Abraham Ortelius

Abraham Ortelius (1527–1598) was a Flemish cartographer, geographer, and publisher, celebrated as the creator of the first modern atlas, Theatrum Orbis Terrarum (Theatre of the World), published in Antwerp in 1570. Born in the city of Antwerp, then one of Europe’s great centers of trade and printing, Ortelius began his career as an illuminator and map colorist before developing an interest in geography and historical cartography. Drawing on the work of dozens of leading mapmakers of his time, he compiled and standardized their information into a unified, coherent format—an unprecedented achievement that effectively founded the modern concept of the atlas.

The Theatrum Orbis Terrarum consisted of 53 maps in its first edition and eventually expanded through numerous editions and translations to include over 160 plates, becoming one of the most influential books of the late Renaissance. Ortelius’s scholarly curiosity extended beyond geography—he explored historical and linguistic connections between peoples and continents, anticipating later ideas about continental drift in his Thesaurus Geographicus. A close friend of Gerardus Mercator, Ortelius combined scientific rigor with the aesthetic grace of Flemish engraving, commissioning plates from the finest Antwerp engravers of his day. He died in 1598, leaving behind a legacy that shaped the course of cartography for centuries and established Antwerp as a center of early modern mapmaking.