Editing Martin Behaim (section)

==Behaim globe==
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[[File:Behaim Eastern Hemisphere.jpg|thumb|Martin Behaim, eastern hemisphere of his globe made in Nuremberg in 1492. Friedrich Wilhlem Ghillany, ''Geschichte des Seefahrers Ritter Martin Behaim,'' Nürnberg, Bauer und Raspe, J. Merz, 1853.]]
[[File:Behaims Erdapfel.jpg|thumb|150px|left|The Nuremberg Globe of Martin Behaim]]
 [[File:Behaim Western Hemisphere.jpg|thumb|Martin Behaim, western hemisphere of his globe made in Nuremberg in 1492. Friedrich Wilhlem Ghillany, Geschichte des Seefahrers Ritter Martin Behaim, Nürnberg, Bauer und Raspe, J. Merz, 1853.]]
[[File:Martin Behaim 1492 Ocean Map.png|thumb|150px|left|Detail of the Atlantic Ocean envisioned by Martin Behaim]]

After Behaim returned to Nuremberg in 1490, leading members of the city council financed the construction of a terrestrial globe. Under  the direction of Behaim, a team of artisans and craftsmen constructed what has become the oldest extant globe. [[Georg Glockendon]] was the artist who created the actual map drawings following Behaim's specifications.<ref name="Ravenstein" />

The globe is about 21 inches (51&nbsp;cm) in diameter and was fashioned from a type of papier-mache and coated with gypsum. The ball was supported on a wooden tripod and secured by a pair of iron hoops. Glockendon's map drawings were painted onto parchment strips and pasted into position around the sphere. The globe contains more than 2,000 place names, 100 pictorial illustrations (plus 48 banners and 15 coats of arms), and more than 50 long legends. Many of the notations deal with fabulous monsters of foreign countries and their inhabitants, plants and animals. Many notes also deal with trade, explorations, and famous travelers like Marco Polo.<ref>Encyclopedia of World Biography, 1998</ref>

The world map depicted on the Behaim globe is based primarily on the geography of the second-century geographer [[Ptolemy]].  It also combines geographical information from other sources, including [[Marco Polo]], [[John Mandeville]], and Portuguese explorer [[Diogo Gomes]]. It is notable for lacking more current Portuguese geographic data which should have been available to Behaim and it contains numerous errors that did not reflect contemporary geographical understanding.<ref name="Görz" />

The completed globe, which came to be called ''[[Erdapfel]]'' (earth apple) by the townspeople, was originally housed in Nuremberg's city hall. In the 17th century the Behaim family took possession of the globe. It was inexpertly restored in 1823 and again in 1847, resulting in the corruption of many place-names and labels. The [[Germanisches Nationalmuseum|German National Museum]] in Nuremberg later took possession of the globe, which is commonly known as the Nuremberg Terrestrial Globe.

The antiquity of this globe and the year of its execution, on the eve of the discovery of the [[Americas]], makes it not just the oldest globe but also represents an encyclopedia of Europe's knowledge of the known world in 1492.

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[[File:Conceptions Colomb map-en.svg|thumb|500px|left|Comparison of coastal outlines on maps of Juan de la Cosa and [[Martin Behaim]] with the true coastline]]
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