Mercator's Atlas (the name "atlas" for a map collection)
Atlas de Mercator (nombre «atlas» para una colección de mapas)
- Date
- 1595 · confidence high
- Place
- Duisburg, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany
- Credited to
- Gerardus Mercator (published by his son Rumold)
- Field
- Cosmos & Earth
What it is
A map collection published after his death with a title that uses the word "atlas" for the first time for a volume of maps, recalling the mythical King Atlas. It includes carefully engraved maps of Europe and a world map on the Mercator projection.
What it led to
- adoption of "atlas" as the name of the genre
- consolidation of the Low Countries as Europe's cartographic centre