Summary:

The Oera Linda Book is a controversial manuscript, dated 1256, from the Frisian region of the Netherlands. Today, it is conventionally agreed to be a forgery, written during the mid-19th century. This is based on the paper which the manuscript is written on, as well as internal and linguistic evidence. Purporting to be an episodic chronicle of wars and migrations of the Frisian people, the Oera Linda Book describes events dated from 2194 BCE to 803 CE. The reference date is the submergence of 'Atland,' a lost land in the North Sea, which, according to the book, occurred in 2193 BCE. The book is peppered with descriptions of catastrophic earth changes, including volcanic eruptions, strange weather, and rapid sea level changes. The Oera Linda Book also claims that Europe was ruled by a (mostly) peaceful, just matriarchy for most of its history, and that the Frisians invented writing.