Ortelius Directed His Studies And His Learning To
The Elucidation Of Ancient Geography; And According To Malte Bran, No
Incompetent Judge, He May Yet Be Consulted On This Subject With Advantage.
But modern geography may most probably be dated from the time of Mercator:
he published an edition of Ptolemy, in which he pointed out the
imperfection of the system of the ancients.
The great object at this time,
was to contrive such a chart in plano, with short lines, that all places
might be truly laid down according to their respective longitudes and
latitudes. A method of this kind had been obscurely pointed at by Ptolemy;
but the first map on this plan was made by Mercator, about the year 1550.
The principles, however, on which it was constructed, were not demonstrated
till the year 1559, when Wright, an Englishman, pointed them out, as well
as a ready and easy way of making such a map. This was a great help to
navigators; since by enlarging, the meridian line, as Wright suggested and
explained, so that all the degrees of longitude might be proportional to
those of latitude, a chart on Mercator's projection shews the course and
distance from place to place, in all cases of sailing; and is therefore in
several respects more convenient to navigators than the globe itself.
Mercator, in his maps and charts, chose Corvo, one of the Azores, for his
first meridian, because at that time it was the line of no variation of the
compass.
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