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Abraham Ortelius

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Abraham Ortelius
Ortelius byPeter Paul Rubens,1633, after a 1570s engraving byPhilip Galle
Born4 or 14 April 1527
Antwerp,Habsburg Netherlands
Died28 June 1598(1598-06-28)(aged 71)
Antwerp,Spanish Netherlands
NationalitySpanish Netherlands
Occupation(s)Geographer,cartographer
Known forCreator of the firstmodern atlas;proposing the idea ofcontinental drift
Signature

Abraham Ortelius(/ɔːrˈtiːliəs/;alsoOrtels,Orthellius,Wortels;4 or 14 April 1527 – 28 June 1598) was acartographer,geographer,andcosmographerfrom Antwerp in theSpanish Netherlands.He is recognized as the creator of thefirst modern atlas,theTheatrum Orbis Terrarum(Theatre of the World). Along withGemma FrisiusandGerardus Mercator,Ortelius is generally considered one of the founders of theNetherlandish school of cartography and geography.He was a notable figure of this school in its golden age (approximately 1570s–1670s) and an important geographer of Spain during the age of discovery. The publication of hisatlasin 1570 is often considered as the official beginning of theGolden Age of Netherlandish cartography.He was the first person proposing that the continents were joined beforedriftingto their present positions.[1]

Life[edit]

Abraham Ortelius was born on either 4 April or 14 April 1527 in the city ofAntwerp,which was then in theSpanish Netherlands.The Ortels or Wortels (latinized as Orthellius and Ortelius) family was originally fromAugsburg,aFree imperial cityof theHoly Roman Empire.Abraham's grandfather, Willem Ortels, was a pharmacist. He had moved in 1460 to Antwerp where he married Mathilde 's Jagers, alias Reynaerts. They had five children: Imbert who inherited his father's pharmacy, Anna, Odille (or Ottilia of Odilia), who married Nicolaes van der Voorden, a merchant in Brussels, and, in her second marriage,Jacobus van Meterenfrom Breda, who was a Protestant and supervised the printing of English versions of the bible in England, Leonard (born in 1500 and father of Abraham Ortelius) and Josef. From his second marriage with Maria Antheard a son called Willem was born. The family lived in the Kipdorp street in Antwerp and was fairly well off. Leonard Ortelius married Anna Herwayers and they had three children, Abraham, Anna who would stay on her brother's side and Elisabeth who married a trader named Jacob Cool Sr., whose son Jacob Cool Jr. (known as Ortelianus) would be the principal heir of Abraham Ortelius.[2]

Leonard Ortelius was well educated. He spoke Greek and Latin, and worked with his brother-in-law Jacob van Meteren on the translation of Miles Coverdale's English Bible. In 1535, they were both prosecuted for possessing suspicious books. Searches turned up nothing and the case was subsequently dismissed. Leonard Ortelius was a successful antique dealer. Following the death of his father, Abraham Ortelius' uncleJacobus van Meterenreturned from exile in England to take care of him. Abraham remained close to his cousinEmanuel van Meteren,who would later move toLondon.[3]In 1575 Abraham was appointed geographer to the king of Spain,Philip II,on the recommendation ofArias Montanus,who vouched for his orthodoxy.[4][5]

He traveled extensively inEuropeand is specifically known to have traveled throughout theHabsburg Netherlands;in southern, western, northern, and eastern Germany (e.g., 1560, 1575–1576); France (1559–1560); England andIreland(1576); andItaly(1578, and perhaps two or three times between 1550 and 1558).[4]

Beginning as a map-engraver, in 1547 he entered the AntwerpGuild of Saint Lukeas anilluminator of maps.He supplemented his income trading in books, prints, and maps, and his journeys included annual visits to theFrankfurt book and print fair,where he metGerardus Mercatorin 1554.[3]In 1560, however, when travelling with Mercator toTrier,Lorraine,andPoitiers,he seems to have been attracted, largely by Mercator's influence, towards the career of a scientific geographer.[4]He died in Antwerp.

