The terrestrial globe, of which a segment is given on the reverse page, was made at Nuremberg in the year 1492, the very year on which Columbus departed on his first voyage of discovery.
Martin Behem, the inventor, was
one of the most learned cosmographers of the time, and, having resided at Lisbon in the employ of the king of Portugal, he had probably seen the map of Toscanelli, and the documents submitted by Columbus to the consideration of the Portuguese government.
His globe may, therefore, be presumed
illustrative of the idea entertained by Columbus of the islands in the ocean near the extremity of Asia, at the time he undertook his discovery.