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Ostrich-Egg Globe Believed Oldest To Show New World
The National Post is carrying a report of an exciting discovery for cartographic historians: an ostrich-egg globe purchased last year at the London Map Fair is now believed to be the oldest to show any part of the New World. "In a lengthy essay published in the latest issue of The Portolan, the peer-reviewed journal of the Washington Map Society, Belgian map collector and historical researcher Stefaan Missinne argues that the ostrich-egg globe not only predates the Hunt-Lenox Globe but was probably used as the model for casting the more famous copper object. If true, then the small, unnamed island shown to the far north in the 'Mundus Novus' portion of the egg-globe’s western hemisphere — a crude depiction of the 'New World' as it was understood just a few years after the discovery voyages of Christopher Columbus, John Cabot and others — is the earliest image of Newfoundland or any other part of Canada on any surviving globe in the world."
More at the Washington Map Society's page.
I suppose the Native Americans didn't use maps or globes?
It is obvious to anyone with even a modicum of education that the world is flat.
This so-called "globe" is merely the first example of state-sponsored misinformation, designed to keep the general populace ignorant of the true nature of the world.
one very clever ostrich
I got to the chocolate box before you, that's why the hard ones have teeth marks.
Well, that's neat looking.
I predict this will be the least commented on article in Slashdot's history.
There are strong evidences that the Portuguese discovered America long before Columbus. But do not take my word, do your own research.
Also, there are indications that Columbus himself was Portuguese.
I will let this sink in (no pun intended).
You can read a bit about it here http://www.dightonrock.com/discoveryofnorthamerica.htm, although it doesn't look like a very credible site, seems to be inline with texts I read elsewhere.
Disclaimer: I am Portuguese.
Sig? Heil
Once but an ink scribble on an ostrich egg to-day is a, uh, hm. All right still just an ink scribble on an ostrich egg.
Everybody was fishing off the Grand Banks and trying to keep it a secret. Although throughout the beginning of the Age of Discovery maps were kept top secret.
Da Vinci may have made that globe, or someone working with him. They had access to maps and books in the Vatican, which were gifts from the Chinese in 1434.
Were the maps the result of the The Ming Voyages? There's old tales that tell of the Chinese reaching the west coast of the Americas in the same era. China's xenophobic history seems to have been punctuated by just that one era of exploration. I've never found an authoritative, definitive read on the subject.
And the photograph of this great, revolutionary globe
depicting the New World is centered on... Europe.
Great job, National Post, fantastic reporting, that's what we
need good journalists for.
(Second link has a better picture)
Canada it's an native work that was giving to this country later in 16th century, and the writing was at that time Kanada.
No body will use a hard C in 15th century.
unlikely, if you look at this ostrich globe it depicts south america and the west indies as aproached from over the atlantic rather than the pacific. note how it shows cuba and hispaniola.
So you're claiming that the Chinese explored the Eastern coast of North America, before Columbus? Yeah, right. Maybe the western coast is possible..
They may have traded as far away as the Gulf of Guinea, as Ming Dynasty ceramic has been excavated in the ruins of Timbuktu. An interesting book on the Chinese naval expeditions of the time is '1421, The Year China Discovered America' by Gavin Menzies. Although his conclusions are somewhat dubious the research he has done is quite interesting.
"Think about how stupid the average person is. Now, realise that half of them are dumber than that." - George Carlin
An interesting book on the Chinese naval expeditions of the time is '1421, The Year China Discovered America' by Gavin Menzies.
I get sad whenever I see someone take Menzies seriously. He is a crank, nothing in his books can be trusted.
Stevanius Jobus placed the first copywrite on 'directions to and of the New World' and then charged a lot of gold for it. Good thing is was so badly wrong to begin with.
Menzies is an idiot, and Chinese ceramics in Timbuktu are much more easily explained by down-the-line trading than actual voyaging. not to downplay what the Chinese accomplished; Zheng Hei's fleet was certainly technically capable of making transoceanic voyages, but there is absolutely no evidence that they ever did.
IFR navigation is largely following directions in relation to radio beacons, largely VOR headings marking "Victor airways" and the intersecting points of VOR headings.
Pre-9-11, I had conversations with cockpit crews and was told that IFR nav, in turn, is for General Aviation weenies as the Big Guys up in the Positive-Control Airspace of the Flight Levels and Terminal Control Areas do it by The Great Spirit in the Sky giving them radar vectors . . .
But didn't the Vikings carry a credit card that gave them more usable Rewards Points for their overseas travels?
There's an old adage that "if it seems too good to be true, it probably is" ; always worth remembering when something comes along like this which seems too good to be true.
Hitler Diaries, anyone?
Birds are not dinosaur descendants;birds are dinosaurs, for all useful meanings of "birds", "are" and "dinosaurs"