Case file · Folklore / legend
Norumbega, the lost city
Norumbega, a rich city of the northeast that appeared on European maps from 1529, was sought by Champlain in 1604; he sailed up the Penobscot to present-day Bangor and found only villages.
1604 CE · 44.80, -68.77 · status: legend
The account
Jean Allefonsce's 1542 report of a great river helped fix it on maps. After Champlain, the city faded from cartography, surviving only as a name for the region.