First atlas published

On this day in 1570, the first modern atlas—Theatrum orbis terrarum, or Theatre of the World—was published. The author was Flemish cartographer Abraham Ortelius. Theatrum was unique from previous map collections because the 70 maps on 53 pages had uniform style and text. Ortelius created the atlas using 87 different sources, including now-famous names like Gerardus Mercator. As he continued producing maps in the late 16th century, Ortelius couldn’t help but notice how the western coastlines of Europe and Africa seemed to fit like puzzle pieces into the eastern coasts of the Americas. In 1596 he proposed that America was “torn away from Europe and Africa, by earthquakes and flood,” perhaps in the devastating event that was thought to sink the island of Atlantis. In a 1994 article in Nature, historian James Romm argued that Ortelius had laid out the foundation of continental drift theory more than 300 years before it was scientifically formulated.

Date in History: 20 May 1570