Origins & Early Life

Gerardus Mercator (; 5 March 1512 – 2 December 1594) was a Flemish geographer, cosmographer and cartographer. He is most renowned for creating the 1569 world map based on a new projection which represented sailing courses of constant bearing (rhumb lines) as straight lines—an innovation that is still employed in nautical charts. Mercator was a notable maker of globes and scientific instruments. In addition, he had interests in theology, philosophy, history, mathematics, and geomagnetism.

Pivotal Works & Achievements

He was also an accomplished engraver and calligrapher. Unlike other great scholars of the age, he travelled little and his knowledge of geography came from his library of over a thousand books and maps, from his visitors and from his vast correspondence (in six languages) with other scholars, statesmen, travellers, merchants and seamen. Mercator's early maps were in large formats suitable for wall mounting but in the second half of his life, he produced over 100 new regional maps in a smaller format suitable for binding into his Atlas of 1595. This was the first appearance of the word "atlas" in connection with maps, but Mercator did not intend the word to mean a collection of maps; it was a neologism...

Enduring Legacy & Impact

The historical impact and works continue to influence the modern world.

Contemporary Figures & Related Historical Timelines

• Amerigo Vespucci — Contemporary (Died in 1512) (1512): Italian explorer whose voyages led to the naming of the Americas.
• Bayezid II — Contemporary (Died in 1512) (1512): Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, known for consolidating power and resettling Sephardi Jews.
• Hatuey — Contemporary (Died in 1512) (1512): Taíno Cacique of Guanaba, famed for early resistance against Spanish conquest in the New World.
• Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina — Contemporary (Died in 1594) (1594): Master of the Roman School, defining late Renaissance polyphony.
• Gustavus Adolphus — Contemporary (Born in 1594) (1594): King of Sweden and pivotal military leader during the Thirty Years' War.
• Martin Frobisher — Contemporary (Died in 1594) (1594): English sea captain and privateer known for searching for the North-west Passage.
• Alessandro Volta — Shared historical date (03-05 · Died) (1827): Pioneering Italian physicist, credited with the electric battery and electrochemistry.
• Allan Nevins — Shared historical date (03-05 · Died) (1971): Pioneering American historian known for Civil War studies and business history.
• Aaron Copland — Shared historical date (12-02 · Died) (1990): Pioneering American composer, conductor, and critic, known as the "Dean of American Music".
• Alicia Markova — Shared historical date (12-02 · Died) (2004): Pioneering British ballerina, choreographer, and founder of major ballet institutions.
• 1512 Historical Timeline & Archive — Explore world events and figures from 1512
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• 1594 Historical Timeline & Archive — Explore world events and figures from 1594
• December 2 (12-02) On This Day — Historical events and memorials on December 2