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| Abraham Ortelius (1527–1598) | ||||||||||
| Next to Gerardus Mercator, Abraham Ortelius was arguably the most significant geographer of his period. Born in Antwerp to German parents, Ortelius was a well-educated man who travelled widely across Western Europe. He began as a map engraver, but his main profession was as a merchant, and most of his early trips were for business, including yearly visits to the Frankfort fair where he met Mercator. A 1560 trip with Mercator sparked his interest in a career as a scientific geographer. He finished his first world map in 1564. In 1570, his ground-breaking work, the Theatrum Orbis Terrarum, was published at Antwerp. The first modern atlas, it was an instant commercial success, with twenty-five editions released by his death in 1598. Many of the maps were reproductions with inconsistencies and errors, yet the atlas stands as a monument to exceptional scholarship. Its direct forerunner was a collection of thirty-eight maps assembled by his friend, Gilles Hooftman. In 1575, Ortelius was appointed geographer to King Philip II of Spain. He went on to publish several other works and assisted with an edition of a historic table in 1598. He received an award from Antwerp in 1596, and his death was marked by public mourning. | ||||||||||
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