Nicolò Zen the younger

His political career started with securing the post of Savio agli ordini dell'arsenale (Special Commissioner for the Arsenal) at the age of 23, two years less than the minimum.

[1]: 13 In 1558, Zen published a map and a series of letters which he claimed to have discovered in a storeroom of the family's home in Venice.

The letters and map purported to describe a voyage in the northern Atlantic undertaken by his ancestors, Nicolò and Antonio Zeno, in the 1390s.

Widely accepted at the time of publication, the map was incorporated into the works of leading cartographers, including Gerardus Mercator.

Modern historians and geographers have disputed the veracity of the map and the described voyages, some accusing the younger Zen of forgery.