__NOTOC__ The ; ) is a terrestrial

globe A globe is a spherical Earth, spherical Model#Physical model, model of Earth, of some other astronomical object, celestial body, or of the celestial sphere. Globes serve purposes similar to maps, but, unlike maps, they do not distort the surface ...

in diameter, produced by

Martin Behaim Martin Behaim (6 October 1459 – 29 July 1507), also known as and by various forms of , was a German textile merchant and cartographer. He served John II of Portugal as an adviser in matters of navigation and participated in a voyage to Wes ...

from 1490 to 1492. The Erdapfel is the oldest surviving terrestrial globe. It is constructed of a laminated linen ball in two halves, reinforced with wood and overlaid with a map painted on gores by

Georg Glockendon Georg Glockendon the Elder (fl. 1484; died 1514) was a Nuremberg-based woodblock cutter, printer and painter. Famed during his lifetime for his illuminations, he was also an industrious printer and published a number of the works of Erhard Etzla ...

. These intricate details were based on navigational charts by Jorge de Aguiar, incorporating paper maps meticulously pasted onto a parchment layer encircling the globe. The Americas are not included, as Columbus returned to Spain no sooner than March 1493. The globe shows an enlarged Eurasian continent and an empty ocean between Europe and Asia. The mythical Saint Brendan's Island is included.

Cipangu The word ''Japan'' is an exonym, and is used (in one form or another) by many languages. The Japanese names for Japan are () and (). They are both written in Japanese using the kanji . Since the third century, Chinese called the people of th ...

(

Japanese archipelago The is an archipelago of list of islands of Japan, 14,125 islands that form the country of Japan. It extends over from the Sea of Okhotsk in the northeast to the East China Sea, East China and Philippine Sea, Philippine seas in the southwest al ...

) is oversized and well south of its true position; Martellus's map is followed in developing an enormous phantom peninsula east of the

Golden Chersonese The Golden Chersonese or Golden Khersonese (, ''Chrysḗ Chersónēsos''; ), meaning the Golden Peninsula, was the name used for the Malay Peninsula by Greek and Roman geographers in classical antiquity, most famously in Claudius Ptolemy's 2nd-c ...

(

Malay Peninsula The Malay Peninsula is located in Mainland Southeast Asia. The landmass runs approximately north–south, and at its terminus, it is the southernmost point of the Asian continental mainland. The area contains Peninsular Malaysia, Southern Tha ...

). The idea to call the globe "apple" may be related to the Reichsapfel ("Imperial Apple",

Globus cruciger The for, la, globus cruciger, cross-bearing orb, also known as ''stavroforos sphaira'' () or "the orb and cross", is an Sphere, orb surmounted by a Christian cross, cross. It has been a Christian Church, Christian symbol of authority since the M ...

) which was also kept in Nuremberg along with the

Imperial Regalia The Imperial Regalia, also called Imperial Insignia (in German ''Reichskleinodien'', ''Reichsinsignien'' or ''Reichsschatz''), are regalia of the Holy Roman Emperor. The most important parts are the Imperial Crown of the Holy Roman Empire, C ...

( Reichskleinodien). The name is not related to the modern meaning of Erdapfel in southern Germany and Austria, which is "potato"—potatoes had not yet been brought from America to Europe. From its creation until early in the 16th century, it stood in a reception room in the Nuremberg town hall. After that time, it was held by the Behaim family. In 1907, it was transferred to the Germanic Museum in

Nuremberg Nuremberg (, ; ; in the local East Franconian dialect: ''Nämberch'' ) is the Franconia#Towns and cities, largest city in Franconia, the List of cities in Bavaria by population, second-largest city in the States of Germany, German state of Bav ...

. In 1992, it was moved for some time to the Vienna University of Technology, to be studied at high resolution by the Behaim Digital Globe Project. In 2011, a second digitalization by the German National Museum began. Terrestrial globes are known to have been made from antiquity, such as The Globe of Crates. None are known to have survived, even as fragments. A celestial globe, part of the

Farnese Atlas The Farnese Atlas is a 2nd-century CE Ancient Rome, Roman marble sculpture of Atlas (mythology), Atlas holding up a celestial globe. Probably a copy of an earlier work of the Hellenistic period, it is the oldest extant statue of Atlas (mythology) ...

, has survived from the second century AD. In 2023, Erdapfel was admitted to UNESCO's

Memory of the World UNESCO's Memory of the World (MoW) Programme is an international initiative to safeguard the documentary heritage of humanity against collective amnesia, neglect, decay over time and climatic conditions, as well as deliberate destruction. It ca ...

References

External links

Interactive model of the globe(reproduction)

Germanisches Nationalmuseum: Behaim-Globe
(online object catalogue) * Germanisches Nationalmuseum
Digital Story ''times in transition''The International Coronelli Society for the Study of Globes

{{Authority control Historic maps of the world Collection of the Germanisches Nationalmuseum 1492 works 15th-century maps and globes

See also

References

Further reading

External links