Atlas
The Oxford Companion to Ships and the Sea
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2006
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© The Oxford Companion to Ships and the Sea 2006, originally published by Oxford University Press 2006. (Hide copyright information)
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Atlas, in Greek mythology a brother of Prometheus who was originally a marine god before Perseus showed him the Gorgon's head and turned him into a rock mountain supporting the heavens. A mythical god, or Titan, he gave his name to the Atlas Mountains at the western end of the Mediterranean and also to the Atlantic Ocean. In the
Odyssey (1. 52) Homer describes him as ‘one who knows the depths of the whole sea, and keeps the tall pillars which hold heaven and earth asunder’. In his famous book of maps, the inventor of the
Mercator projection, Gerardus Mercator, used a picture of Atlas supporting the heavens as a frontispiece, and this use has led to the term ‘atlas’ being used to describe a volume of maps.
See also
chartmaking.
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Gerardus Mercator (1512-94): known as the prince of modern geographers, Mercator was the first to use the term `atlas' and was the cream of the cartographic crop in an age of geographical discovery. (Late great geographers).(Brief Article)
Magazine article from: Geographical; 8/1/2002; 700+ words
; ...How did Gerard Kramer become Mercator? At 18, and with both parents...learning. Gerard's choice of Mercator stemmed from his surname--Kremer...His full name was now the lofty Gerardus Mercator de Rupelmonde. At the time, however...
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Keeping cartography in the family: single-sheet map of Europe by Gerardus Mercator and son, 1590s.(Map Of The Month)(Brief Article)
Magazine article from: Geographical; 5/1/2004; 700+ words
; ...the work of the famed cartographer Gerard Mercator (1512-94). On his death, Mercator had left unfinished the modern atlas, Geographia...of Europe. In 1604, the copper plates of Mercator's atlas passed to Jodocus Hondius in Amsterdam...
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Commercial brokerage launches new course.(company named according to Gerardus Mercator)(Brief article)
Magazine article from: Best's Review; 6/1/2006; ; 638 words
; ...is a company named after Flemish cartographer Gerardus Mercator. New York-based Mercator Risk Services, led by Chief Executive Officer...built around specialization and customer service Mercator's strategy has gained the approval of some...
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MERCATOR'S PROJECTION, DISCOVERY OF COMPLEX LOXODROMIC CURVE TO BE DISCUSSED AT LIBRARY OF CONGRESS JULY 29
News Wire article from: US Fed News Service, Including US State News; 7/25/2009; 588 words
; ...Determination of Things Difficult: Mercator's Projection and the Discovery...series. According to Hessler, the Mercator projection changed forever how...Flemish geographer and cartographer Gerardus Mercator invented the projection for his...
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The Mercator Projection.(Poem)
Magazine article from: TriQuarterly; 10/1/2002; ; 700+ words
; The Mercator Projection The italic hand commended...elegance. R. A. Skelton, foreword to Mercator: A monograph on the lettering of maps...undetectable rises of hills. In 1569 Gerardus Mercator unwrapped the skin of the world from...
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GIVE IT BACK, MERCATOR MISLEADS
Newspaper article from: The ; 3/2/2001; ; 700+ words
; ...cuts." Elizabeth Hovde, for the editorial board MERCATOR MISLEADS Entirely contrary to the maps hanging on...segment. The villain of the dramatic subtext was Gerardus Mercator, a German cartographer who produced his flat version...
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The World According to Maps
Newspaper article from: The Washington Post; 11/16/1987; ; 700+ words
; ...northern perspective. The maps most of us see are based on the Mercator projection world map, developed by Flemish cartographer Gerardus Mercator in the 16th century. Mercator's map was a breakthrough during his age of seagoing world explorers...
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Pinpointing the global map trap Geography professor flat-out teaches different perspectives
Newspaper article from: The Pantagraph Bloomington, IL; 1/31/2005; ; 700+ words
; ...shaped not only into rectangles like the Mercator projection but also into circles and ovals...our perspectives." Take the well-known Mercator projection map, for example. Gerardus Mercator first published his projection in 1569...
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 "The Economist (US)")
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Maps and Politics.
Magazine article from: The Economist (US); 11/15/1997; 700+ words
; ...brightest map-maker of them all: Gerardus Mercator. After a series of unseemly tussles...according to Mr Brotton, enshrined in Mercator's famous projection, which marginalises...left-hand corner of the world. Mercator, notes Mr Brotton, darkly, was...
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A Walk in the Woods.
Magazine article from: The Economist (US); 11/15/1997; 700+ words
; ...brightest map-maker of them all: Gerardus Mercator. After a series of unseemly tussles...according to Mr Brotton, enshrined in Mercator's famous projection, which marginalises...left-hand corner of the world. Mercator, notes Mr Brotton, darkly, was...
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Mercator, Gerardus (or Gerhard Kremer)
Dictionary entry from: Complete Dictionary of Scientific Biography
MERCATOR, GERARDUS (OR GERHARD KREMER) ( b . Rupelmonde...Germany, 2 December 1594) geography . Mercator ’ s family name was Kremer...first map — of Palestine. Mercator was a man of many talents, well versed...
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Mercator, Gerardus (1512–1594)
Book article from: The Renaissance
Mercator, Gerardus (1512 – 1594) A Flemish cartographer...the spherical earth, the “ Mercator projection, ” which has become...philosophy with Christian doctrine, Mercator studied mathematics, philosophy, geography...
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Gerardus Mercator
Book article from: The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition
Gerardus Mercator , Latin form of Gerhard Kremer , 1512...numerous other areas of the world, the Mercator projection has been more generally used...for navigators' world maps. In 1585, Mercator began a work (for which he coined the...
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Mercator, Gerardus
Book article from: World Encyclopedia
Mercator, Gerardus (1512–94) Flemish cartographer. His huge world map of 1569 employed the system of projection now named after him, in which lines of longitude, as well as latitude, appear as straight, parallel lines.
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Mercator projection
Book article from: The Oxford Dictionary of Phrase and Fable
Mercator projection a projection of a map of the world on to a cylinder in such...as the equator, invented by the Flemish geographer and cartographer Gerardus Mercator (1512–94). It was first published in 1569 and used especially...
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