Editing Abraham Ortelius

{{Short description|Dutch cartographer, geographer and cosmographer (1527–1598)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2021}}
{{Infobox person
| name               = <!-- include middle initial, if not specified in birth_name -->
| image              = Abraham Ortelius by Peter Paul Rubens.jpg
| caption            = Ortelius by [[Peter Paul Rubens]], 1633, after a 1570s engraving by [[Philip Galle]]
| birth_name         = <!-- only use if different from name -->
| birth_date         = 4 or 14 April 1527
| birth_place        = [[Antwerp]], [[Habsburg Netherlands]]
| death_date         = {{Death date and age|1598|6|28|df=yes|1527|4|14}}
| death_place        = Antwerp, [[Spanish Netherlands]]
| nationality        = [[Spanish Netherlands]]
| other_names        =
| occupation         = [[Geographer]], [[Cartography|cartographer]]
| years_active       =
| known_for          = Creator of the first [[List of atlases|modern atlas]]; proposing the idea of [[continental drift]]
| notable_works      =
| signature          = Signature of Abraham Ortelius (1527–1598).png
}}

'''Abraham Ortelius''' ({{IPAc-en|ɔr|ˈ|t|iː|l|i|ə|s}}; also '''Ortels''', '''Orthellius''', '''Wortels'''; 4 or 14 April 1527{{snd}}28 June 1598) was a [[cartographer]], [[geographer]], and [[cosmographer]] from Antwerp in the [[Spanish Netherlands]]. He is recognized as the creator of the [[list of atlases|first modern atlas]], the {{Lang|la|[[Theatrum Orbis Terrarum]]}} (''Theatre of the World''). Along with [[Gemma Frisius]] and [[Gerardus Mercator]], Ortelius is generally considered one of the founders of the [[Early modern Netherlandish cartography|Netherlandish school of cartography and geography]]. He was a notable figure of this school in its golden age (approximately 1570s–1670s) and an important geographer of Spain during the age of discovery. The publication of his [[atlas]] in 1570 is often considered as the official beginning of the [[Golden Age of Netherlandish cartography]]. He was the first person proposing that the continents were joined before [[continental drift|drifting]] to their present positions.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Romm |first=James |s2cid=4281585 |title=A New Forerunner for Continental Drift |journal=Nature |date=February 3, 1994 |volume=367 |pages=407–408 |doi=10.1038/367407a0 |issue=6462 |bibcode = 1994Natur.367..407R |df=dmy-all}}</ref>

==Life==
Abraham Ortelius was born on either 4 April or 14 April 1527 in the city of [[Antwerp]], which was then in the [[Spanish Netherlands]]. The Ortels or Wortels (latinized as Orthellius and Ortelius) family was originally from [[Augsburg]], a [[Free imperial city]] of the [[Holy Roman Empire]]. Abraham's grandfather, Willem Ortels, was a pharmacist. He had moved in 1460 to Antwerp where he married Mathilde 's Jagers, alias Reynaerts. They had five children: Imbert who inherited his father's pharmacy, Anna, Odille (or Ottilia of Odilia), who married Nicolaes van der Voorden, a merchant in Brussels, and, in her second marriage, [[Jacobus van Meteren]] from Breda, who was a Protestant and supervised the printing of English versions of the bible in England, Leonard (born in 1500 and father of Abraham Ortelius) and Josef. From his second marriage with Maria Antheard a son called Willem was born.  The family lived in the Kipdorp street in Antwerp and was fairly well off.  Leonard Ortelius married Anna Herwayers and they had three children, Abraham, Anna who would stay on her brother's side and Elisabeth who married a trader named Jacob Cool Sr., whose son Jacob Cool Jr. (known as Ortelianus) would be the principal heir of Abraham Ortelius.<ref name=wouter>Wouter Dirk Verduyn, ''Emanuel van Meteren'', The Hague, Martinus Nijhoff, 1926, pp. 4–5</ref>

Leonard Ortelius was well educated. He spoke Greek and Latin, and worked with his brother-in-law Jacob van Meteren on the translation of Miles Coverdale's  English Bible. In 1535, they were both prosecuted for possessing suspicious books. Searches turned up nothing and the case was subsequently dismissed. Leonard Ortelius was a successful antique dealer. Following the death of his father, Abraham Ortelius' uncle [[Jacobus van Meteren]] returned from exile in England to take care of him. Abraham remained close to his cousin [[Emanuel van Meteren]], who would later move to [[London]].<ref name="ODNB">{{cite ODNB |first=Joost |last=Depuydt |id=20854 |title=Ortelius, Abraham (1527–1598)}}</ref> In 1575 Abraham was appointed geographer to the king of Spain, [[Philip II of Spain|Philip II]], on the recommendation of [[Arias Montanus]], who vouched for his orthodoxy.<ref name="EB1911"/><ref name="Pedersen">{{cite encyclopedia |url=https://www.encyclopedia.com/people/science-and-technology/geography-biographies/abraham-ortelius |title=ORTELIUS (OR OERTEL), ABRAHAM |encyclopedia=Complete Dictionary of Scientific Biography |year=2008 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |first=Olaf |last=Pedersen |via=Encyclopedia.com}}</ref>

