AD 1569 · 16th century · Duisburg

Mercator Projection

Gerardus Mercator

Rhumb lines made straight - navigation bought with area.

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Catalogue record

Cartographer Gerardus Mercator
Record stands for A projection or reconstruction, not an artefact

Open questions

Looked at and unresolved. Listed so the gap reads as a question somebody asked rather than a field nobody reached.

edition
The year given is that of the Nova et Aucta wall map, but this record describes the projection rather than that object. Whether the catalogue should also carry the wall map as its own record is undecided. An editorial decision, and if the wall map is added, a chosen impression among the few that survive.

Related essays

Bibliography

  • Snyder, John P. Flattening the Earth: Two Thousand Years of Map Projections. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1993.
  • Brotton, Jerry. A History of the World in Twelve Maps. London: Allen Lane, 2012.

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