Terrestrial globe, the so-called Behaim Globe (Erdapfel), Nuremberg 1492
Erdglobus, sogenannter Behaim-Globus (Erdapfel)
Martin Behaim (concept), Georg Glockendon (painter), Nuremberg 1492-1494
How we know
compilation Assembled from earlier sources. The author did not observe it directly.
Compilation: Ptolemy, Marco Polo, Mandeville and Portuguese reports assembled in Nuremberg; Asia (Cathay, Tartar realms, Great Khan) drawn from Polo; no observation.
Research notes
- Content derives from Polo, Mandeville and Ptolemy (Nuremberg humanist circle); the GNM's 2023 digitisation (Behaim digital) offers unrolled high-resolution views that were not reached from this environment. Not an independent witness.
- GNM page reachable (HTTP 200); the 'Behaim digital' 3D viewer was not located by URL.
Why it matters
The last pre-Columbian picture of Asia in Europe: Behaim's globe keeps the Polo-derived Great Khan and Tartar Asia at the moment printed Ptolemies were reviving Scythia; useful as the 1492 control between Walsperger/Fra Mauro and the Waldseemueller maps.
Places named
Whole globe; eastern Asia with Cathay, Mangi, Tangut, the Great Khan's realm, Cipangu; no Americas
Who copied whom
No copying traced for this map yet. See the family trees.