Whether we are looking at a road map, a world map, or a world globe, it is hard to imagine the earth as anything but round. Before modern science, airplanes, and space shuttles, the most popular belief was that the earth is flat or disk-like. However, despite the popularity of this theory, there were some that were ahead of their time in believing the earth is round.
One such believer was the Greek scholar Crates of Mallus. He created the first globe in 150 BC, much like the one that sits on the back of the popular sculpture Famese Atlas that is on display at the Naples Museum in Naples, Italy. Celestial globes of the Old World detailing the positions of stars and comets began appearing during the Middle Ages. It was not until 1507 that the first globe with the Americas on it was made by German cartographer Martin Waldseemueller.
The theory that the earth is round was not the only battle to be fought. There were many, especially high ranking political and religious figures, that believed the earth was the center of the universe and that the sun and planets revolved around earth. Great scholars such as Galileo, Kepler, and Copernicus were persecuted for suggesting that perhaps the sun was the center of the universe. It was not until Sir Isaac Newton began to develop theories about gravity nearly 200 years later that people began to accept heliocentric theory.
Despite their ancient origins, globes offer a far more accurate view of the earth. Each of the countries is more accurately sized and shaped in relation to other countries. It also gives us a more realistic view of what our earth looks like without distortion. So the next time you look at a globe, remember the battles that were fought to make it.
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