What is a globe? History and modern use of globes

Globe - this is an exact, but reduced by a million times a copy of our planet. Without this model it is very difficult to imagine such a science as geography. Globe "invented" back in the XV century, but today it is actively used in various areas of human life.

What is a globe?

It should be recognized that the first cartographic image of the Earth's surface was a map. Rather, it was a drawing of the terrain, drawn on the wall of the cave. Globes appeared much later, when a person realized the scale of our planet and found out that it has a spherical shape.

What is a globe? What are the main properties of this method of depicting the earth's surface?

The answer to the question "what is a globe" should be known to every schoolboy. In Latin, the word globus means "ball". Thus, the globe is a cartographic way of depicting the earth's surface, in which the geometric shape of our planet is preserved, as well as all the lines, areas and contours of the depicted objects. The only clarification: all this decreases in millions of times.

Compared to the geographic map on the globe, all distortions of the earth's surface are minimal. The continents, oceans, seas and islands on it fully correspond to their location on the globe. Accurately apply all geographic objects on the globe helps degree grid, consisting of lines of meridians and parallels.

Properties and use of the globe

The main properties of the globe include the following:

• The sphericity of the Earth is preserved;
• The mutual arrangement of poles, parallels and meridians is preserved;
• The scale is the same in all parts of the model;
• The shapes of all the figures on the earth's surface are not distorted.

During the XVII-XVIII centuries, globes were actively used by seafarers, travelers and pioneers. Now they are used exclusively in scientific and educational (much more often) activities. The school globe is an indispensable attribute of any cabinet of geography.

The history of the globe

The oldest globe, which has survived to our days, dates from 1492. It was created by Martin Beheim - a German scientist and traveler. As a basis, he took the data of Ptolemy and Toscanelli. Globe of Beheim is kept in a museum in Nuremberg. Since America at that time was not yet open, in its place Beheim depicted the eastern extremity of Asia, as well as many non-existent islands.

However, the very first globe, according to written ancient references, was made 1700 years ago. His author was a pupil of Aristotle - the ancient Greek thinker Crates. He created a spherical model of the Earth, which, however, did not reach our days. But other ancient philosophers describe that it depicted a continuous land, divided into four parts by two perpendicularly intersecting rivers.

Types of globes

By content globes can be general geographic (classical) or thematic (the latter arose in the twentieth century). The globes are distinguished by the size of the globe:

• Small (up to 60 cm in diameter);
• Medium (from 60 to 120 cm);
• Large (over 120 cm in diameter).

In addition to terrestrial, there are also globes of other celestial bodies of the solar system (the Moon, Mars, Mercury, etc.), as well as the starry sky. The spherical models of our planet can also be made of different materials. It can be plastic, paper, glass or stone.

Conclusion

So, what is a globe? Now you can easily answer this question. It is a model of the Earth, which exactly repeats its shape, without distorting the areas and contours of objects in all areas of the surface. It is believed that the very first globe was created by the German scientist Martin Beheim in 1492. However, the earliest mention of such instruments dates back to the third century BC.