Abraham Ortelius
Back to people overviewAbraham Ortelius was one of the key proponents of the Golden Age of Netherlandish (Dutch and Flemish) cartography.
He was the creator of the first modern atlas and was instrumental in producing the theory of continental drift. In his early years, Ortelius established himself as a map illuminator and salesman in Antwerp. In 1554 he began travelling with fellow geographer, Gerard Mercator.
As a successful publisher, he fostered a network of influential contacts. His greatest work, the ‘Theatrum Orbis Terrarum’, appeared in 1570, marking the beginning of a new epoch in the history of cartography. Considered the first modern atlas, the book is made up of a uniformly sized and systematically curated collection of maps. The first edition included fifty-three maps, but over a monumental forty-two editions this increased to over one hundred and sixty
