Ebook221 pages1 hour
Globes: 400 Years of Exploration, Navigation, and Power
Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars
4.5/5
()
About this ebook
The concept of the earth as a sphere has been around for centuries, emerging around the time of Pythagoras in the sixth century BC, and eventually becoming dominant as other thinkers of the ancient world, including Plato and Aristotle, accepted the idea. The first record of an actual globe being made is found in verse, written by the poet Aratus of Soli, who describes a celestial sphere of the stars by Greek astronomer Eudoxus of Cnidus (ca. 408–355 BC). The oldest surviving globe—a celestial globe held up by Atlas’s shoulders—dates back to 150 AD, but in the West, globes were not made again for about a thousand years. It was not until the fifteenth century that terrestrial globes gained importance, culminating when German geographer Martin Behaim created what is thought to be the oldest surviving terrestrial globe. In Globes: 400 Years of Exploration, Navigation, and Power, Sylvia Sumira, beginning with Behaim’s globe, offers a authoritative and striking illustrated history of the subsequent four hundred years of globe making.
Showcasing the impressive collection of globes held by the British Library, Sumira traces the inception and progression of globes during the period in which they were most widely used—from the late fifteenth century to the late nineteenth century—shedding light on their purpose, function, influence, and manufacture, as well as the cartographers, printers, and instrument makers who created them. She takes readers on a chronological journey around the world to examine a wide variety of globes, from those of the Renaissance that demonstrated a renewed interest in classical thinkers; to those of James Wilson, the first successful commercial globe maker in America; to those mass-produced in Boston and New York beginning in the 1800s. Along the way, Sumira not only details the historical significance of each globe, but also pays special attention to their materials and methods of manufacture and how these evolved over the centuries.
A stunning and accessible guide to one of the great tools of human exploration, Globes will appeal to historians, collectors, and anyone who has ever examined this classroom accessory and wondered when, why, and how they came to be made.
Showcasing the impressive collection of globes held by the British Library, Sumira traces the inception and progression of globes during the period in which they were most widely used—from the late fifteenth century to the late nineteenth century—shedding light on their purpose, function, influence, and manufacture, as well as the cartographers, printers, and instrument makers who created them. She takes readers on a chronological journey around the world to examine a wide variety of globes, from those of the Renaissance that demonstrated a renewed interest in classical thinkers; to those of James Wilson, the first successful commercial globe maker in America; to those mass-produced in Boston and New York beginning in the 1800s. Along the way, Sumira not only details the historical significance of each globe, but also pays special attention to their materials and methods of manufacture and how these evolved over the centuries.
A stunning and accessible guide to one of the great tools of human exploration, Globes will appeal to historians, collectors, and anyone who has ever examined this classroom accessory and wondered when, why, and how they came to be made.
Related to Globes
Related ebooks
Traveling through Sinai: From the Fourth to the Twenty-first Century Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMaps and Civilization: Cartography in Culture and Society, Third Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Irish Garden: A Cultural History Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDiscovering the Mammoth: A Tale of Giants, Unicorns, Ivory, and the Birth of a New Science Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMapping Nature across the Americas Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMesa Verde National Park, Colorado Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLandscape Linkages and Biodiversity Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5Tiber: Eternal River of Rome Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBeyond the Blue Horizon: How the Earliest Mariners Unlocked the Secrets of the Oceans Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Wildlife and Habitats in Managed Landscapes Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsOrientalism (A Selection Of Classic Orientalist Paintings And Writings) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAlien Species and Evolution: The Evolutionary Ecology of Exotic Plants, Animals, Microbes, and Interacting Native Species Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Columbia Guide to the Holocaust Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLondon's 100 Most Extraordinary Buildings: London's 100 Most Extraordinary Buildings Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Excavating Modernity: The Roman Past in Fascist Italy Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPiau: Journey to the Promised Land Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsRome: Day One Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Evolution of the Chinese Internet: Creative Visibility in the Digital Public Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDocuments of the Coronado Expedition, 1539–1542: "They Were Not Familiar with His Majesty, nor Did They Wish to Be His Subjects" Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe New Economy of Nature: The Quest to Make Conservation Profitable Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSavages, Romans, and Despots: Thinking about Others from Montaigne to Herder Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsTravels in the Steppes of the Caspian Sea, the Crimea, the Caucasus, &c. Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMeasuring the New World: Enlightenment Science and South America Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Locrian Maidens: Love and Death in Greek Italy Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsIncidents of Travel in Greece, Turkey, Russia, and Poland, Vol. I (of 2) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAll That Is Native and Fine: The Politics of Culture in an American Region Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Feeling Time: Duration, the Novel, and Eighteenth-Century Sensibility Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBiodiversity in a Changing Climate: Linking Science and Management in Conservation Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe End of a Global Pox: America and the Eradication of Smallpox in the Cold War Era Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsOf the Buildings of Justinian Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
History For You
100 Things You're Not Supposed to Know: Secrets, Conspiracies, Cover Ups, and Absurdities Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5A Grief Observed Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Library Book Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Secret History of the World Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Devil's Chessboard: Allen Dulles, the CIA, and the Rise of America's Secret Government Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Indifferent Stars Above: The Harrowing Saga of the Donner Party Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Richest Man in Babylon: The most inspiring book on wealth ever written Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5King Leopold's Ghost: A Story of Greed, Terror, and Heroism in Colonial Africa Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Longitude: The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of His Time Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Prisoners of Geography: Ten Maps That Explain Everything About the World Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Nicomachean Ethics of Aristotle Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Surprised by Joy: The Shape of My Early Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Great Reset: And the War for the World Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Gulag Archipelago [Volume 1]: An Experiment in Literary Investigation Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Time Traveler's Guide to Medieval England: A Handbook for Visitors to the Fourteenth Century Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5She Came to Slay: The Life and Times of Harriet Tubman Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Becoming Cliterate: Why Orgasm Equality Matters--And How to Get It Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Lessons of History Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Whore Stories: A Revealing History of the World's Oldest Profession Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The End of the Myth: From the Frontier to the Border Wall in the Mind of America Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Vanderbilt: The Rise and Fall of an American Dynasty Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Oregon Trail: A New American Journey Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Ultralearning: Master Hard Skills, Outsmart the Competition, and Accelerate Your Career Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Great Awakening: Defeating the Globalists and Launching the Next Great Renaissance Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Related categories
Reviews for Globes
Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars
4.5/5
2 ratings0 reviews
Book preview
Globes - Sylvia Sumira
Enjoying the preview?
Page 1 of 1