The oldest terrestrial globe – Erdapfel /Earth Apple, made in 1492

Source: http://www.thevintagenews.com/2016/1...-made-in-1492/



The fact that the Earth was spherical was established in the 3rd Century BC by Greek astronomy and in the same period of time, the earliest globe was produced.

The prime example was made by Crates of Mallus, in the 2nd Century BC, in Cilicia, no other terrestrial globes have survived from Antiquity or from the Middle Ages.


Behaim’s Erdapfel

The Farnese Atlas, which is part of a Hellenic sculpture, is an example of another surviving terrestrial globe and is held in the Naples Archaeological Museum and it’s a Roman copy from the 2nd Century AD. The oldest globes, which displayed the entirety of the Old World, were made in the Islamic world.

The earliest terrestrial globe was created in 1492, by Martin Behaim, a man who was helped by the painter Georg Glockendon. Behaim was known for being a German, navigator, merchant and map maker.


The Hunt-Lenox Globe

He worked in Nuremburg, Germany and named his globe ‘Nurnberg Terrestrial Globe’. It is widely known as the Erdapfel, which means ‘earth apple’, and the globe was created with two halves of laminated linen ball, reinforced with wood and then overlaid with a painted map, courtesy of Glockendon.

This globe excludes the Americas, as Columbus hadn’t yet returned to Spain before the globe was created.

However, a huge Eurasian continent is noticeable and an empty ocean that sits between Asia and Europe and Saint Brendan’s Island, a mythical isle, is included on this globe.


Behaim’s Erdapfel

Japan (Cipango) is oversized and far too South of its rightful position. Before Behaim made this globe, he had travelled a lot, including an adventurous sailing trip with Diogo Cao (Portuguese explorer) through which they visited the coast of West Africa.

When he returned in 1490, he began making the globe. Once it was ready, it stood proudly in the Nuremberg town hall in the reception room until the 16th Century and was afterwards returned to the Behaim family.

Then, in 1907 it was transferred to Nuremberg, the Germanic Museum and in 1992 was donated to the Vienna University of Technology for educational purposes, part of the Behaim Digital Globe Project.