1 00:00:00,120 --> 00:00:05,080 Speaker 1: This Day in History Class is a production of iHeartRadio. 2 00:00:05,840 --> 00:00:09,560 Speaker 1: Hello and welcome to This Day in History Class, a 3 00:00:09,680 --> 00:00:12,840 Speaker 1: show that charts a course through history every day of 4 00:00:12,840 --> 00:00:18,279 Speaker 1: the week. I'm Gabe Lucier, and in this episode, we're 5 00:00:18,280 --> 00:00:21,000 Speaker 1: talking about the creation of a new kind of book, 6 00:00:21,560 --> 00:00:35,080 Speaker 1: the world's first world atlas. The day was May twenty second, 7 00:00:35,360 --> 00:00:42,200 Speaker 1: fifteen seventy. Flemish cartographer Abraham Ortelius published the world's first 8 00:00:42,440 --> 00:00:48,160 Speaker 1: modern atlas, known in Latin as the Teatrum Orbis Terarum 9 00:00:48,600 --> 00:00:52,199 Speaker 1: or the Theater of the World. The landmark project was 10 00:00:52,240 --> 00:00:55,600 Speaker 1: the first of its kind. It brought together a wide 11 00:00:55,720 --> 00:01:00,440 Speaker 1: range of geographical maps, organized them by subject, and presented 12 00:01:00,480 --> 00:01:05,199 Speaker 1: them in uniform size as a bound book, more convenient 13 00:01:05,319 --> 00:01:08,319 Speaker 1: and less expensive than the loose map sheets that had 14 00:01:08,319 --> 00:01:14,400 Speaker 1: been circulated previously, Ortelius's atlas quickly became the authoritative resource 15 00:01:14,560 --> 00:01:18,280 Speaker 1: for European scholars hoping to learn more about how their 16 00:01:18,360 --> 00:01:23,919 Speaker 1: world fit together. Abraham Ortelius was born on April fourteenth, 17 00:01:24,040 --> 00:01:27,720 Speaker 1: fifteen twenty seven, in the Spanish Netherlands, which is now 18 00:01:27,800 --> 00:01:31,800 Speaker 1: part of Belgium. He learned the trade of cartography or 19 00:01:31,959 --> 00:01:34,520 Speaker 1: map making, at an early age, and when he was 20 00:01:34,520 --> 00:01:38,000 Speaker 1: twenty years old, he joined the Antwerp Guild of Saint 21 00:01:38,080 --> 00:01:42,840 Speaker 1: Luke as a map illuminator and engraver. Seven years later, 22 00:01:43,160 --> 00:01:46,760 Speaker 1: Ortelius visited a book fair in Frankfurt, Germany, where he 23 00:01:46,840 --> 00:01:51,480 Speaker 1: was introduced to Gerardis Mercader, a fellow Flemish cartographer who 24 00:01:51,520 --> 00:01:54,400 Speaker 1: would later coin the term atlas to describe a book 25 00:01:54,440 --> 00:01:59,240 Speaker 1: of maps. Ortelius and Mercader hit it off and continued 26 00:01:59,280 --> 00:02:03,840 Speaker 1: traveling together through Germany and France. Along the way, Mercader 27 00:02:03,960 --> 00:02:07,600 Speaker 1: encouraged his friend to start drawing his own maps, rather 28 00:02:07,680 --> 00:02:12,440 Speaker 1: than coloring and illustrating those of others. Ortelius took the 29 00:02:12,480 --> 00:02:15,120 Speaker 1: advice to heart and went on to produce at least 30 00:02:15,160 --> 00:02:18,520 Speaker 1: six single and multi sheet maps of his own between 31 00:02:18,560 --> 00:02:23,400 Speaker 1: fifteen sixty four and fifteen seventy. These included two sheet 32 00:02:23,440 --> 00:02:26,960 Speaker 1: maps of Egypt and Asia, a six sheet map of Spain, 33 00:02:27,280 --> 00:02:30,800 Speaker 1: and an ambitious eight sheet map of the entire world. 34 00:02:31,880 --> 00:02:35,080 Speaker 1: During this time, Ortelius began to dream of an even 35 00:02:35,200 --> 00:02:39,520 Speaker 1: more elaborate project, a compilation of the best available maps 36 00:02:39,520 --> 00:02:43,239 Speaker 1: of the day, printed in uniform size and bound together 37 00:02:43,400 --> 00:02:47,799 Speaker 1: in one handy volume. The resulting work, the Theater of 38 00:02:47,840 --> 00:02:51,280 Speaker 1: the World, was unique for its time for several reasons. 