Globe Made of Ostrich Eggs Has World’s Oldest Image of Americas

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The globe was made only a few years after Columbus landed in America. It was fashioned in 1504 from the shells two ostrich eggs, and although this globe is not perfectly round by and stretch, it turns out to be a remarkable find. It is engraved with a map of the world as it was known at the time, and includes the oldest known depiction of the Americas.

The globe belongs to a private collector and a recent study of the map published by the Washington Map Society makes the case for it being the oldest. A globe that was previously thought to have held this record, which was made in 1510 from copper, turns out to have been a replica of this ostrich-egg globe.

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