Terrestrial floor globe

Terrestrial floor globe. Geographical details on the sphere include two compass cards, one with Italian names and the other with Dutch names of the compass points. California is represented as an island. Australia and the land north of Japan is drawn according to the Dutch discoveries, apart from New Zealand which is accompanied by a note. The discoveries of the Portuguese and Spanish are indicated and, for instance, in the north-eastern part of America there is a label.

The tracks of two voyages are documented, one is labelled and the second track is dated with measurements of the variation of the compass added. There is a legend, which is the same as that of GLB0124. There are many texts on explorations, some in lavishly decorated cartouches. These texts, which are too extensive to transcribe here, are followed in chronological order, by a list of 40 explorers and corresponding dates mentioned in these texts and elsewhere on the globe.

There are drawings of ships in the style of the various nations, decorations of groups of local people, information on fishing grounds and on the fauna and flora of regions. In total, 20 oceans are named. This is the largest globe in the National Maritime Museum collection. For full details about the cartography and construction of this globe please refer to the related publication.

Object Details

ID: GLB0123
Collection: Astronomical and navigational instruments; Charts and maps
Type: Floor globe
Display location: Not on display
Creator: Coronelli, Vincenzo; Eder, Tobias
Date made: Plates produced: 1688; Gores produced: 1707 Globe assembled: 1754 Plates produced: 1688; Gores produced: 1707; Globe assembled: 1754
People: Alexander Chaumont; Maire, Jacob Le Columbus, Christopher Davies, John Hudson, Henry Jean-Francois de La Perouse Magellan, Ferdinand Nuyts, Peter
Credit: National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London, Caird Collection
Measurements: Overall: 1534 x 1474 mm; Diameter of sphere: 1080 mm; Diameter of Meridian Ring: 1178 mm