Google Doodle celebrates Abraham Ortelius, inventor of the first modern-day atlas

Theatrum Orbis Terrarum was published on this day

May 20, 2018 10:09 am | Updated 10:10 am IST

Doodle: Abraham Ortelius and atlas

Doodle: Abraham Ortelius and atlas

On this day in 1570, the world's first modern-day atlas, called Theatrum Orbis Terrarum (Theatre of the World), was published. Google celebrated this day and its creator, Abraham Ortelius, with a doodle on Sunday.

Ortelius, a Flemish cartographer, is believed to be one of the first persons to imagine the theory of continental drift - that continents were joined together before drifting apart to their present day positions. Born in Antwerp in 1527, Ortelius started working as a map engraver. He travelled extensively across Europe. In 1564 he published his first map, Typus Orbis Terrarum , an eight-leaved wall map of the world.

While aggregating his maps, Ortelius collected information from scientists, cartographers and geographers from across the world. He made it a point to add sources and names to the creators of the original maps.

The first edition of Theatrum Orbis Terrarum contained 53 maps. Till his death in 1598, 25 editions of the map had come out. The last edition of the atlas came out in 1612. The atlasappeared in Latin and was translated into Dutch, German, French, Spanish, and English.

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.