Map publisher[edit]

1570Typus Orbis Terrarum

In 1564, he published his first map,Typus Orbis Terrarum,an eight-leaved wall map of the world, on which he identified theRegio PataliswithLocachas a northward extension of theTerra Australis,reaching as far asNew Guinea.[3][6]This map subsequently appeared in reduced form in theTerrarum(the only extant copy is in now atBasel University Library).[7]He also published a two-sheet map ofEgyptin 1565, a plan of theBrittenburgcastle on the coast of theNetherlandsin 1568, an eight-sheet map ofAsiain 1567, and a six-sheet map of Spain before the appearance of his atlas.[4]

In England Ortelius's contacts includedWilliam Camden,Richard Hakluyt,Thomas Penny,PuritancontroversialistWilliam Charke,andHumphrey Llwyd,who would contribute the map ofEngland and Walesto Ortelius's 1573 edition of theTheatrum.[3]

In 1578, he laid the basis of a critical treatment of ancient geography by hisSynonymia geographica(issued by thePlantin Pressat Antwerp[4]and republished in expanded form asThesaurus geographicusin 1587 and again expanded in 1596; in the last edition, Ortelius considers the possibility ofcontinental drift,a hypothesis that would be proved correct only centuries later).

In 1596, he received a presentation from Antwerp, similar to that afterwards bestowed onPeter Paul Rubens.His death on 28 June 1598 and his burial in the church ofSt. Michael's Abbey, Antwerp,were marked by public mourning.[4]The inscription on histombstonereads:Quietis cultor sine lite, uxore, prole( "served quietly, without accusation, wife, and offspring" ).[8]

Theatrum Orbis Terrarum[edit]

Main article:Theatrum Orbis Terrarum
Map of thePersian Empirefrom theTheatrum Orbis Terrarum

On 20 May 1570, Gilles Coppens de Diest at Antwerp issued Ortelius'sTheatrum Orbis Terrarum,the "first modern atlas" (of 53 maps).[9][Note 1]ThreeLatineditions of this (besides aDutch,aFrench,and aGermanedition) appeared before the end of 1572; twenty-five editions came out before Ortelius's death in 1598; and several others were published subsequently, for the atlas continued to be in demand until about 1612. Most of the maps were admittedly reproductions (a list of 87 authors is given in the firstTheatrumby Ortelius himself, growing to 183 names in the 1601 Latin edition), and many discrepancies of delineation or nomenclature occur. Errors, of course, abound, both in general conceptions and in detail; thusSouth Americais initially very faulty in outline, but corrected in the 1587Frenchedition, and inScotland,theGrampianslie between theForthand theClyde;but, taken as a whole, this atlas with its accompanying text was a monument of rare erudition and industry. Its immediate precursor and prototype was a collection of thirty-eight maps of European lands, and ofAsia,Africa,Tartary,andEgypt,gathered together by the wealth and enterprise, and through the agents, of Ortelius's friend and patron,Gillis Hooftman(1521–1581),[11]lord of Cleydael and Aertselaar: most of these were printed inRome,eight or nine only in the Southern Netherlands.[4]

Map ofFlandersfrom theTheatrum orbis terrarum,1574,The Phoebus Foundation

In 1573, Ortelius published seventeen supplementary maps under the titleAdditamentum Theatri Orbis Terrarum.[4]Four more Additamenta were to follow, the last one appearing in 1597. He also had a keen interest in and formed a fine collection ofcoins,medalsandantiques,and this resulted in the book (also in 1573, published by Philippe Galle of Antwerp)Deorum dearumque capita... ex Museo Ortelii( "Heads of the gods and goddesses... from the Ortelius Museum" ); reprinted in 1582, 1602, 1612, 1680, 1683 and finally in 1699 by Gronovius,Thesaurus Graecarum Antiquitatum( "Treasury of Greek Antiquities", vol. vii).[12]

