I own a globe that could have only existed for 6 months in 1939 pic.twitter.com/IL6Slm4bOX
— DJ Branham (@DJBranham) December 30, 2025
The 20th century was a tumultuous time in history. Two World Wars happened, among many other conflicts. Centuries-old empires fell, and new countries came to be. Keeping up to date with these changes was slower than it was now, and information became obsolete as developments continued. A perfect example of this is a globe shared by X user DJ Branham, which, given the countries and territories it displays, was only accurate for six months in 1939.
The globe depicts some major changes in Europe. Germany’s Nazi regime had recently annexed Czechoslovakia and the Klaipėda Region in Lithuania. However, the Free City of Danzig, in modern-day Poland, appears free. This city-state fell to the Germans on September 1, 1939. According to Neatorama, given the borders of each country at the time, the globe must date between March 16 and July 31, 1939.
Found at Plains Antiques in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, the globe also shares insights into other parts of the world. The province of Hatay, today a southern region of Turkey, was under the control of French Syria. This suggests the globe was created before July 29, 1939. Meanwhile, Palestine was under British rule as a League of Nations Mandate. The X user says that the globe also features Manchukuo, a puppet state of the Empire of Japan in Northeast China, that existed from 1932 to 1945.
Globe makers surely tried their best to keep up with the changes, or even made a statement by choosing whether to recognize new borders and denominations. Still, it was a noble labor that needed keeping up with news in a time when access to it was more limited. By staying up to date—even when their work became inaccurate in a matter of months—they paint a picture of how the world looked at one point. More than a vintage collectible, this is a priceless historical document.
Sources: What Was the Brief Period When This Globe Was Accurate?
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