He traveled extensively in [[Europe]] and is specifically known to have traveled throughout the [[Habsburg Netherlands]]; in southern, western, northern, and eastern Germany (e.g., 1560, 1575–1576); France (1559–1560); England and [[Ireland]] (1576); and [[Italy]] (1578, and perhaps two or three times between 1550 and 1558).<ref name="EB1911"/>

Beginning as a map-engraver, in 1547 he entered the Antwerp [[Guild of Saint Luke]] as an [[illuminator of maps]]. He supplemented his income trading in books, prints, and maps, and his journeys included annual visits to the [[Frankfurt Book Fair|Frankfurt book and print fair]], where he met [[Gerardus Mercator]] in 1554.<ref name=ODNB/> In 1560, however, when travelling with Mercator to [[Trier]], [[Lorraine (province)|Lorraine]], and [[Poitiers]], he seems to have been attracted, largely by Mercator's influence, towards the career of a scientific geographer.<ref name="EB1911"/> He died in Antwerp.

==Map publisher==
[[File:Theatrum Orbis Terrarum, by Abraham Ortelius, World, 1572.jpg|thumb|300px|right|1570 ''Typus Orbis Terrarum'']]

In 1564, he published his first map, ''Typus Orbis Terrarum'', an eight-leaved wall map of the world, on which he identified the ''[[Regio Patalis]]'' with ''[[Locach]]'' as a northward extension of the ''[[Terra Australis]]'', reaching as far as [[New Guinea]].<ref name=ODNB/><ref>Peter Barber, "Ortelius' great world map", National Library of Australia, ''Mapping our World: Terra Incognita to Australia'', Canberra, National Library of Australia, 2013, p.95.</ref> This map subsequently appeared in reduced form in the ''[[Theatrum Orbis Terrarum|Terrarum]]'' (the only extant copy is now at [[Basel University Library]]).<ref>cf. Bernoulli, ''Ein Karteninkunabelnband'', Basle, 1905, p.&nbsp;5. [http://www.e-rara.ch/bau_1/content/zoom/3945907 ''NOVA TOTIUS TERRARUM ORBIS IUXTA NEOTERICORUM TRADITIONES DESCRIPTIO''] and [http://www.e-rara.ch/bau_1/content/pageview/3945906]</ref> He also published a two-sheet map of [[Egypt]] in 1565, a plan of the [[Brittenburg]] castle on the coast of the [[Netherlands]] in 1568, an eight-sheet map of [[Asia]] in 1567, and a six-sheet map of Spain before the appearance of his atlas.<ref name="EB1911">{{EB1911 |inline=y |wstitle=Ortelius, Abraham |volume=20 |pages=331–332|first=Charles Raymond|last=Beazley|author-link=Raymond Beazley}}</ref>

In England Ortelius's contacts included [[William Camden]], [[Richard Hakluyt]], [[Thomas Penny]], [[Puritan]] controversialist [[William Charke]], and [[Humphrey Llwyd]], who would contribute the map of [[England and Wales]] to Ortelius's 1573 edition of the ''Theatrum''.<ref name=ODNB/>

In 1578, he laid the basis of a critical treatment of ancient geography by his ''Synonymia geographica'' (issued by the [[Plantin Press]] at Antwerp<ref name="EB1911"/> and republished in expanded form as ''Thesaurus geographicus'' in 1587 and again expanded in 1596; in the last edition, Ortelius considers the possibility of [[continental drift]], a hypothesis that would be proved correct only centuries later).

In 1596, he received a presentation from Antwerp, similar to that afterwards bestowed on [[Peter Paul Rubens]]. His death on 28 June 1598 and his burial in the church of [[St. Michael's Abbey, Antwerp]], were marked by public mourning.<ref name="EB1911" /> The inscription on his [[tombstone]] reads: ''Quietis cultor sine lite, uxore, prole'' ("served quietly, without accusation, wife, and offspring").<ref>{{Catholic Encyclopedia |wstitle=Abraham Ortelius |volume=11 |first=Joseph |last=Fischer |inline=1}}</ref>

