The coordinates provided by Ptolemy, from which world maps were constructed, helped to undermine the medieval academic outlook and put scholarly cartography on a more scientific basis. ![]() Medieval geography had registered a profound cleavage between the geographical notions of the Schoolmen, highly abstract and shaped by theological constructs, and the practical activity of the Mediterranean chart makers, whose portolano charts gave an amazingly accurate record of coastlines visited and surveyed by mariners. The Ptolemaic influence had itself marked an advance in academic cartography. Greatly diminished was the influence of Ptolemy's Geography, an ancient masterpiece revived for Europeans in the 15th century. The collection deserves to be called an atlas because of its uniform publishing format, critical selection from the existing mass of material, and scholarly citation of authorities whose maps were used (87 in all). It appeared in Latin and translations into Dutch, German, French, Spanish, and English. By 1624 the Theatrum had run through 40 editions and had grown to 166 maps. Later editions of both atlas and supplement were revised and expanded. In 1573 an Additamenta (atlas supplement) was issued. ![]() Europe, however, was the area most completely surveyed. There was a world map and maps of the continents of Africa and Asia. The Theatrum orbis terrarum (1570) consisted of 70 maps on 53 sheets. Among these were maps of Egypt, Asia, and the world. Ortelius began issuing various maps in the 1560s. ![]() From these sources Ortelius obtained cartographical materials and information he also collected and published maps by his fellow Flemish geographer Gerhardus Mercator. This business involved extensive traveling, which enabled Ortelius to make contacts with the international community of scholars concerned with exploration and cartography and especially with English experts like Richard Hakluyt and John Dee. He worked as an illuminator of maps, and by 1554 was in the business of selling maps and antiquities.
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