Maptrade24 is a webshop of Columbus Verlag Paul Oestergaard GmbH and was opened in November 2008. In addition to the own products of the publishing company, maptrade24 offers a large number of cartographic products from other selected and famous publishing companies.

History of the publishing company:
When Paul Oestergaard founded the publishing company in Berlin, he was endeavouring to develop his power and his creative fantasy in his own company.
With the aim to give people an understanding of the globe, he started his production in 1909 with the main idea “a Columbus globe for each home”. He offered an exemplary cartography to his customers and produced the aesthetic models in large quantities, so that he could offer the reproduction of the Earth for the first time to a favourable price.
Already after a couple of years the original rooms became too small for the worldwide exporting publishing company. The production grew more and more and the staff increased ten-fold. The Columbus globe were produced in 24 languages.



The second generation, Paul Oestergaard jun., entered into the publishing company in 1942. Soon later, the administration and the production became a victim of the war and had to be transferred to neighbouring places and the family’s private house.
After the end of the war, they tried with the remained staff to rebuild the company and decided the foundation of a factory in Southern Germany (Stuttgart) after the Russian Blockade in 1948.
The production increased constantly and patenting the “DUO”-globe, it became possible for the first time to show two maps at the same time on one globe.



In 1963, Peter Oestergaard entered into the company as the third generation. He studied engineering and was involved in the development of the “Duplex”-globe right from the start. He changed the production of the acrylic models into an automatic series production.
When in 1972 the “Planet Earth” was presented, another milestone in the history of Columbus was set. A maximum of information and the answer to many questions were offered on this exceptional globe, which shows sunrise and sunset, the zones of dawn and the seasons.



After the Germany’s reunification in 1990, the turnovers of the branch broke down and Peter Oestergaard decided to move together with his son Torsten to Krauchenwies. In a time in which the cartography and the production could not keep up with the speed of the worldwide changes, the suppliers were included closer into the production process and the capacity was distinctively expanded.



For the future the company with his current managing directorTorsten Oestergaard focuses entirely on expansion. On that note, the subsidiary company CartoDirect was founded in 2001. CartoDirect is exclusively responsible for the distribution of the range of maps and globes of the NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC SOCIETY and furthermore for the products of the Columbus Verlag Paul Oestergaard GmbH.



Today COLUMBUS Verlag offers a large number of different globe models, among which are mouth-blown crystal glass globes that are hand-papered in traditional craftsmanship. The range of products contains from designer globes, day/night globes, acrylic and children globes up to the worldwide biggest  in series produced globes with more than one meter of diameter. Wall maps complete the assortment. For special wishes and demands there have already been produced impressive and unique custom-made products by th own team of cartographers together with the in-house print office and the technical designers. The company under the current management of Torsten Oestergaard in the fourth generation still focuses on cartographic precision and up-to-dateness, innovative trends in globe design as well as in the traditional craftsmanship of hand-papering. The production of custom-made globes of (almost) any kind will also be important for the portfolio of the company in the future.



As the leading globe manufacturer in the world and innovator of the whole branch, the name COLUMBUS stands for creativity, passion for the product and highest demand for quality. For the company it is self-evident to still produce the own products only in Germany.