Bingley is getting closer to the correct answer, but I think you will find that the first "globes" were not globes of the earth, but globes of the heavens. I think they were called celestial spheres. Certainly a prime feature of them would have been either the pole star or the southern cross, and since most of the "known world" was north of the equator, it would have made good sense to have the depiction reflect the reality the creators could see.
It was different, apparently, in Kentucky. My great-grandfather wrote down the story of the horse breeder there who could not get his race horses to run because these pesky robins built their nests in the manes of the horses. The constant singing of the birds distracted the horses. He (gran'ther) proved that a yeast solution would drive the birds away. Proving, of course, that yeast is yeast, and nest is nest, and never the manes shall tweet.
