Washington Map Society
Washington Map Society
I saw this Interesting article on the History Channel website. According to the article, “Ostrich-Egg Globe May Be Oldest to Depict New World,” researchers believe the globe is dated 1504, and it’s the oldest yet to identify the New World (the Americas). The article states: “Thomas Sander, editor of the Portolan, points out that the egg might have been made for an Italian noble family around the time of famed artist Leonardo da Vinci, when the nobility often kept ostriches in their back gardens as one more sign of their wealth.” Finally, the Latin phrase Hic Sunt Dracones, translated as “Here be dragons” appears on the globe above the coast of Southeast Asia. I thought this was a great article, especially since we are learning about maps and how maps have changed over time. Click on the link to read the entire article.
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Tags: Maps, News Articles
Linking to Thinking 
Cool!
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Really interesting! Though why do they call it Ostrich egg globe?
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Abhi,
This early globe was actually painted on the ostrich egg, if you can believe that. The article states some of the other early forms of maps that people used.
Mr. Martin
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So cool! A natural globe!
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Wow. That’s really cool.
But why did they use ostrich egg?
Because it is big?
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Maybe because it is round like the earth.
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Wow, this is really interesting! Another possible explanation for how the globe came into existence is the artist could have used his/her natural resources to help his/her community understand the Americas better, and they could have used the globe to plan expeditions or other trips. I agree, Mr. Martin, it has a strong connection with the five themes of geography.
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True
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