematically used the name Ţara Românească for designating all three Principalities inhabited by Romanians.
The name “România” as common homeland of the Romanians is documented in the early 19th century.
Any ideas for what the map could have been referring to? Wikipedia also says that Romania was sometimes used as the name for the Latin Empire of Constantinople which would fit the labeled spot on the map pretty well, but it would be about 400 years out of date.
to quote cameo, you make me work :)
I will provide a longer answer tonight, probably on another blog (if it gets too long)..
(Source: alabamamaps.ua.edu)
