Ancient Greek philosophers and astronomers had already taught that the Earth was a spherical body in the 3rd century BC, but interestingly, no remains of a physical representation have been preserved from Antiquity. And it’s a shame that maps dating back 4,500 years have been found. Thus, the oldest surviving globe is the one created by Martin Behaim between 1490 and 1492, representing the medieval and European image of the world.

And between Europe and Asia, to no one’s surprise, there is… nothing.

Erdapfel. Although the first cartography of America can be said to be the Vinland map drawn by the Vikings 500 years before Christopher Columbus’s expedition, it was not until the explorer’s return that science discovered evidence of a continent on the other side of the ocean. . A foreigner. Therefore, the representation of the previous maps did not show the American continent and, of course, the globes.

The situation with Erdapfel, a 51-centimeter-diameter globe created by German merchant and cartographer Martin Behaim two years before Columbus arrived in America, is similar to this. It is a hollow plaster sphere built by craftsmen in Nuremberg under Behaim’s instructions and covered with painted parchment with a certain perspective. The inclination of the sphere is represented by wrought iron supports and has a brass ring marking the horizon, which was added later in 1510.

A very practical work of art. Behaim, King of Portugal II. He spent time working alongside John as a navigation consultant, and it seems that one of the purposes of this globe was to be a practical item. That’s why the artists prepared 100 banner and coat of arms illustrations, numerous legends and more than 2,000 place names. They also made drawings of animals such as lions and elephants in Africa.

This is a representation of what was known at the time and details possible trade routes, numerous rivers, the main cities of each country, as well as some inaccuracies. To make this globe, Behaim apparently relied on information from 2nd-century Ptolemy, as well as information from other sources, such as Marco Polo or Diogo Gomes, a Portuguese explorer. Come on, there were outdated sources and Portugal’s profile wasn’t as accurate as it should have been, it was questionable whether Gomes was used as a source and whether Behaim himself was working for the Portuguese king.

Click on the image to see it in high resolution.

here are the dragons. But the fact that the Portuguese profile is not the most accurate is the least of this world’s “problems”. The vast empty ocean between Europe and Asia is obvious, but there are also errors of perspective, such as Japan being much further south than it should be. The Asian line has little to do with the real one, and even the legendary island of San Brendan appears, which was shown on many maps of the time and ceased to be sought in the 19th century when it was deemed ‘lost’.

But given that Behaim had the misfortune to finish detailing the object shortly before Columbus returned from his voyage, it makes complete sense that the Americas were missing. It is obvious that it will take time to map America, but we can say that when the globe was finished, it was outdated.

unknown motivation. Despite this, the Behaim sphere remains a very interesting historical artifact. The work, which was accepted into the UNESCO Memory of the World in 2023, is of great value as it represents the information known about the world five centuries ago. Yes, it was outdated and not the first, as it is estimated that Arab scientists made it, Crates de Malo had already designed the world and we can even include Artas Farnese in this category, but currently Erdapfel is the oldest globe we have preserved.

Of course, the motivation that pushed Behaim to commission the construction is unclear. When he returned to Nuremberg in 1490, he persuaded the nobles to finance the construction, and the aim would have been to have a physical representation of the world to enable future expeditions. In any case, Behaim died in 1507 with a truly beautiful but outdated globe.

Main image | Germanisches National Museum

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