A globe is the most accurate representation of the earth simply because the earth is round, as is a globe. Imagine tearing the surface off of your globe and laying it out flat on a table. The paper would end up with rips starting at the center with widening gaps as the tears radiated outward. It is because of this that Antarctica on a flat map appears across the entire bottom, when in fact it is basically round. The same goes for the "Greenland effect," which is why Greenland, being so close to the North Pole, appears on many maps much larger than it actually is.
The "Flat World" Myth
The popular belief nowadays that the concensus near the time of Christopher Columbus that the world was flat is a myth. It was generally accepted by 1492 that the world was, in fact, round. In 1492, Martin Behaim, a German cartographer, made the oldest extant globe. Years later, the Dutch would become famous for globe-making skills.
The first known person to hypothesize that the world was round was the Greek mathematician Eratosthenes (c. 250 B.C.). He compared the noon shadow at midsummer between two cities. Knowing the distance between those two cities and by calculating the angle of the shadows in both locations, Eratosthenes was able to apply geometric theory to determine the size of the earth. He determined the diameter of the earth was 7,850 miles, which is remarkably close to the actual 7,926 miles (at the equator).
Determining the Age of a Globe
The following is a list of events that will aid you in determining the age of a globe.
1523 Sweden independence 1648 Netherlands independence 1650 Oman independence 1707 England and Scotland agreed to join as Great Britain 1768 Nepal independence 1776 United States independence 1804 Haiti independence 1806 Liechtenstein independence 1810 Chile, Columbia, Mexico independence 1811 Paraguay, Venezuela independence 1816 Argentina independence 1821 Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Peru independence 1822 Brazil, Ecuador independence 1825 Bolivia, Uruguay independence 1829 Greece independence 1830 Belgium independence 1839 Luxembourg independence 1844 Dominican Republic independence 1847 Liberia independence 1867 Canada independence 1870 Italy unification 1871 German Empire unification 1877 Romania independence 1878 Bulgaria independence 1898 Philippines independence 1901 Australia independence 1902 Cuba independence 1903 Panama independence 1905 Norway independence 1908 Bulgaria independence 1910 Union of South Africa independence 1912 Albania independence 1914 Panama Canal opens 1917 Finland independence 1918 Austria, Hungary, Poland, Czechoslovakia independence 1919 Afghanistan independence 1920 Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia independence 1921 Irish Free State semi-independence 1922 Russia changes to Soviet Union, Egypt independence 1923 Turkey independence 1928 Capital city of China changes from Peiping to Peking 1929 Yugoslavia name change 1932 Saudi Arabia, Iraq independence 1935 Persia changes to Iran 1936 Italy invades Ethiopia 1939 Germany annexes Austria & Czechoslovakia 1946 Jordan, Syria independence, Philippines independence 1947 India, Pakistan independence 1948 Israel independence, Burma, Ceylon independence 1949 Indonesia independence, East and West Germany created 1951 Libya independence 1953 Cease fire line divides North and South Korea 1954 North and South Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia independence 1956 Morocco, Tunisia, Sudan independence 1957 Malaya independence 1958 Guinea independence 1960 Major break-up of colonial Africa: French West Africa, French Equatorial Africa, Belgian Congo, and other territoriesend, creating over 15 independent countries, including Niger, Chad, Somalia, Congo, Nigeria 1961 Kuwait independence, Tanganyika independence 1962 Algeria independence, Uganda independence, Jamaica independence 1963 Kenya independence, Malaysia independence 1964 Zambia, Malawi independence, Tanzania independence 1965 Singapore independence 1966 Botswana, Lesotho, Guyana independence 1967 French Somaliland changes to Afars & Issas (Fr.) 1968 Equatorial Guinea independence 1970 Muscat and Oman changes to Oman 1971 Congo changes to Zaire, Bangladesh independence 1972 Ceylon changes to Sri Lanka 1973 Bahamas independence 1974 Guinea-Bissau independence 1975 Angola, Mozambique independence, Suriname independence 1976 Vietnam unifies, Indonesia annexes Portuguese Timor 1977 Djibouti independence 1978 Dominica independence 1979 St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines independence 1980 Zimbabwe independence 1981 Belize, Guatemala, Antigua and Barbudaindependence 1984 Upper Volta changes name to Burkina Faso 1986 Ivory Coast becomes Côte d’Ivoire 1989 Burma becomes Myanmar 1990 West and East Germany merge into Germany, North and South Yemen merge into Yemen, Namibia independence 1991 Soviet Union dissolves into 15 new countries: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Estonia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, Uzbekistan 1992 Yugoslavia dissolves into 5 new countries:Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Slovenia, Yugoslavia 1993 Czechoslovakia divides into Czech Republic and Slovakia 1994 South Africa territory Walvis Bay becomes part of Namibia 1997 Zaire becomes Democratic Republic of the Congo, Hong Kong possession transfers from United Kingdom to Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of China, Western Samoa becomes Samoa 1998 Nunavut Territory created from part of Northwest Territories (Canada) 1999 Macao transferred from Portugal to China 2002 East Timor independence 2003 Yugoslavia divides into Serbia and Montenegro
Globe Color
Some globes are colored tan to be antique in appearance and are preferred when the globe is to be used as a decorative accessory because the more neutral tan color complements almost any home or office décor. The tan background or ocean comes from the look of a reproduction of an ancient parchment. A blue globe, also considered political, have the ocean areas in a blue (water) color and usually consist of highly contrasting, colorful, political boundaries.
