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KF5JRV > TECH 09.10.16 14:56l 45 Lines 2761 Bytes #-3262 (0) @ WW
BID : 3319_KF5JRV
Read: DK3UZ GUEST OE7FMI
Subj: Famous Voyages on Globe
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Sent: 161009/1231Z 3319@KF5JRV.#NWAR.AR.USA.NA BPQK6.0.13
Famous voyages depicted on a globe
Although globes were of little practical use on board ships by the 17th
century, they were nonetheless symbols of navigation, representing the world
that sailors were attempting to explore. Reflecting this nautical theme,
Morden, Berry and Lea included navigational illustrations on their globe,
such as ships, compass points and rhumb lines. More unusually, the globe
also features the routes taken by two famous English explorers, Sir Francis
Drake and Thomas Cavendish, during their voyages around the world. Successful
explorers such as these were often celebrated as national heroes because the
income of many European countries at this time was dependent on overseas
trade, which necessarily required navigational skill. By including the tracks
of Drake and Cavendish, this globe would have been part of the celebration of
great English navigators, both recognising their achievements and encouraging
other citizens to follow in their footsteps for the glory of the country.
English intellectual trends
Despite the celebratory function of this globe, the discoveries made by
explorers presented something of a dilemma for globe makers. The authority for
geographical knowledge of the world had previously been ancient texts, but
incoming reports by sailors often contradicted the traditional views. Globe
makers then faced a difficult decision about which information to trust. An
inscription on this globe stresses the "late discoveries" and "celestiall
observations of modern authors" used as sources of geographical information,
suggesting that the makers preferred modern evidence to texts from antiquity.
In this respect, the globe makers were perhaps influenced by the general
intellectual trend in 17th century England to value experience and observation
over ancient sources. This was a characteristic of the Royal Society, a
prominent English scientific society founded in the 17th century, the work of
which was certainly known to our globe makers.
Accuracy
The motivation behind the preference of experience over ancient texts was the
notion that the ancient authors were not so knowledgeable as had previously
been thought, and that early modern natural philosophers could surpass their
achievements. Despite this, it was not simply the case that by relying on
modern observation alone this globe was necessarily more accurate than other
globes of the period. Although sailors had not yet discovered a southern
continent, most globe makers included one on their products because ancient
texts had included it; due to their rejection of these texts, Morden, Berry
and Lea do not include a southern landmass on this globe, despite the fact
that we now know one to exist.
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