TheTheatrum Orbis Terraruminspired a six-volume work titledCivitates orbis terrarum,edited byGeorg Braunand illustrated byFrans Hogenbergwith the assistance of Ortelius himself, who visited England to see his friendJohn Deein Mortlake in 1577,[13]and Braun tells of Ortelius putting pebbles in cracks in Temple Church, Bristol, being crushed by the vibration of the bells.[14]

Later maps[edit]

Maris Pacifici

In 1579, Ortelius brought out hisNomenclator Ptolemaicusand started hisParergon(a series of maps illustrating ancient history,sacredand secular). He also publishedItinerarium per nonnullas Galliae Belgicae partes(at the Plantin press in 1584, and reprinted in 1630, 1661 in Hegenitius, Itin. Frisio-Hoil., in 1667 by Verbiest, and finally in 1757 in Leuven), a record of a journey inBelgiumand theRhinelandmade in 1575. In 1589 he publishedMaris Pacifici,the first dedicated map of thePacificto be printed.[15]Among his last works were an edition of Caesar (C. I. Caesaris omnia quae extant,Leiden, Raphelingen, 1593), and theAurei saeculi imago, sive Germanorum veterum vita, mores, ritus et religio.(Philippe Galle, Antwerp, 1596). He also aided Welser in his edition of thePeutinger Tablein 1598.[4]

Contrary to popular belief, Abraham Ortelius, who had no children, never lived at theMercator-Orteliushuis(Kloosterstraat 11–17, Antwerpen), but lived at his sister's house (Kloosterstraat 33–35, Antwerpen).[16]

Modern use of maps[edit]

Originals of Ortelius's maps are popular collectors' items and often sell for tens of thousands of dollars.Facsimilesof his maps are also available from many retailers. A map he made of North and South America is also included in the world's largest commercially availablejigsaw puzzle,which is of four world maps.[17]This puzzle is made byRavensburger,measures 6 feet (1.8 m) × 9 feet (2.7 m), and has over 18,000 pieces.

Imagining continental drift[edit]

Ortelius was the first to underline the geometrical similarity between the coasts of America and Europe-Africa and to proposecontinental driftas an explanation. Kious described Ortelius's thoughts in this way:[18]

Abraham Ortelius in his workThesaurus Geographicus…suggested that the Americas were "torn away from Europe and Africa… by earthquakes and floods" and went on to say: "The vestiges of the rupture reveal themselves, if someone brings forward a map of the world and considers carefully the coasts of the three [continents]."

Ortelius's observations of continental juxtaposition and his proposal of rupture and separation went unnoticed until the late 20th century. However, they were repeated in the 18th and 19th centuries (for example,Antonio Snider-Pellegrini) and later byAlfred Wegener,who published his hypothesis ofcontinental driftin 1912 and in following years.[19]Because his publications were widely available in German and English and because he adduced geological support for the idea, Wegener is credited by most geologists as the first to recognize the possibility of continental drift.[20]Frank Bursley Taylor(in 1908) was also an early advocate of continental drift. During the 1960s geophysical and geological evidence forseafloor spreadingatmid-oceanic ridgesbecame increasingly compelling to geologists (e.g.Harry H. Hess,1960) and finally established continental drift as an ongoing global mechanism (e.g. by the work ofW. Jason Morganby 1967 andDan McKenziein 1968). After more than three centuries, Ortelius's supposition of continental drift was proven correct.[21]

Bibliography[edit]

Theatrum Orbis Terrarum,1609
  • Ortelius, Abraham (1603).Nomenclator ptolemaicus(in Latin). Antwerpen: Robert Bruneau.
  • Ortelius, Abraham (1609).Theatrum orbis terrarum(in Latin). Antwerpen: Jean Baptiste Vrints.
  • Abraham Ortelius,Theatrum Orbis Terrarum.Gedruckt zu Nuermberg durch Johann Koler Anno MDLXXII. Mit einer Einführung und Erläuterungen von Ute Schneider.Second unchanged edition (2. unveränd. Aufl). Darmstadt, Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, 2007.

