Tuesday, August 20, 2013

1504

An Austrian collector has found what may be the oldest globe, dated 1504, to depict the New World, engraved with immaculate detail on two conjoined halves of ostrich eggs.

The globe, about the size of a grapefruit, is labeled in Latin and includes what were considered exotic territories such as Japan, Brazil and Arabia. North America is depicted as a group of scattered islands. The globe’s lone sentence, above the coast of Southeast Asia, is “Hic Sunt Dracones.”


for more information:  www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/oldest-globe-to-depict-the-new-world-may-have-been-discovered

1 comment:

  1. I like maps and such, and found this fascinating. Thanks for the chance to revisit it. It would have taken expert workmanship to get the details onto the egg shell without crushing it. I would have liked to read more about how the egg was made, but the link doesn't tell that.

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