Gerardus Mercator

@Cartographer, Life Achievements and Personal Life ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Gerardus Mercator was a famous Flemish cartographer during the Renaissance period Belgian Intellectuals & Academics Geographers Pisces Celebrities Gerardus Mercator was a famous Flemish cartographer during the Renaissance period who first coined the term ‘atlas’ for the maps he created. He collected reports from travelers to distant parts of the world and pieced together the information to create the maps. As he was a good cartographer he was able to depict the correct topography of area for which he created the map. The maps were very accurate at the center but were often distorted at the edges. This was probably due to the fact that he used the longitudes and latitudes as straight lines running parallel to each other from the top to the bottom and from side to side. He was the first person to use the term ‘North America’ in his maps and showed the ‘New World’ on his maps as stretching from the North to the Southern hemispheres. His maps became the sole guide for people venturing into the unknown over the land and the sea. He lived during the time of ‘reformations’ in Europe and was suspected to be a Lutheran and imprisoned for seven months. He started making maps when the world was opening up to the Europeans voyagers and travelers rapidly.

Personal Details

Birthday: March 5, 1512 Died on: December 2, 1594 Nationality: Belgian Famous: Belgian Men, Cartographer, Intellectuals & Academics, Geographers Spouses: Barbara Sckellen, Gertrude Vierlings Known as: Gerardus Mercator de Rupelmonde Birth Place: Rupelmonde, County of Flanders (in modern-day Belgium) Information Detail Birthday March 5, 1512 Died on December 2, 1594 Nationality Belgian Famous Belgian Men, Cartographer, Intellectuals & Academics, Geographers Spouses Barbara Sckellen, Gertrude Vierlings Known as Gerardus Mercator de Rupelmonde Birth Place Rupelmonde, County of Flanders (in modern-day Belgium) Gender Male Father Hubert Kremer Mother Emerentia Sun Sign Pisces Born in Rupelmonde, County of Flanders (in modern-day Belgium) Famous as Cartographer Died at Age 82

Rupelmonde, County of Flanders (in modern-day Belgium)

Gerardus Mercator born at Unsplash Birth Place

Gerardus Mercator married Barbara Sckellen in 1536. They had three sons, Arnold, Bartholemew and Rumold, and three daughters, Dorothes, Catharina and Emerentia from the marriage. Unsplash Personal Life

Thereafter he married Gertrude Vierlings, the wealthy widow of the mayor of Duisburg in 1589. Unsplash Personal Life

He died of a third stroke and cerebral hemorrhage on December 2, 1594, in Duisburg, the duchy of Cleves which is now located in Germany. Unsplash Personal Life

Gerardus Mercator was born on March 5, 1512, in a St. Johann hospice in Rupelmonde, Glanders, in the Burgundian Netherlands, now in Belgium. Unsplash Childhood & Early Life

His father was a cobbler named Hubert Kremer and his mother was Emerentia. He was the seventh child of his parents. Unsplash Childhood & Early Life

His parents returned to Gangelt after Gerardus was born but had to come back to Rupelmonde in 1518 due to plagues, famines and lawlessness. Unsplash Childhood & Early Life

Gerardus joined a public school in Rupelmonde and studied arithmetic, Christian theology and Latin. Unsplash Childhood & Early Life

His uncle Gisbert, who became his guardian after his father died in 1526, sent Gerardus to study in Netherlands in 1527 at the ‘s-Hertogenbosch’ monastic school run by the ‘Brethren of the Common Life’. Unsplash Childhood & Early Life

Gerardus Mercator started teaching mathematics to students at Louvain while he was still learning the subject. He also started making high quality mathematical instruments and sold them to others with the permission of the university to earn some money. Unsplash Career

He constructed the first terrestrial globe in 1535 with the help of Gemma Frisius and Van der Heyden. For the first time copper blocks were used instead of wooden blocks to print the paper for the globe. Gemma Frisius looked after the geographical details while Van de Heyden did the engraving. Unsplash Career

In 1537 Gerardus made a globe of the stars again with the help of Gemma Frisius and Van der Heyden. This time Gerardus played a bigger role in its creation. Unsplash Career

Gerard Mercator created his first world map in 1538. Unsplash Career

He made a map of Flanders in 1540 for political purposes with the help of a survey and the triangulation process suggested by Gemma Frisius. Unsplash Career

Information	Detail
Birthday	March 5, 1512
Died on	December 2, 1594
Nationality	Belgian
Famous	Belgian Men, Cartographer, Intellectuals & Academics, Geographers
Spouses	Barbara Sckellen, Gertrude Vierlings
Known as	Gerardus Mercator de Rupelmonde
Birth Place	Rupelmonde, County of Flanders (in modern-day Belgium)
Gender	Male
Father	Hubert Kremer
Mother	Emerentia
Sun Sign	Pisces
Born in	Rupelmonde, County of Flanders (in modern-day Belgium)
Famous as	Cartographer
Died at Age	82

Gerardus Mercator

Belgian

Mar 5, 1512

Biography

Personal Details

Rupelmonde, County of Flanders (in modern-day Belgium)