Myths, legends, and popular culture. To early European explorers Norumbega was a mythical city on the coast of Maine with streets paved with gold and a huge population of Native Americans. It appeared on maps of the period to attract new exploration and settlements on behalf of various countries and private interests. It's pervasiveness helps demonstrate how people are often fooled, en masse, by those with an agenda and a willingness to lie, invent, and distort.