The Carta marina of the Swedish geographer and historian Olaus Magnus is one of the earliest accurate cartographic depictions of the Scandinavian peninsula. Drafted in Rome in 1539, by one of the more prominent Scandinavian Catholics in higher ecclesiastical service, it contains detail that is lacking in many other early maps of the region. Originally intended for his Historia de gentibus septentrionalibus (A description of the Nordic peoples), the map was published some 15 years before the appearance of this majestic work. Olaus Magnus is generally regarded as the first to propound the idea of a Northeast Passage. This is the second edition of this map, published by Antoine Lafréry in 1572.