The carta marina is the earliest detailed map of the
Nordic countries. It took twelve years to finish and the first copies were printed in 1539 in
Venice. Its existence had long been considered
apocryphal, until a copy was discovered in
Munich in 1886. The map is divided in 3×3 sheets with the dimension 55x40 cm (22x16 in), each made from a separate
woodcut block. Historia de gentibus septentrionalibus (Rome, 1555) is a much larger commentary on the map.