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Gerardus Mercator and his important work which guides us

Sven Vandenberghe
6 min readJun 21, 2021

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The original Mercator globe and the Astrolabe behind

Herodotus, Ptolemy, Mercator, Christopher Columbus, Rumold, Jodokus Hondius,…

As being Flemish i must emphasis on the fact that the greatness of this man, the ones who left important clues and knowledge which lead to his success, same count for his followers who are not to be neglected.

Gerardus Mercator Or otherwise known in the Flemish town of Rupelmonde as “Gerard De Kremer.”

Mercator was born on 5 March 1512 at Rupelmonde in Flanders, from 1530, when he entered the University of Louvain, he studied philosophy and theology. On graduating he turned to astronomy and mathematics working under the guidance of Gemma Frisius. He detained to transform cartography, which was vital for the exploration of the world…

Mercator became a highly skilled engraver, cut copperplates of his italic scripts, engraved the gores for his first globe in 1536, and in 1537 published his first map.

The First accurate chart of Europe

In 1554 Mercator published the first wall chart of Europe (with dimensions of 1,50m by 1,27m).

“It was the first big image of this part of the Europe.” A through masterpiece of critical cartography.

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Sven Vandenberghe
Sven Vandenberghe

Written by Sven Vandenberghe

The Wirting Philomath - Absorb, Read, Write, Sleep, Exercise, Thrive!

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