Gerard Mercator was a cartographer, instrument maker and engraver from the Earldom of Flanders. Even during his lifetime, he was considered the Ptolemy (Greek astronomer and geographer) of his time. He was the first to apply angular map projection, later named “mercator projection” after him.
Mercator saw himself much more as a scientific cosmographer than as someone who had to make a living by making and selling maps. His production remained limited. He is known for a globepaar, about five wall maps and an unfinished cosmography. In addition, he introduced the word atlas. At the time, this word included all maps of the cosmos; that is, of both the universe and the earth. His products were influential for later commercial mapmakers in the Low Countries.
- image: copper engraving of Gelderland and Overijssel mapped by Gerard Mercator and published by Jodocus Hondius in a French edition of Atlas Sive Cosmographicae at Amsterdam
- year: 1595
- quality: excellent
- signed: printed in plate
- image size: 36.3 x 47.3 cm | 14.4 x 18.6 in (h x w)
- sheet or frame size: 55.9 x 66.7 cm | 22 x 26.3 in (h x w)
