AtlasTravelOnline: History of Atlas
Filed Under History
World map from the first modern atlas by Ortelius - Theatrum Orbis Terrarum (1570)
The earliest atlases were not called by that name at the time of their
publication, as it was introduced in 1595 by Gerardus Mercator.
The first book that in hindsight could be called an atlas was constructed from
the calculations of Claudius Ptolemy, a geographer working in Alexandria circa
A.D. 150. The first edition was published in Bologna in 1477 and was illustrated
with a set of 27 maps, though scholars say that it is not known whether the
printed maps were engraved versions of original maps made by Ptolemy, or whether
they were constructed by medieval Greek scholars from Ptolemy’s text.
From about 1544, many maps were produced, especially in the important trading
centers of Rome and Venice. Each publisher worked independently, producing maps
based upon their own needs. The maps often varied dramatically in size. Over
time, it became common to bind the maps together into composite works. Although
the term atlas was not in use in 1544, these works are now called “IATO” atlases
- (Italian, Assembled to Order) or more frequently “Lafreri atlases” after one
of the leading publishers of the period.
Abraham Ortelius is credited with issuing the first modern atlas on May 20,
1570. His Theatrum Orbis Terrarum, contained 53 map-sheets covering the
countries of the World. This work was the first book of its kind to reduce the
best available maps to a uniform size. It was an immediate critical and
commercial success.
However, use of the word “atlas” for a bound collection of maps was not to come
into use until the 1595 publication of Gerardus Mercator’s “Atlas, Sive
Cosmographicae Meditationes De Fabrica Mundi …” (Atlas, or Description of the
Universe) (Duisburg, 1585-1595).