Overview

In 1569, Flemish cartographer Gerardus Mercator (1512-1594) broke away from the teachings of Greek mathematician and astronomer Ptolemy (90-168) and published a world map, which introduced a new system of projection for marine charts featuring true bearings, or rhumblines, between any two points. His system presented a revolutionary cylindrical projection where a straight line between any two points forms the same angle with all the meridians, and became the basis for modern day navigational charts.

Background

The practice of cartography, or map-making, can be traced back to early examples from Babylon, Egypt, and China, where the first maps were printed. European map-making can be traced to early Greek culture and the most significant contributions to the study of geography were made by Claudius Ptolemaeus known as Ptolemy, a Greek astronomer and mathematician...