Abraham Ortelius

1527-1598

Book dealer and cartographer

Sources

Beginnings. Abraham Ortelius, or Oertel, was born in Antwerp on 14 April 1527 to an affluent Flemish merchant family. Little is known about his early life; apparently he had no university training. In 1547 Ortelius entered the guild of St. Luke as an illuminator of maps, and seven years later he and his sister established a prosperous book and antiquary business. Ortelius corresponded with many learned men, including the French printer Christophe Plantin and the Flemish humanist Justus Lipsius.

Mapping the World. Some historians consider Ortelius to be second only to Gerhardus Mercator as the leading cartographer of the period, although he was actually more of a map collector who edited other people's work. Ortelius and Mercator developed a close friendship between 1559 and 1560 when the two traveled through Lorraine and Poitou in France. After receiving encouragement from Mercator, Ortelius in 1564 produced his first world map. (It showed the St. Lawrence River in North America as a gateway to the Pacific Ocean.) Over the next six years he published maps of Egypt, Asia, and Spain.

Famous Atlas. In 1570 Ortelius produced his most famous work, Theatrum orbis terrarum (Epitome of the Theater of the Worlde). A compilation of all the geographical research undertaken up to that point, the Theatrum orbis terrarum is considered by many scholars to be the first modern world atlas. Ortelius scrupulously credited eighty-seven other mapmakers for their work (an unusual attribute for a cartographer in the sixteenth century) and dedicated the atlas to Philip II of Spain. By 1612 it had been published in forty-two editions and translated into seven languages.

Royal Favorite. The exploration and colonization efforts of maritime powers during the 1500s dictated the need for the type of atlas produced by Ortelius, and he quickly became renowned throughout European scientific and government circles. In 1575 he received an appointment as the royal cosmographer to the court of King Philip II. The substantial income from this position in turn allowed him to travel extensively and make collections. In 1577 he journeyed to England and conferred with John Dee, Richard Hakluyt, and other British geographers. He spent his later life collecting insects, plants, and ancient coins. Ortelius died in Antwerp on 4 July 1598.

Sources

Marcel P. R. van den Broecke, Ortelius Atlas Maps: An Illustrated Guide (Houten, Netherlands: HES, 1996).

Cornelius Koeman, The History of Abraham Ortelius and His Theatrum orbis terrarum (New York: American Elsevier, 1964).