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It is not only the beautiful and contemporarily accurate maps which make Ortelius’s atlas outstanding but the accompanying descriptions. The changes from one edition to another accumulated to the point that the 1612 edition had more than double the number of individual maps found in the original 1570 edition. Each edition shows a development and extension from the previous, which shows Ortelius’s apparent desire to strive towards making his atlas an authoritative, accurate and definitive source. It is the first of its kind to include explanations, commentaries and discussions alongside the maps.Īlthough the atlas was first published in 1570, Ortelius published multiple editions of the work throughout his life – and his family continued to publish further editions until 1641 – 43 years after Ortelius’s death.It is the first example of a collection of maps in which the maps are organised in a particularly logical fashion – for instance with maps corresponding to a particular continent or area appearing together.As a collection of maps, it is the first which aims to comprehensively cover the entire known world.It is the first collection of maps which are technically consistent with one another.There are several ways in which Ortelius’s atlas has high historical significance: He cites thirty-three cartographers from all over Europe in the atlas and makes reference to more than fifty contemporary geographers as well. This is not to say that it contained the first world map in fact, Ortelius relied heavily on the work of other cartographers and geographers in order to produce his atlas. The Theatrum Orbis Terrarum, created by Ortelius, was the first world atlas ever published.

At the time, Mercator was the most renowned geographer of his day, primarily due to the publication of his world map in 1569 which was revolutionary in its nature as a map to enable navigation of the world’s oceans. Chief among these relationships was his friendship with Gerardus Mercator. As part of these travels, he formed strong contacts with other European cartographers who influenced his career path away from engraving and towards scientific cartography. Ortelius travelled extensively within Europe, with recorded visits to the Seventeen Provinces (now the Netherlands, Belgium, Northern France and Luxembourg), France, Germany, Italy, Ireland and the UK. Abraham Ortelius, 1579, Wikimedia Commons It is fitting that his interests covered not only the revolutions in the scientific geography of which he was a primary innovator but also historical geography: his early works include detailed maps of ancient Egypt and the Roman Empire. Interestingly, Ortelius may also be the first person in history to have formally presented the basic theory of continental drift in his discussion of the ‘matching’ coastlines of Africa, Europe, and South America. Over his lifetime he worked as an engraver, geographer, cartographer and book trader but he is most well known as the creator of the first world atlas – the first edition of which was published in 1570. Abraham Ortelius (1527-1598)įrom Antwerp, Brussels, Ortelius was part of the world-renowned Dutch-Flemish school of cartographers. These were the first attempts at mapping the known world in its entirety which demonstrate a balance between striving for accurate cartography and presenting the wondrous elements of the distant world. In St John’s College Library’s Special Collections there are four copies of Ortelius’s world atlases.