#Abraham ortelius map full#

In the bibliography, in the section 'Catalogus Auctorum', not only were the 33 cartographers mentioned whose work was recorded in the Theatrum (which at the time was not yet customary), but also the total of 87 cartographers of the 16th century that Ortelius knew. This was the first time that the entirety of Western European knowledge of the world was brought together in one book. In addition to the maps he provided a descriptive comment and referrals on the reverse. In the Ortelius atlas, however, the maps were all in the same style and of the same size, printed from copper plates, logically arranged by continent, region and state. Previously, groupings of disparate maps were only released as custom lots, to individual order. Dennis Reinhartz, The Art of the Map: An Illustrated History of Map Elements and Embellishments, (New York: Sterling, 2012), 108.The atlas contained virtually no maps from the hand of Ortelius, but 53 bundled maps of other masters, with the source as indicated.Valerie Scott (Tring, England: Early World Press, 2003), 358. Tooley, Tooley’s Dictionary of Mapmakers: Revised Edition K-P, ed.

#Abraham ortelius map full#

Scan courtesy of Special Collections, Gettysburg Collegeįor full effect, here is an image of the Prester John map in Gettysburg College’s own cabinet of curiosities. In the ocean on either side of the continent are whales that appear to be dragons and a war ship headed for the South African coast. In areas that are less populated and largely uncharted, Ortelius fills those spaces with larger-than-life elephants. While the map highlights different regions of the continent, South America is simply covered in mountains. Ortelius’ map is largely to scale, maps rivers, and pinpoints cities. Scan courtesy of Special Collections, Gettysburg College While John is not depicted in this map, the “imaginary kingdom” of Prester John became synonymous with Africa into the sixteenth century in Western Christian thought and Western cartography.

While Prester John was originally set in the Middle East, as the west discovered more about Asia and moved their colonization efforts south, Prester John moved south, too. John first appeared as a Christian priest in India and Central Asia, a “Nestorian Christian, a member of a sect today called the Church of the East or the Assyrian Church.” 2 Over time, mapmakers moved Prester John’s location to Africa to signify the shift in religious tensions. The character of Prester John dates back at least to the twelfth century, four hundred years before Ortelius’ map. 1570 and edited into a number of languages posthumously through 1612. The atlas contained 70 maps engraved by Frans Hogenberg on 53 folio sheets. This map was published in the Theatrum Orbis Terrarum, or Theater of the World, “the first uniformly sized and systematically collected set of maps by different mapmakers which is acknowledged as the first atlas,” published c. The “ Presbiteri Iohannis Sive, Abissinorvm Imperii Descriptio,” or “Map of the Kingdom of Prester John,” is a work by Abraham Ortelius, a cartographer, cosmographer, and publisher who was born and died in Antwerp, Belgium. Newbould, Class of 1958, Endowed Fund in History, Special Collections and College Archives, Gettysburg College 1570, Engraving, 37.5 x 43.5 cm, Gift of the History Department through the generosity of The Kenneth H. Presbiteri Iohannis Sive, Abissinorvm Imperii Descriptio Abraham Ortelius, Presbiteri Iohannis Sive, Abissinorvm Imperii Descriptio, Antwerp, Belgium, c.