Mercator, Gerardus, << muhr KAY tuhr, juhr AHR duhs >> (1512-1594), was a Flemish geographer who became the most important mapmaker of the 1500’s. He won lasting fame because of his world map of 1569. It introduced a new way of showing the roughly ball-shaped earth on a flat sheet of paper. This method, called the Mercator projection, is still used today.
The Mercator projection proved ideal for navigation because routes that follow a constant compass direction appear as straight lines on the map. To achieve this effect, however, the scale on the map increases with distance from the equator. Thus, geographical features near the North and South poles are exaggerated in size.
Mercator was born on March 5, 1512, in Rupelmonde, Flanders (now Belgium). His given name was Gerard Kremer, but he adopted the Latin form of this name. Mercator studied at the University of Louvain. Later, he made globes and navigation instruments for Holy Roman Emperor Charles V. In addition, Mercator produced a collection of maps titled Atlas. This title marked the first use of the word atlas to describe a collection of maps. He died on Dec. 2, 1594.
