Globes

Globes
David Keddie · CC BY-SA 4.0 · source
Name	Globes
Caption	Terrestrial globe showing continents and political borders
Type	Spherical model
Invented	Ancient Greece to China (antiquity)
Inventor	Anaximander; Crates of Mallus; Zhang Heng
Material	Papier-mâché, plaster, wood, metal, plastic

Globes are spherical scale models representing the Earth, Moon, Mars, and other celestial bodies, used for navigation, education, and display. They synthesize cartographic data from sources such as the British Admiralty, National Geographic Society, United States Geological Survey, and Institut Géographique National into an accessible three-dimensional form. Globes have been produced and refined by figures and institutions including Ptolemy, Strabo, Mercator, Gerardus Mercator, Martin Behaim, Abraham Ortelius, James Cook, Ferdinand Magellan, and manufacturers like Rand McNally, The Globe Works, and the Collins map division.

History

Early spherical models appear in accounts tied to Anaximander and Anaximenes of Miletus and later to Crates of Mallus in Pergamon; Chinese traditions credit Zhang Heng and later Pei Xiu with celestial globes. Medieval Islamic scholars including Al-Biruni and Ibn al-Shatir advanced globe construction and astronomical tables used by Christopher Columbus and Amerigo Vespucci. Renaissance cartographers such as Gerardus Mercator and Abraham Ortelius integrated globe-making with atlas production alongside printers like Gutenberg and workshops in Venice. Exploration by James Cook, voyages of the HMS Endeavour, and mapping by the Ordnance Survey and Royal Geographical Society spurred demand for terrestrial and celestial globes in the 18th and 19th centuries. Twentieth-century developments involved contributions from NASA, Soviet space program, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, and educational reforms driven by institutions such as Smithsonian Institution and University of Oxford.

Types and Construction

Globes fall into terrestrial, celestial, pocket, illuminated, relief, political, and thematic variants used by entities like United Nations, World Health Organization, World Bank, and United States Census Bureau. Deluxe models from makers such as Replogle and Zoffany feature lacquered wood bases, brass meridian rings, and hand-applied gores produced initially by printers in Amsterdam and Florence. Portable pocket globes and orreries share mechanical features with devices from Antoni van Leeuwenhoek-era workshops and instrument makers in Nuremberg and Florenc e (Florence). Navigation-specific models reference shipping routes charted by Ferdinand Magellan and wind patterns studied by Benjamin Franklin and Matthew Maury.

Materials and Manufacturing

Materials include papier-mâché and plaster as used by 16th‑century craftsmen in Antwerp, through brass and bronze meridians crafted by makers in London and Nuremberg, to modern polystyrene and injection-molded ABS plastics produced by firms such as Mattel and Hasbro. Printing processes evolved from woodcut and copperplate engravings used by Hieronymus Bosch-era workshops to lithography and offset printing employed by Rand McNally and Collins in the 19th century. Laser engraving, CNC milling, and digital printing link contemporary producers to research institutions like Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Fraunhofer Society for precision manufacturing.

Cartography and Projection

Globe gores derive from map projections developed by Gerardus Mercator, Johann Heinrich Lambert, Albrecht Dürer, and J. P. Snyder; cartographers at Harvard University and University College London model distortion and scale. The practice incorporates datasets from Landsat, Copernicus Programme, Global Positioning System, and surveys by USGS; thematic globes use classifications by International Union for Conservation of Nature and Food and Agriculture Organization. Innovations in projection theory reference work by Carl Friedrich Gauss and Leonhard Euler and modern geodesy by G.A. Hausmann-style institutions and the International Association of Geodesy.

Uses and Applications

Globes serve navigation, pedagogy, planning, and diplomatic display in contexts from the Royal Observatory, Greenwich to classroom programs at Harvard, Yale University, and University of Cambridge. Scientific uses include modeling climate systems in collaboration with Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, NOAA, and European Space Agency datasets; planetary globes support research at Jet Propulsion Laboratory and European Southern Observatory. Thematic and promotional globes appear in exhibitions at the Victoria and Albert Museum, Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, and corporate headquarters of Shell, ExxonMobil, and Siemens.

Educational and Cultural Significance

Globes are featured in curricula influenced by teachers trained at Teachers College, Columbia University, outreach programs by National Geographic Society Education, and pedagogical frameworks from Montessori and Waldorf schools. They appear in literature and film connected to authors such as Jules Verne, directors like Alfred Hitchcock, and artworks in collections of the Museum of Modern Art and Tate Modern. Public installations and memorial globes mark events such as World Expo expositions, state gifts between the White House and foreign leaders, and exhibits at United Nations headquarters.

Collecting and Conservation

Collectors consult auction houses including Sotheby's, Christie's, and dealers linked to the Antiquarian Booksellers' Association, while museums rely on conservation labs at the British Museum, Metropolitan Museum of Art, and Musée du Louvre for preservation protocols. Conservation techniques draw on standards by the International Council of Museums and treatises from conservators trained at Courtauld Institute of Art and Winterthur Museum programs, addressing issues like paper acidity, pigment fading, and metal corrosion documented in catalogues of V&A and archives of Royal Geographical Society.

Category:Geographic tools