While Ortelius' map pre-dates the official discovery of Australia in 1606 by Dutchman Willem Janszoon a large promontory extending northwards from Terra Australis is highly suggestive of the western coast of the southern continent. The theoretical basis for the continent dates to the writings of Aristotle, who taught that the globe must be in balance - so as the Americas counterbalanced Europe and Africa, another undiscovered continent must counterbalance Asia. Terra Australis was a long speculated upon landmass supposedly situated in the southern hemisphere.

The southern Polar Regions are dominated by the vast apocryphal continent of Terra Australis. Several known centers are mapped including Lima, Quito, Cusco, and Caracas, among others. Further north we can clearly discern the Rio de la Plata and of course the Amazon River - which was tentatively known from the ill-fated Orelana Expedition. At the very tip of South America the Strait of Magellan gives way not to Tierra del Feugo but to the sprawling apocryphal continent of Terra Australis - see below. Ortelius derived the error from Mercator, who may have had difficulty reconciling conflicting reports from Spanish navigators. This anomaly appeared in the earliest editions of several Ortelius maps and was corrected in the 1585 second state of this map. South America is most notable for the large bulge that appears on the western coast in the vicinity of modern day Chile. The curious inclusion of Polo's references in maps of North America underscores the fact that even in the late 16th century, European cartographers remained uncertain regarding the relationship between Asia and North America. The Pacific Northwest is almost entirely speculative, with the apocryphal kingdoms of Anian (derived from Marco Polo's writings), Quivira (a kingdom of gold associated with Coronodo expedition and located near modern day Kansas, but for some reason here relocated to the west coast), and Tolm (again derived from Polo). The Chesapeake Bay has yet to be discovered. Some have suggested that the inlet in the northern Polar Regions, which is derived from Mercator's Lake Conibus, may suggest some knowledge of the great lakes long before their discovery - but this is the purest speculation. Of the Great Lakes, there is as yet no trace. The mythical kingdom of gold Norumbega is identified along the Atlantic coast roughly in the vicinity of the Penobscot River. Lawrence being clearly if exaggeratedly represented. In the northeast the results of voyages of exploration of Giovanni de Verrazzano and Jacques Cartier are much in evidence with the St. Place names north of Mexico nonetheless generally correspond to American Indian centers discovered by De Soto (east of Texas) and Coronodo (west of Texas). 1540 discovery by Hernando de Soto and Moscoso. No trace is to be found of the Mississippi River despite its c. The eastern seaboard juts noticeably eastward - a product of inaccurate measurements of longitudes and magnetic variation. Beyond known colonial centers in central Mexico and the West Indies, the cartography is largely speculative. Much of the continent is unexplored but here Ortelius has roughly followed the work and forms laid down by Gerard Mercator in 1569. Our survey of this important map will begin in North America. On the verso, Ortelius mentions in his Catalogus Auctorum that he also apparently had access to and drew upon the world maps by Peter ab Aggere of Mechelen, Sebastian Cabotus of Venice, Laurentius Fries of Antwerp, Jacobus Gastaldi, Gemma Frisius of Antwerp, Guicciardinus of Antwerp, Doco ab Hemminga Frisius, and Orontius Fine of Paris. Cartographically it is derived from the world of Gerard Mercator (1569), Gastaldi (1561), and Gutierrez. The general presentation of an oval projection derived from earlier maps by Appianus and Bordonius. Centered on the Atlantic Ocean, the map, naturally, covers the entire world from pole to pole. This map is the first map of the world to appear in a standard atlas and is thus of fundamental importance to the history of cartography. Minnesota - North Dakota - South DakotaĪ fine first edition third printing example of Aberham Ortelius' iconic 1570 map of the world.Massachusetts - Connecticut - Rhode Island.

World map prepared by ortelius