The Earth takes the shape of a sphere, more accurately described as an oblate spheroid, which means it is flattened at the poles while bulging at the equator. Nonetheless, the disparities from a true sphere are slight, allowing it to be considered a sphere for practical purposes. It is mathematically impossible to flatten a sphere’s surface without causing distortion. All two-dimensional representations of the Earth’s surface utilize a projection, and every projection leads to some form of distortion. The most recognized map projection, the Mercator Projection, named after the Flemish cartographer Gerard Mercator (1512–1594), distorts areas, resulting in landmasses appearing larger than their actual size the further they are from the equator. For instance, Greenland has an area of 2,166,086 km² and appears larger than Africa, which is fifteen times its size at 30,370,000 km². This has sparked various debates regarding the use of the Mercator Projection, with some claiming, incorrectly, that it serves to illustrate European superiority over the global south.
The Ancient Greeks understood that the Earth is a sphere and recognized the issues with map projection. Ptolemaeus (fl. 150 CE), with his Geographike Hyphegesis (Greek: Γεωγραφικὴ Ὑφήγησις; lit. ’Guide to Drawing the Earth’), authored the most significant book on cartography prior to the Early Modern Period, which included three distinct map projections and noted that the only accurate representation of the Earth’s surface is a globe.
No terrestrial globes from antiquity have survived. Although several Islamic celestial globes have endured, there are no known surviving terrestrial examples. There are some records of early European terrestrial globes from the fifteenth century; the earliest existing terrestrial globe is the Behaim Globe or Erdapfel in Nürnberg, created by Martin Behaim (1459–1507). The sphere was crafted by Hans Glockengiesser (a name that translates to bell founder) and Ruprecht Kolberger. The map was painted by Georg Glockendon (d. 1514), with the lettering provided by Petrus Gegenhart. Until that time, all globes were unique, handcrafted items, referred to as manuscript globes. The invention of printing in the fifteenth century transformed this landscape.
The earliest known printed globes were miniature globes made by Martin Waldseemuller (c. 1470–1520) from his 1507 world map, the first to refer to America. While none of the actual globes have survived, there are four sets of existing globe gores.
The mass production of printed globes began with the work of the Nürnberger mathematicus, Johannes Schöner (1477–1547), who created his first printed terrestrial globe in 1515, also based on Waldseemüller’s world map, alongside a corresponding printed celestial globe in 1517. This established the tradition of paired terrestrial and celestial globes. Schöner produced a new set of printed globes in 1533/34.
Correspondence indicates that Schöner was highly successful, selling a substantial number of globes; however, only a few of his globes have survived. Schöner was not the sole Nürnberger mathematicus producing globes. Georg Hartmann (1489–1564), who served as Schöner’s globe salesperson in Nürnberg while Schöner was still residing in Kirchehrenbach, also manufactured globes, but none of his have survived.
Both Waldseemüller, with his map, and Schöner, with his globes, published a related cosmographia, a pamphlet containing usage instructions along with additional geographical and historical facts. An innovative printer/publisher in Louvain reissued Schöner’s cosmographia, Lucullentissima quaedam terrae totius descriptio, and enlisted Gemma Frisius (1508–1555) to create a replica of Schöner’s globe to accompany it. Frisius became a globe maker, as did his former student and assistant Gerard Mercator (1512-1594), who went on to become the most prosperous globe maker in Europe.
During this period, England lacked globe makers, and the first printed globes to arrive in England were in 1547, when John Dee (1527–c. 1608) returned after his initial studies under Frisius and Mercator in Louvain, bringing with him, among other mathematical tools, a pair of Mercator’s globes. It would take another four decades before anyone began producing printed globes in England, the first being Emery Molyneux (d. 1598).