Abraham Ortelius marked by Google Doodle – who was the acclaimed cartographer and what was his world atlas?
The legendary cartographer was the first person to demonstrate an awareness of the theory of continental drift
IN TODAY'S world of online maps, mobile GPS and satellite imagery we have the whole world at our fingertips – but this wasn't always the case.
A Google Doodle is celebrating Abraham Ortelius, the legendary cartographer who published the very first modern atlas. Here's what you need to know about him.
Who was Abraham Ortelius and what was his atlas?
Abraham Ortelius was born in Antwerp, modern-day Belgium, in 1527, and was raised by his uncle following his father's death.
He initially worked as a map-engraver in his home city, and made money trading books and maps.
Ortelius travelled widely across Europe, including with the renowned cartographer Gerardus Mercator, who is thought to have first inspired his passion for map-making.
After publishing his first map in 1564, he went on to become one of his era's foremost cartographers, acknowledged as one of the founders of the celebrated Netherlands school of cartography.
On May 20, 1570, Ortelius published the Theatrum Orbis Terrarum – Theatre of the World – the first modern atlas.
Coming a year after Mercator released his legendary world map, it consisted of 53 decorative maps, occasionally adorned with sea monsters, a fascination of the time.
By modern standards the pages are littered with errors, many of which were corrected in the 25 subsequent editions published before his death.
However, the Theatrum is also the first evidence of somebody considering continental drift – the theory that continents were once joined together before drifting apart.
Ortelius became a prominent figure after the publication of his great work, becoming the geographer to Phillip II, the king of Spain.
His death in 1598 was marked by public mourning in Antwerp, where he was buried – today, his original maps are collectors items which sell for tens of thousands.
What is a Google Doodle?
In 1998, the search engine founders Larry and Sergey drew a stick figure behind the second 'o' of Google as a message to that they were out of office at the Burning Man festival and with that, Google Doodles were born.
The company decided that they should decorate the logo to mark cultural moments and it soon became clear that users really enjoyed the change to the Google homepage.
In that same year, a turkey was added to Thanksgiving and two pumpkins appeared as the 'o's for Halloween the following year.
Now, there is a full team of doodlers, illustrators, graphic designers, animators and classically trained artists who help create what you see on those days.
Among the Doodles published in in 2017 were ones commemorating German scientist Robert Koch, Jan Ingenhousz (who discovered photosynthesis) and the 50th anniversary of kids coding languages being introduced.
Earlier in the year, the search giant celebrated the 2017 Autumn Equinox , which marked the official ending of summer and the coming of autumn.