- Who
- Erdapfel, Martin von Behaim
- Where
- Germany (Nuremberg)
- When
- 1492
The oldest surviving terrestrial globe is the Erdapfel ("Earth Apple"), which was made in the German city of Nuremberg between 1491 and 1492. The production of the globe was directed by German merchant Martin von Behaim, who had recently returned to the city after having spent around six years in Portugal. Today the 528-year-old globe is in the collection of the Germanisches Nationalmuseum in Nuremberg.
Martin von Behaim was a Nuremberg-born merchant and traveler who lived in Lisbon, Portugal, between 1484 and 1490. Behaim somehow managed to ingratiate himself into the royal court of King Joao II soon after he arrived in the country and was knighted in February 1485 – reputedly for his work as an adviser on matters of navigation.
Behaim seems to have significantly exaggerated his involvement in Portugal's campaign of exploration, but he was a regular presence in the Portuguese court during the early years of the age of exploration. This would have brought him into contact with many prominent explorers, navigators and cartographers.
Behaim returned to Nuremberg in 1490, and the following year was asked to by the Nuremberg Council to supervise the construction of a globe that would include the latest discoveries. The globe was a significant investment, involving the work of at least five master craftsmen, but the council hoped it would establish Nuremberg as a city connected to the latest advances in human knowledge.
The surface of the globe, which was painted by illustrator and engraver Georg Glockendon using reference materials provided by Behaim, includes 2000 named places, 100 illustrations and 50 pieces of written text. It includes references to the travels of Marco Polo, Mandeville and Diogo Gomes, along with myths and legends reminiscent of medieval Mappa Mundi.
It was completed in early 1492, shortly before word reached Nuremberg of Christopher Columbus' great voyage of discovery. This means that the state-of-the-art globe was rendered almost immediately obsolete, with nothing but a section of blank ocean between Europe and Asia.
