How Old Is Your Globe? | Hacker News Reader

How Old Is Your Globe?

replogleglobes.com

59 pointserehweb36 comments

A long time ago, I briefly had a girlfriend who was a geographer, and she impressed the hell out of me by casually looking at a globe in a library we were visiting, and telling me it was from 1923, just by looking at the borders and country names. Totally knocked me out.

Would you have known if she was wrong?

Bad form, old chap.

This is surely one of the most beautiful sites I have seen in a long time. Of course, it would be nice if the period font were done in css3 rather than images, and if the interactive bits were html5 rather than flash, but putting technologies and trends aside, this is truly a pitch-perfect and whimsical site. Well done.

@jfruh @mak120 and @lobster45. It's supposed to help you find the date of manufacture of a globe, not necessarily the date those changes in the names of countries happened, or to be a complete list of all the country name changes that happened.

More specifically, it's intended to help you find the date of manufacture of one of their globes.

The dates and country names reflect when Replogle Globes changed their products, not politics on the ground. The map is not the territory!

It isn't quite consistent even there. I have a Replogle globe that according to the chart is simultaneously post-1975 (with Suriname) and pre-1971 (no United Arab Emirates, Zaire, or Bangladesh). So I suspect the Suriname entry is an error in the chart.

Suriname existed as a separate country before it became independent in November 1975.

It was part of the kingdom of the Netherlands, but not part of the country itself.

It was called Suriname, at least in the Netherlands, and, I am fairly sure, in Suriname itself.

It lists Bangladesh as formerly being a part of India. That is not just an error in a date - it is just factually wrong.

Bangladesh became independent in 1971 not 1972. And it was not formerly part of India, but was part of Pakistan. Makes me wonder what else is wrong in that chart.

It's not just independence, but international recognition. Croatia for example became independent in 1991, but got recognition from the UN, US, UK, Germany and Russia in 1992.

Bangladesh got recognition from the UK and several European countries in 1971 AFAIK. By December of 1971, even the armed conflict was over.

Actually, being off by one year isn't such a big deal. Most maps from the first half of 1971 would not show Bangladesh. But it lists Bangladesh as being previously of India before 1971. That is just wrong since it was part of Pakistan from 1947 to 1971.

My globe has "Korea" (as one country) instead of "Chosen", so should be from > 1945. On the other hand, it's in the same color as Japan. And it also has "Italian Somaliland" and "Abyssinia" instead of "Somalia" and "Ethiopia". So it could be from < 1941. Given the size of Germany, and Finland bordering the Barents Sea, I think it's pre-WW2.

Complicating factor: the maker of my globe often uses two names in the period surrounding a name transition. Thailand is called "Thailand (SIAM)". The name in capitals is not necessarily an official name, because there's also a PAKISTAN, which is a post-WW2 development.

Confused.

Is Poland still present on your globe? Is Danzig still Polish territory? How about the Baltic states? Are they still independent? Is Albania the same colour as Italy? Where is the border between the Soviet Union and Romania? Is Slovakia on the map?

I have a wonderful globe from the same period myself, made in Berlin between April and September 1939.

* Poland exists (but is shifted eastwards), Danzig is Polish. (>1920)

* Bessarabia is part of Romania (<1940)

* Baltic states appear without SSR suffix, but then again, nothing carries an SSR suffix on this globe - though there is a USSR.

* Istria is to Austria (<1919)

* Czechoslovakia is on the map as one state ( >1918 )

* Albania appears to be a state, it has a different color from Italy. (probably < 1939).

Thanks for the hints. It is most likely an interbellum globe, but the Istria thing is bothersome. Maybe I should take a picture.

Some of the comments are missing the point that the information in the chart is to be used for dating globes, which sometimes show place names for places before they change political status (e.g., gain independence after being United Nations trusteeships) or sometimes are published after a place name changed near the end of the previous calendar year.

So why doesn't anyone make a "Forever Globe" that projects from the interior of the globe the image of the world onto the exterior of the globe? You could then update countries as you go, and even add things like the weather, etc.

Google Earth embodies the data management needed to make a forever globe, so now someone just has to make the suitable projector. I have long desired a globe that would interactively change its display to make, for example, population density or altitude or some other displayable feature more prominent than political boundaries.

SO, know anyone in China we could talk to about this? I suspect the trick is to find a way to create a curved touch-sensitive surface. I'm tempted to do a render and setup a Kickstarter for this, but I'd like to make sure that someone makes the basic parts before I start "taking orders". Surely there are some folks on here who can at least tell me who to talk to?

What about South Sudan?

Beat me to the punch! Needs updating.

Not to mention Kosovo as well, perhaps.

Well, usually globes tend not to put countries on the map until they're universally recognized. Kosovo's an interesting edge case though!

For the record, Serbia and Montenegro didn't become just Montenegro; it split into two countries, Serbia AND Montenegro.

   New Name:    Republic of the Union of Myanmar
   Date:        1989
   Former Name: Burma
   Location:    SW of China

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myanmar

That is the first thing I looked for, too. Whoever made the list must not watch enough Seinfeld[1].

[1]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vAlinvw2Rb0

It's also missing Palau (became independent from US trusteeship in 1994).

List fails to mention countries that no longer exist, as they are now parts of other countries. Where's Tannu Tuva?

As far as I know, Indonesia and East Timor are two different countries.

They are. The region which is now the coutry called East Timor was formerly part of Indonesia.

this supposes that your Globe is of planet Earth. What if it isn't?

Not nearly old enough for the globe I have at home that's between 1906 - 1916.

New Name : Israel, Old Name : Palestine. Date: 1948. The biggest steal of the century.

Whoever didn't like my sentence is admitting that it's true.

No, its just that kind of comment doesn't really belong on HN.

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