Terrestrial floor globe

Terrestrial floor globe. Geographical details on the sphere include California drawn as an island. The Straits of Magellan and le Maire are drawn, and the south point of South America is labelled 'C. Horn'. The Dutch discoveries of Australia and New Zealand are shown up to 1644. There is no hypothetical southern continent but the discovery of Davis Land is indicated and labelled. There are ships and monsters in the oceans for decoration. The mapping is in the Dutch tradition. One novelty is the reference to Edward Davis's (1686) discovery.

It appears that the globe was not finished as the names in the southern hemisphere are missing. The faulty meridian ring is a possible may indicate that this globe was assembled by someone not familiar with globe construction.

It is possible this globe was made by the Italian globe maker, Amanzio Moroncelli (1652-1719), but the attribution is tentative as other globes have a diameter of 880 mm. For full details about the cartography and construction of this globe please refer to the related publication.

Object Details

ID: GLB0159
Collection: Astronomical and navigational instruments; Charts and maps
Type: Floor globe
Display location: Not on display
Creator: Unknown; Moroncelli, Amanzio
Date made: circa 1715
Credit: National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London, Caird Collection
Measurements: Overall: 1300 x 1300 mm; Diameter of sphere: 35 in; Diameter of Meridian Ring: 1080 mm