39 00:02:52,000 --> 00:02:55,919 Speaker 1: First was the book's format. While other map books had 40 00:02:55,919 --> 00:02:59,520 Speaker 1: been produced before, they were essentially just folders filled with 41 00:02:59,560 --> 00:03:03,720 Speaker 1: an assort of loose individual map sheets of varying sizes. 42 00:03:04,639 --> 00:03:08,240 Speaker 1: The Teatrum, on the other hand, was a proper bound book, 43 00:03:08,520 --> 00:03:12,800 Speaker 1: and as such it presented its maps at a consistent size. 44 00:03:12,840 --> 00:03:15,520 Speaker 1: It was also the first map collection to try to 45 00:03:15,560 --> 00:03:19,040 Speaker 1: cover the entirety of the known world, and the first 46 00:03:19,040 --> 00:03:22,720 Speaker 1: to organize its contents in a logical way, with maps 47 00:03:22,760 --> 00:03:28,880 Speaker 1: representing the same continent, region, or country grouped accordingly. Another 48 00:03:29,000 --> 00:03:33,000 Speaker 1: notable feature was the book's inclusion of explanatory text on 49 00:03:33,080 --> 00:03:36,680 Speaker 1: the back of each map. These write ups provided useful 50 00:03:36,680 --> 00:03:41,600 Speaker 1: information and additional references for the locations depicted, allowing users 51 00:03:41,640 --> 00:03:45,160 Speaker 1: to study a region's geography and learn about its history 52 00:03:45,280 --> 00:03:49,840 Speaker 1: at the same time. Perhaps the most groundbreaking aspect of 53 00:03:50,000 --> 00:03:53,200 Speaker 1: Ortelius's atlas is the way it drew upon the work 54 00:03:53,280 --> 00:03:57,360 Speaker 1: of so many other sixteenth century scholars. In order to 55 00:03:57,400 --> 00:04:00,800 Speaker 1: represent the world as accurately as possible, he turned to 56 00:04:00,840 --> 00:04:04,240 Speaker 1: the network of contacts he'd built during his decades as 57 00:04:04,280 --> 00:04:08,200 Speaker 1: a map maker and book collector. His colleague's eagerness to 58 00:04:08,280 --> 00:04:12,320 Speaker 1: help shines through. In the book's first edition, it contained 59 00:04:12,440 --> 00:04:17,760 Speaker 1: seventy different maps derived from more than fifty other contemporary cartographers. 60 00:04:18,640 --> 00:04:23,279 Speaker 1: We know that because Ortelius also included a detailed bibliographic 61 00:04:23,400 --> 00:04:28,400 Speaker 1: source list called the Catalogus octorum. That too, was an 62 00:04:28,400 --> 00:04:32,160 Speaker 1: original concept for a book of maps, and because Ortelius 63 00:04:32,200 --> 00:04:35,640 Speaker 1: thought to include it, many cartographers who would have otherwise 64 00:04:35,720 --> 00:04:40,080 Speaker 1: remained obscure are now recognized for their contributions to the field. 65 00:04:41,480 --> 00:04:45,240 Speaker 1: The cartographer who had the most influence on the Teatrum 66 00:04:45,400 --> 00:04:51,880 Speaker 1: orbis Terreum was, unsurprisingly, Gerardis Mercader. No fewer than eight 67 00:04:52,000 --> 00:04:54,839 Speaker 1: of the book's map sheets were based directly on his 68 00:04:55,000 --> 00:04:59,760 Speaker 1: famous fifteen sixty nine map of the world. Ortelius had 69 00:04:59,760 --> 00:05:02,400 Speaker 1: begun on the project as a labour of love, and 70 00:05:02,520 --> 00:05:05,440 Speaker 1: was surprised to find upon the book's publication that his 71 00:05:05,560 --> 00:05:09,520 Speaker 1: passion was shared by many other scholars, merchants, and travelers. 