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In other articles, there's debate because the Vikings couldn't have mapped the world in such detail. I don't know why not. They were known for their travels and it's been proven through various digs they were in the New World before Columbus. Heck, Chris was met on the beach so he obviously wasn't the first.

I have a friend from an island in the Baltic Sea, called Gotland. It's a Swedish island. One city in particular, Visby, was home to many great sailors and traders, merchants and explorers.

At different times this island belonged to different nations, the Danes and Norwegions among them, I believe. At any rate, one thing is certain: the Gotlanders were THE vikings. Master sailors and traders.

I had the pleasure of traveling there to visit my friend in 2000. One of the highlights was visiting the history museum in Visby, a 1000 year old city on Gotland. Here I saw maps, a thousand years old, detailing sailing and trading routes across the world. I saw with my own eyes, ancient Arabian coins dug up from the back yards of people in Visby. There were many ancient artifacts from cultures around the world; proof of the levels of exploration and trade achieved by the vikings.

I would not doubt the validity of such a map as this one bit after having seen some proof with my own eyes just a few years ago in the city of Visby.