Catholicgauze explains how to figure out a map’s age by checking for known changes, like the reunification of Germany, the breakup of the Soviet Union, or the independence of East Timor. I’ve done this too, actually, but it’s just as much of a challenge for maps and globes produced in the 1950s and 1960s, when colonies were being granted their independence, as it has been for the past 20, turbulent, years. (The 1970s and 80s seem so tranquil in comparison.)
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My school library had an Atlas I just loved - it was printed in 1919 or 1920, and the borders in eastern Europe were not yet finalised. It was such an amazing snapshot in time.
June 23, 2009 at 8:35 AM
Globes and atlases from 1977 through 1988 are really difficult to date. There wasn’t much change in the way of borders, names or statuses. Various small Caribbean and Pacific islands became independent (Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Dominica, St. Lucia to name a few). There was never a standard on Cambodia’s short-lived name change to Kampuchea, so that doesn’t necessarily help. The nebulous status of Western Sarah keeps changing to this day, beginning with its independence in 1977. The equally unclear division of Cyprus started in 1983.
There are a few noticeable clues for anything from that period, but nothing you’ll see pictured in an eBay listing.
Rhodesia was still a British colony until April 1980, after which Zimbabwe was an independent country. Belize became independent in Sept. 1981. Brunei on December 31st 1983. In 1984 Upper Volta changed its name to Burkina Fasso. At least that one stuck.
As a collector of obsolete globes, maps and atlases eBay frustrated me to no end. I can understand if someone doesn’t know how old an item is, but why do they show only North America? Unless the thing is older than 1949 and there’s something visible to indicate that Newfoundland isn’t part of Canada there’s no telling when in most of the 20th century an item is from. Some of their guesses are pretty pathetic. The most egregious was someone selling a globe they claimed was pre-War, based upon a unified Germany and the existence of the Soviet Union. The item was from early 1991. It was being sold in 2000.
June 24, 2009 at 7:25 PM