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Abraham Ortelius April 14, 1527 - June 28, 1598) was a Flemish cartographer and geographer. Beginning as a map-engraver, he entered the Antwerp Guild of Saint Luke as an illuminator of maps. He met Gerardus Mercator in 1554, who influenced his decision to become a scientific geographer. In 1564 he published his first map, Typus Orbis Terrarum, an eight-leaved wall map of the world. In 1578 he laid the basis of a critical treatment of ancient geography by his Synonymia geographica. In the 1596 expanded edition, he considers the possibility of continental drift, a hypothesis proved correct only centuries later. In 1570 he published "Theatrum Orbis Terrarum" ("Theatre of the World") generally recognized as the first modern atlas (53 maps). Errors, of course, abound, both in general conceptions and in detail, but the atlas with its accompanying text was a monument of rare erudition and industry. In 1579 Ortelius brought out his Nomenclator Ptolemaicus and started his Parergon (a series of maps illustrating ancient history, sacred and secular). In 1589 he published Maris Pacifici, the first dedicated map of the Pacific to be printed. He died in 1598 at the age of 71. His maps are popular collector's items and often sell for tens of thousands of dollars. Facsimiles of his maps are also available from many retailers
