Intellectual Geekery: Date That Globe.
Last week I found a globe at an antique shop (more "cool, cheap, old junk" than that "hoity-toity, expensive, old junk"). This one is pretty old, as you can see in the picture below.
(Click on image to enlarge - 1024x768)
But when was this globe made?
Now, did you know that globes tend to lack anything that indicates when it was produced? Nothing in a title or a copyright showing a date. So for the most part it is guesswork figuring out the age of any particular globe.
More specifically, figuring out the age of a globe requires an educated guess.
Here's your challenge for today: Using this photograph, can you figure out within a period of two years when this globe was made? All the information you need is in the picture. Feel free to explain how you arrived at your guess in the comments (yech! that sounded so much like a homework assignment, didn't it? sorry 'bout that). There are some aspects of this that are easy to figure out a general idea of the globe's age, but getting to that two-year bulls-eye will take a little more brainpower.
I'll post my own educated guess and an explanation of it in a couple of days. Good luck.
6 comment(s):
I'd have to say late 40s to early 50s.
By Fixer, at Monday, January 15, 2007 5:26:00 PM
I'll drop a (thin as watery gruel) hint:
The globe is definitely a post-WWII rendition of the political world.
By Moses, at Monday, January 15, 2007 9:08:00 PM
1957, after the independance of Sudan and before the split of French West Africa.
By DiscordianStooge, at Tuesday, January 16, 2007 12:25:00 AM
I was gonna shoot for mid 1960s but I base that on the style of the globe (fonts used, etc.)
By Brian, at Wednesday, January 17, 2007 10:42:00 AM
1957-58 at the latest, but I had no clue how you figured it out to within two years until I saw DStooge's comment.
By Norwegianity, at Wednesday, January 17, 2007 1:47:00 PM
Mo...it's your globe, and your "contest" so you can say what you want...but I disagree with your sources.
Here is some of mine and why I am stickingwith 1957-1958
http://crawfurd.dk/africa/ghana_timeline.htm
<>March 6, 1957: Ghana is the first of the colonies in sub-Saharan Africa to gain independence. Africa and the rest of the world follows the creation of the new state with high anticipations.
http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/history/
Gold Coast & European Exploration: Before March 1957 Ghana was called the Gold Coast.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghana
It was the first black African country to obtain independence from colonial rule. Upon achieving independence from the United Kingdom in 1957, the name Ghana was chosen for the new nation as a reference to its ancient roots in the Empire of Ghana.
http://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/gh_col.html
Before the Gold Coast became the self-governing dominion of Ghana on March 6th, 1957,
And now French West Aferica
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_West_Africa
The federation ceased to exist after the September 1958 referendum on the future French Community, in which the constituent territories voted to became autonomous republics except for Guinea, which voted overwhelmingly for independence.
http://www.answers.com/topic/french-west-africa
A former federation (1895–1959) of French territories in western Africa comprising the present-day countries of Benin, Burkina Faso, Guinea, Côte d'Ivoire, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, and Senegal.
http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/history/A0819672.html
In 1958 the constituent territories became autonomous republics in the French Community, except for Guinea, which became independent. The federation was dissolved in 1959.
By Shark.bait, at Friday, January 19, 2007 7:41:00 AM
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