Notes[edit]

  1. ^The first work that contained systematically arranged maps of uniform size, intended to be published in a book, thus representing the first modern atlas, wasDe Summa totius Orbis(1524–26) by the 16th-century Italian cartographerPietro Coppo.Nonetheless, this distinction is conventionally awarded to Abraham Ortelius.[10]

References[edit]

Iceland, c. 1590
Brittenburg-Ortelius-1581
1584 map of Greece by Abraham Ortelius
  1. ^Romm, James (3 February 1994). "A New Forerunner for Continental Drift".Nature.367(6462): 407–408.Bibcode:1994Natur.367..407R.doi:10.1038/367407a0.S2CID4281585.
  2. ^Wouter Dirk Verduyn,Emanuel van Meteren,The Hague, Martinus Nijhoff, 1926, pp. 4–5
  3. ^abcdDepuydt, Joost. "Ortelius, Abraham (1527–1598)".Oxford Dictionary of National Biography(online ed.). Oxford University Press.doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/20854.(Subscription orUK public library membershiprequired.)
  4. ^abcdefghiOne or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain:Beazley, Charles Raymond(1911). "Ortelius, Abraham".InChisholm, Hugh(ed.).Encyclopædia Britannica.Vol. 20 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 331–332.
  5. ^Pedersen, Olaf (2008)."ORTELIUS (OR OERTEL), ABRAHAM".Complete Dictionary of Scientific Biography.Charles Scribner's Sons – via Encyclopedia.com.
  6. ^Peter Barber, "Ortelius' great world map", National Library of Australia,Mapping our World: Terra Incognita to Australia,Canberra, National Library of Australia, 2013, p.95.
  7. ^cf. Bernoulli,Ein Karteninkunabelnband,Basle, 1905, p. 5.NOVA TOTIUS TERRARUM ORBIS IUXTA NEOTERICORUM TRADITIONES DESCRIPTIOand[1]
  8. ^One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain:Fischer, Joseph (1911). "Abraham Ortelius".In Herbermann, Charles (ed.).Catholic Encyclopedia.Vol. 11. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
  9. ^"Map, Indiae Orientalis Insularumque Adjacentium Typus".Virtual Collection of Asian Masterpieces.Retrieved20 May2019.
  10. ^Mercator, Gerardu; Karrow, Robert W. Jr.Atlas sive Cosmographicæ Meditationes de Fabrica Mundi et Fabricati Figura(PDF).Library of Congress. p. 2. Archived fromthe original(PDF)on 10 March 2016.
  11. ^Derde, Katrien."Gillis Hooftman: Businessman and Patron".KU Leuven.Retrieved11 October2023.
  12. ^Broecke, M. P. R. van den; Krogt, P. C. J. van der; Meurer, Peter H. (1998).Abraham Ortelius and the first atlas: essays commemorating the quadricentennial of his death, 1598–1998.HES. p. 66.ISBN9789061943884.
  13. ^French, Peter J. (2013).John Dee: The World of the Elizabethan Magus.Routledge. p. 62.ISBN9781134572274.
  14. ^Chatterton, Thomas (1888).Thomas Chatterton and the Vicar of Temple Church, Bristol [A.D., 1768–1770]: The Poet's Account of the "Knightes Templaries Chyrche.".W. George's Sons. p. 11.
  15. ^Map Mogul – Antique Maps & Prints – Ortelius, Abraham SOLD Maris Pacifici
  16. ^"Het Mercator-Orteliushuis te Antwerpen".Archived fromthe originalon 4 March 2016.Retrieved25 March2013.
  17. ^"JigsawGallery.com's World Map – The Worlds Largest Puzzle".Archived fromthe originalon 12 April 2007.Retrieved21 May2009.
  18. ^Kious, W.J.; Tilling, R.I. (2001) [1996]."Historical perspective".This Dynamic Earth: the Story of Plate Tectonics(Online ed.). U.S. Geological Survey.ISBN0-16-048220-8.Retrieved29 January2008.;Ortelius,Thesaurus Geographicus(Antwerp, (Belgium): Officina Plantiniana [Plantin Press] 1596),entry: "Gadiricus"
  19. ^Wegener, Alfred (July 1912); Wegener, Alfred (1966)
  20. ^McIntyre, Michael; Eilers, H. Peter; Mairs, John (1991).Physical geography.New York: Wiley. p.273.ISBN0-471-62017-3.
  21. ^"Historical perspective".This Dynamic Earth.USGS.

