And if there is any indication on the globe, are Hawaii and Alaska states or territories (they joined in 1959).
The “Federation of Nyasaland” is what’s puzzling me. There was the Nyasaland protectorate from 1908 to 1953, the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland from 1953 to 1963, and Malawi from 1964 onwards. There’s a seven-month period, from December 31, 1963 to July 6, 1964, in which it’s not clear from the Wiki articles what the “official name” of the region was; if it was “Federation of Nyasaland” during that time, it would narrow it down considerably.
Upon looking at various news sources in Google’s archive, it appears that it wasn’t unheard of to refer to the region as “Federation of Nyasaland and the Rhodesias”, depending on who was doing the talking. So the 1953-1963 time window seems more likely for that.
I hate to be quoting Wiki on this but:
From here
That list gives us a last date of 1960 (French West Africa Dissolves and British and Italian Somaliland unify to Somalia)
If the location isn’t specific - if it shows Tanganyika Territory, then 1918 - 1961. Nation of Tanganyika, then 1961 - 1964.
Yeah, that’s very close to what I said: After independence, it was Somaliland (or State of Somaliland) > (Democratic) Somali Republic > Republic of Somalia (Somalia)
I’m trusting my old atlases over Wikipedia, but they are basically a match.
I love your threads about Iceland, btw.
This is great! I seem to have the same globe–everything matches so far. Mine is lighted, and has black oceans. It’s cool :). I’ve been wondering how old it is.
Mine also has indo-china instead of Laos, Vietnam, and Cambodia. And Cote D’Ivoire is the Gold Coast.
Hello everyone and thanks for all the answers. I’m at work right now, but based on the company’s website (thanks for that suggestion) I do believe that Sri Lanka is Ceylon on the globe, which dates it to 1948. It doesn’t seem that old. I’ll report back when I get home and check out the globe again.
Also, the Isle of Copyright has no little numbers associated with it. That was the 1st thing I checked.
Oh yeah, I also believe the globe shows east and west Germany.
Tanganyika was a British mandate/trust territory under that name from 1918 until independence, so the '61-'64 idea is out.
French West Africa gained independence as about 11 nations in 1960, so it’s definitely pre 1960. Belgian Congo bcame Congo (now Zaire) the same year. Also the Union of South Africa (Commonwealth Dominon) became Republic of South Africa that year.
What shape is Poland – more or less circular, or shaped roughly like a turkey (bird, not nation)? If round, you can pinpoint it as 1945 or after.
As noted, Gold Coast became independent as Ghana in 1956.
If there’s a blob on the France/Germany border (labeled Saar) southeast of the Low Countries, it’s before 1955. Its absence doesn’t guarantee its being after, though – it was a part of Germany under French administration for 10 years.
“Dutch East Indies” before 1949 became Indonesia in 1949 – actually they’d been de facto independent before that, but that’s when international recognition and formal Dutch cession of independence took place.
Federal Republic of Germany (AKA West Germany) and DDR (East Germany) became independent in 1949 – they were under British/Grench/US/USSR military administration for four years before that.
Check Trieste (where Italy and Yugoslavia come together, southeast of Venice). Compare against Wikipedia – who holds what and with what borders there may help narrow it.
Newfoundland and Labrador were an independent British colony before 1949 – if it shows them as part of Canada, it’s 1949 or later.
I don’t care what the geography is, as a matter of principle I will *not *help you seduce your globe.
Cote D’Ivoire (Ivory Coast, though the English translation is discouraged by the government) is a different country than the Gold Coast (aka Ghana).
Oh, and can I just note that this is another excellent interplay of username and thread subject?
Cote d’Ivoire was “Ivory Coast” (and part of Frenh West Africa until 1960) in English speaking countries until a couple of decades ago they began to insist on their formal name, which is of course in French. Gold Coast (formerly British) next door is what became Ghana.
British colony of Ceylon became independent in 1948, true, but didn’t formally adopt Sri Lanka as its official internationally used name until much later, after the 1960 end date for the globe already defined.
It’s possible that your globe would have labeled the island as ‘Ceylon’ even before 1948 when it was still a British colony.
Is Israel on there? Is Korea one country or split into north/south?
Names of cities can be a hunch, which perhaps the OP was suspecting with Krakow, although there’s nothing particularly unusual about this, as it’s just a Germanic spelling. Leningrad/Petrograd/St Petersburg would be an obvious example for different decades. Also, the naming of Kaliningrad is of interest only to Russians and cartographers, but will give you a date either way of 1946. And so on.
OK, globe definitely shows Ceylon.
Also shows:
Israel
Vietnam is two colors, but only labelled ‘Vietnam’ with the addition of “N. Zone” and ‘S. Zone’
Mayasia is Malaya
Indonesia is JAva
South Africa is ‘Union of South Africa’
Ivory Coast is part of French West Africa (and spelled ‘Ivory Coast’) but offshore there are labels of ‘Ivory Coast’, ‘Gold Coast’, ‘Slave Coast’.
Ghana is Ghana
Saar is on it
Manchuria
South and North Korea
Burma
India seems to have a small orange country called ‘Chandernagor’ (Maybe it’s always been orange, I’m no geography whiz)
Sorry, I thought Krakow = Warsaw like how Istanbul = Constantinople. Oops!
As an aside, US newspapers were selling these globes from 1954-1962. They had 3-5 different models, ranging in price from $9-$30.
OK, using the companies website, it looks like this globe is from 1958.
These two pin it down quite a bit. Chandannagar was a French trading post (similar to Goa, if I’m not mistaken) that was ceded to India in 1951, and was fully integrated into India proper by 1955. The Korean War, meanwhile, ground to a halt in 1953.