72 00:05:10,240 --> 00:05:12,920 Speaker 1: It turned out he had published at the perfect moment, 73 00:05:13,520 --> 00:05:17,200 Speaker 1: just as the netherlands emerging middle class was devoting more 74 00:05:17,279 --> 00:05:23,400 Speaker 1: time to educational pursuits. The positive reception encouraged Ortelius to 75 00:05:23,440 --> 00:05:27,919 Speaker 1: continue revising and expanding his Atlas, often with the input 76 00:05:27,960 --> 00:05:32,159 Speaker 1: of his old pal Mercader. He continued to release new 77 00:05:32,279 --> 00:05:35,680 Speaker 1: editions of the atlas until his death in fifteen ninety 78 00:05:35,720 --> 00:05:39,520 Speaker 1: eight at the age of seventy one. Over the course 79 00:05:39,560 --> 00:05:43,599 Speaker 1: of more than thirty editions, the Teatrum grew to encompass 80 00:05:43,680 --> 00:05:47,279 Speaker 1: one hundred and sixty seven maps, more than double the 81 00:05:47,360 --> 00:05:52,280 Speaker 1: original seventy. It remained in print in seven different languages 82 00:05:52,600 --> 00:05:56,240 Speaker 1: until sixteen twelve, and completed its run having sold a 83 00:05:56,320 --> 00:06:02,200 Speaker 1: then unprecedented seven thousand and three hundred copies. By that point, 84 00:06:02,480 --> 00:06:08,400 Speaker 1: other cartographers, including Mercader, had further refined Ortelius's atlas concept. 85 00:06:09,160 --> 00:06:15,080 Speaker 1: Their works reflected new geographical discoveries and corrected long standing inaccuracies, 86 00:06:15,480 --> 00:06:19,040 Speaker 1: making them a more reliable resource for scholars and teachers. 87 00:06:20,200 --> 00:06:24,760 Speaker 1: That said, Ortelius's Atlas still has plenty of fans thanks 88 00:06:24,760 --> 00:06:29,400 Speaker 1: to its pioneering approach to cartography. Original copies of his 89 00:06:29,480 --> 00:06:32,760 Speaker 1: maps often command tens of thousands of dollars on the 90 00:06:32,760 --> 00:06:37,200 Speaker 1: collector market, and faessimiles of his maps, including the Teatrum, 91 00:06:37,440 --> 00:06:42,640 Speaker 1: are still published and sold today. Satellite imagery now allows 92 00:06:42,720 --> 00:06:46,440 Speaker 1: us to determine the shapes, sizes, and geographic features of 93 00:06:46,480 --> 00:06:50,760 Speaker 1: our world with pinpoint accuracy. But there's still great value 94 00:06:50,880 --> 00:06:54,359 Speaker 1: in studying old world maps, not only because of the 95 00:06:54,480 --> 00:06:57,960 Speaker 1: artistry and ingenuity that went into making them, but because 96 00:06:58,000 --> 00:07:01,440 Speaker 1: they offer insights into what people of the past imagined, 97 00:07:01,760 --> 00:07:05,240 Speaker 1: new or thought they knew about the world at large. 98 00:07:05,920 --> 00:07:08,479 Speaker 1: So even though old maps may not be much use 99 00:07:08,560 --> 00:07:11,720 Speaker 1: for navigation, they can still teach us a lot about 100 00:07:11,880 --> 00:07:18,600 Speaker 1: where we came from. I'm Gabe blues Gay and hopefully 101 00:07:18,920 --> 00:07:22,040 Speaker 1: you now know a little more about history today than 102 00:07:22,080 --> 00:07:24,960 Speaker 1: you did yesterday. If you'd like to keep up with 103 00:07:25,000 --> 00:07:27,720 Speaker 1: the show, you can follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and 104 00:07:27,840 --> 00:07:32,160 Speaker 1: Instagram at TDI HC Show, and if you have any 105 00:07:32,200 --> 00:07:35,120 Speaker 1: comments or suggestions, feel free to send them my way 106 00:07:35,280 --> 00:07:40,000 Speaker 1: by writing to This Day at iHeartMedia dot com. Thanks 107 00:07:40,000 --> 00:07:42,840 Speaker 1: to Kasby Bias for producing the show, and thanks to 108 00:07:42,880 --> 00:07:45,840 Speaker 1: you for listening. I'll see you back here again tomorrow 109 00:07:46,000 --> 00:08:01,000 Speaker 1: for another day in History Class.