Abraham Ortelius, inventor of the atlas 448 years ago.

Abraham Ortelius, inventor of the atlas 448 years ago

Abraham Ortelius, inventor of the atlas 448 years ago.

This Sunday, Google pays tribute to the Belgian cartographer Abraham Ortelius, who published in 1570 "The Theater of the World", a book composed of 53 cards.

Abraham Ortelius is the inventor of the first atlas, which he created 448 years ago by grouping maps in one format. Born April 14, 1527 in Antwerp, Belgium, he died in the same city, at the age of 71, on June 28, 1598. He was one of the first to speculate on continental drift.

Abraham Ortelius, inventor of the atlas 448 years ago.

Skilful child, he spoke Dutch, Greek, Latin, Italian, French, Spanish, and had bases in German and English. Growing up, Abraham and his sisters became "kaartafzetters", that is, they specialized in coloring illustrations and maps. During his life, he produced maps representing the world, but also other countries or continents such as Egypt, Europe, Spain or Asia, and even the Roman Empire.

Abraham Ortelius, inventor of the atlas 448 years ago.

The first atlas invented by Abraham Ortelius was printed in 1570 and was entitled Theatrum Orbis Terrarum: The Theater of the World. 53 cards composed the work, but the most famous remained that of the world: "Typus Orbis Terrarum". If it contains inaccuracies, its impact was gigantic because, for the first time, it represented the globe with the latest data on the size and shape of the continents. In places, it was also adorned with sea monsters. At that time, the cards decorated with fantastic animals were selling much better than the others, explains Google.

Source: Huffingtonpost