The end of the world
The end of the world describes the geographical conception prevalent in older cultures that the world in which they lived ends abruptly at one point or along an edge.
Geography and the end of the world
This idea is typical for peoples who were not aware of the spherical and thus quasi "endless" shape of the earth . Even at the time of the discoveries , however, it caused many captains to turn back before circling Africa . The idea of a disk of the earth had been among scientists since about 500 BC. BCE, but widespread among the less educated until around 1500.
Colloquially , the end of the world is used to describe a particularly remote place today ("This is really the end of the world!").
Temporal is associated with the concept of the end of the world .
Use in ancient cultures
- The Ferro-Meridian was determined by Marinos von Tyros around 100 AD as the prime meridian - after the Canary Islands, the then known western end of the world. In 1884 the prime meridian was set to its current reference point Greenwich.
- The western tip of Cornwall was at times viewed by the Romans as the end of the world.
- Cape Finisterre , 60 km from Santiago de Compostela , on the Costa da Morte in Galicia , was considered the end of the world in the Middle Ages before Christopher Columbus discovered America . For the pilgrims to St. James , this was the westernmost end of civilization .
- The most south-westerly end of Europe at Cabo de São Vicente in Portugal, not far from the city of Sagres , was also formerly known as the end of the world.
Terms used today
Europe
The end of the world at Engelberg
- The westernmost department of France in the west of Brittany is called Finistère , from the Latin Finis terrae , end of the world.
- A headland on the west coast of Galicia is called Cabo Fisterra .
- At the Oslofjord ( Norway ) in the municipality of Færder, the southern tip of the island of Tjøme is called Verdens Ende , which means the end of the world in German.
- The level in Magglingen ( Switzerland ), on which part of the Federal Gymnastics and Sports School stands, bears this name.
- At Engelberg in Switzerland the abrupt end of the Horbistal is called the end of the world .
- The perspective in the park of Schwetzingen Castle is popularly referred to as the end of the world .
Other continents
- On the south coast of Tierra del Fuego , near the city of Ushuaia , is the end of the Argentine federal highway 3, which is known as Fin del mundo , the end of the world. The southernmost end point of the Panamericana is also located here .
- From today's and especially from a German perspective, New Zealand is often referred to as the country on the other end of the world. In geographical terms and with a travel time of around 30 hours, the country is the furthest away from Europe .
- In China, a beach on the south coast of Hainan is known as the end of the world . The name comes from the fact that civil servants who had fallen out of favor were banished there 1000 years ago.
- The Cape of Good Hope or Cape Town in South Africa is known as "the end of the world".
Literary terms
- In Michael Ende 's children's book Jim Button and Lukas the Engine Driver, the protagonists end up in a desert called the End of the World .
- Wolfgang and Heike Hohlbein named a castle in the book Märchenmond the end of the world .
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b The end of the world. Transitory Museum in Pfyn, archived from the original on April 24, 2013 ; accessed on April 5, 2018 (English, original website no longer available).
- ↑ Conquering the Unknown , Der Standard , February 21, 2010
- ^ National map of Switzerland 1: 25000, sheet 1191 Engelberg
- ↑ Schwetzingen Castle Garden - The End of the World at the Center for Educational Media in the Internet eV , accessed on August 29, 2011
- ↑ Rüdiger Barth: The most beautiful end of the world. In: Stern. Gruner & Jahr, March 8, 2008, accessed March 12, 2019 .
- ↑ New Zealand - Tales of the End of the World. In: The world. October 10, 2012, accessed July 9, 2013 .
- ↑ Sönke Krüger: Hainan - Where China is doing a bit in Hawaii , Die Welt online, April 28, 2009, accessed on August 29, 2011