Gerard Mercator: Atlas sive Cosmographicæ meditationes … Duisburg 1595.
Department of Maps, Prints, and Photographs, KBK 2-24

Denmark	Funen and islands

This is the first work that carries the title Atlas. It became the model for modern atlases – both as regards name and content. The work formed part of Mercator’s project to map out the world.
It was supported financially by Henrik Rantzau (1526-1598), the Danish King’s vicegerent in Holstein.
Mercator’s (1512-1594) most important innovation was a map later known as the Mercator projection. On this map parallels and meridians are rendered as straight lines spaced so as to produce at any point an accurate ratio of latitude to longitude.

40 x 26 cm.

See more maps at the web exhibition of the Department of Maps, Prints, and Photographs Denmark on the world map.

© Det Kongelige Bibliotek 2003