Sources[edit]

  • Binding, Paul (2003).Imagined Corners: exploring the world's first atlas.London: Review Books.ISBN0747230404.
  • Depuydt, Joost (2004). "Ortelius, Abraham (1527–1598)".Oxford Dictionary of National Biography(online ed.). Oxford University Press.doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/20854.(Subscription orUK public library membershiprequired.)
  • Génard, P. (1880). "La généalogie du géographe Abraham Ortelius".Bulletin de la Société royale de Géographie d'Anvers.5:312–49.
  • Hess, H. H. (1960). "Nature of great oceanic ridges".Preprints of the First International Oceanographic Congress (New York, August 31 – September 12, 1959.Washington: American Association for the Advancement of Science. (A). pp. 33–34.
  • Hessels, J. H., ed. (1887).Abrahami Ortelii epistulae.Ecclesiae Londino-Batavae archivvm. Vol. 1. Cambridge.{{cite book}}:CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)(an edition of Ortelius's letters)
  • Karrow, Robert J. Jr. (1993).Mapmakers of the Sixteenth Century and their Maps: bio-bibliographies of the cartographers of Abraham Ortelius, 1570.Chicago: Speculum Orbis Press.ISBN0932757057.
  • Koeman, C. (1964).The History of Abraham Ortelius and his Theatrum Orbis Terrarum.Lausanne: Sequoia.
  • Rooses, Max (1880). "Ortelius et Plantin: note communiqué à M. P. Genard".Bulletin de la Société royale de géographie d'Anvers.5:350–356.
  • van den Broecke, Marcel (2011) [1996].Ortelius Atlas Maps: an illustrated guide(2nd ed.). Houten: HeS & De Graaf.ISBN9789061943808.
  • van den Broecke, Marcel; van der Krogt, Peter; Meurer, Peter, eds. (1998).Abraham Ortelius and the First Atlas: essays commemorating the quadricentennial of his death, 1598–1998.Houten: HeS Publishers.ISBN9789061943884.
  • van Meteren, Emanuel(1670).Historia Belgica.Amsterdam.
  • Wauwermans, H. E. (1895).Histoire de l'école cartographique belge et anversoise du XVe siècle.Vol. 2. Brussels: Institute nationale de géographie. pp. 109–61, 452–59.
  • Wauwermans, H. E. (1901). "Abraham Ortels ou Wortels, dit Ortelius, géographe et antiquaire".Biographie Nationale de Belgique.Vol. 16. Brussels. pp. 291–332.{{cite book}}:CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  • Wegener, Alfred (July 1912). "Die Entstehung der Kontinente".Geologische Rundschau.3(4): 276–92.Bibcode:1912GeoRu...3..276W.doi:10.1007/BF02202896.S2CID129316588.
  • Wegener, Alfred (1966).The Origin of Continents and Oceans.Translated by Biram, John. New York: Dover.ISBN0-486-61708-4.(Translated from the fourth revised German edition.)
  • Wehrenberg, Charles (2001) [1995].Before New York.San Francisco: Solo Zone.ISBN1-886163-16-2.

Further reading[edit]

  • Meganck, Tine Luk (2017).Erudite Eyes: friendship, art and erudition in the network of Abraham Ortelius (1527–1598).Boston: Brill.ISBN978-9-004-34167-8.

See also[edit]

External links[edit]

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