Abraham Ortelius - A visionary from Antwerp

The Ortels Family

The Ortels family had a rich history of scientists and scholars. They lived in Kipdorp and were fairly well off. Abraham's passion clearly directed him to grasping the whole from a practical point of view. A philosophical figure with a pragmatic vision on how to position his existence within the larger scheme of the Universe.

Early Career & Mercator

In 1547, when Abraham was twenty years of age, he started out as a map illuminator at the Antwerp based, Guild of Saint Luke. He was a learned man with a nose for business as well. Each year he would attend the Frankfurt book and print fair, where he would trade books, prints and maps. This is where he met Gerardus Mercator in 1554. They immediately hit it off as good pals and made various trips together. During these trips, Ortelius got inspired towards the carreer of a scientific cartographer.

Theatrum Orbis Terrarum

It was in 1564 that he published his first map. The Typus Orbis Terrarum, one of the most famous maps in the world.

In 1575, Abraham Ortelius was appointed geographer to the King of Spain on the reccomendation of Arias Montanus. Abraham continued his research along the years and published numerous maps of various regions around the world. The complete work of this visionary genius was published as the Theatrum Orbis Terrarum, a bundled publication of large scale and smaler scale maps which he had constructed together with illustrators and other scholars along the years.

Continental Drift

In 1596 he introduced the idea of the continental drift by analysing the ruptures of the various landmasses on the maps he had drewn all these years. A couple of centuries later, his hypothesis was proved and Abraham was crowned a genius and visionary, ahead of his time.