===''Theatrum Orbis Terrarum''===
{{Main|Theatrum Orbis Terrarum}}
[[File:Persian Empire Abraham Ortelius.jpg|thumb|180px|left|Map of the [[Safavid dynasty|Persian Empire]] from the {{Lang|la|[[Theatrum Orbis Terrarum]]}}]]
On 20 May 1570, Gilles Coppens de Diest at Antwerp issued Ortelius's {{Lang|la|Theatrum Orbis Terrarum}}, the "first modern atlas" (of 53 maps).<ref name="WDL1">{{cite web|title=Map, Indiae Orientalis Insularumque Adjacentium Typus|url=http://masterpieces.asemus.museum/masterpiece/detail.nhn?objectId=11982|website=[[Virtual Collection of Asian Masterpieces]]|access-date=20 May 2019}}</ref>{{#tag:ref|The first work that contained systematically arranged maps of uniform size, intended to be published in a book, thus representing the first modern atlas, was ''De Summa totius Orbis'' (1524–26) by the 16th-century Italian cartographer [[Pietro Coppo]]. Nonetheless, this distinction is conventionally awarded to Abraham Ortelius.<ref name=Mercator>{{cite book|url=http://mail.nysoclib.org/Mercator_Atlas/MCRATS.PDF |title=Atlas sive Cosmographicæ Meditationes de Fabrica Mundi et Fabricati Figura |first1=Gerardu |last1=Mercator | first2=Robert W. Jr. | last2=Karrow |publisher=Library of Congress |page=2 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160310032427/http://mail.nysoclib.org/mercator_atlas/mcrats.pdf |archive-date=2016-03-10 |df=dmy-all}}</ref> |group=Note}} Three [[Latin]] editions of this (besides a [[Dutch language|Dutch]], a [[French language|French]], and a [[German language|German]] edition) appeared before the end of 1572; twenty-five editions came out before Ortelius's death in 1598; and several others were published subsequently, for the atlas continued to be in demand until about 1612. Most of the maps were admittedly reproductions (a list of 87 authors is given in the first ''Theatrum'' by Ortelius himself, growing to 183 names in the 1601 Latin edition), and many discrepancies of delineation or nomenclature occur. Errors, of course, abound, both in general conceptions and in detail; thus [[South America]] is initially very faulty in outline, but corrected in the 1587 [[French language|French]] edition, and in [[Scotland]], the [[Grampian Mountains (Scotland)|Grampians]] lie between the [[Firth of Forth|Forth]] and the [[Firth of Clyde|Clyde]]; but, taken as a whole, this atlas with its accompanying text was a monument of rare erudition and industry. Its immediate precursor and prototype was a collection of thirty-eight maps of European lands, and of [[Asia]], [[Africa]], [[Tartary]], and [[Egypt]], gathered together by the wealth and enterprise, and through the agents, of Ortelius's friend and patron, [[Gillis Hooftman]] (1521–1581),<ref>{{cite web |title=Gillis Hooftman: Businessman and Patron |publisher=[[KU Leuven]] |first=Katrien |last=Derde |access-date=2023-10-11 |df=dmy-all |url=https://www.netpoint.be/abc/castro/en/n_29.htm }}</ref> lord of Cleydael and Aertselaar: most of these were printed in [[Rome]], eight or nine only in the Southern Netherlands.<ref name="EB1911"/>

[[File:2756 Print 16080kopie.jpg|thumb|Map of [[Flanders]] from the {{lang|la|[[Theatrum orbis terrarum]]}}, 1574, [[The Phoebus Foundation]] |alt=]]
In 1573, Ortelius published seventeen supplementary maps under the title ''Additamentum Theatri Orbis Terrarum''.<ref name="EB1911"/> Four more Additamenta were to follow, the last one appearing in 1597. He also had a keen interest in and formed a fine collection of [[coin]]s, [[medal]]s and [[antiques]], and this resulted in the book (also in 1573, published by Philippe Galle of Antwerp) ''Deorum dearumque capita ... ex Museo Ortelii'' ("Heads of the gods and goddesses... from the Ortelius Museum"); reprinted in 1582, 1602, 1612, 1680, 1683 and finally in 1699 by Gronovius, ''Thesaurus Graecarum Antiquitatum'' ("Treasury of Greek Antiquities", vol. vii).<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HKMYAQAAMAAJ |title=Abraham Ortelius and the first atlas: essays commemorating the quadricentennial of his death, 1598–1998 |last1=Broecke |first1=M. P. R. van den |last2=Krogt |first2=P. C. J. van der |last3=Meurer |first3=Peter H. |publisher=HES |year=1998 |isbn=9789061943884 |pages=66}}</ref>

The {{Lang|la|Theatrum Orbis Terrarum}} inspired a six-volume work titled ''[[Civitates orbis terrarum]]'', edited by [[Georg Braun]] and illustrated by [[Frans Hogenberg]] with the assistance of Ortelius himself, who visited England to see his friend [[John Dee]] in Mortlake in 1577,<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ib1YAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA62 |title=John Dee: The World of the Elizabethan Magus |last=French |first=Peter J. |date=2013 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=9781134572274 |pages=62 |df=dmy-all}}</ref> and Braun tells of Ortelius putting pebbles in cracks in Temple Church, Bristol, being crushed by the vibration of the bells.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oy1FAAAAYAAJ&pg=PP23 |title=Thomas Chatterton and the Vicar of Temple Church, Bristol [A.D., 1768–1770]: The Poet's Account of the "Knightes Templaries Chyrche." |last=Chatterton |first=Thomas |publisher=W. George's Sons |year=1888 |pages=11}}</ref>

===Later maps===
[[File:Ortelius - Maris Pacifici 1589.jpg|thumb|225px|[[Maris Pacifici]]]]
In 1579, Ortelius brought out his ''Nomenclator Ptolemaicus'' and started his ''Parergon'' (a series of maps illustrating ancient history, [[Sacredness|sacred]] and secular). He also published ''Itinerarium per nonnullas Galliae Belgicae partes'' (at the Plantin press in 1584, and reprinted in 1630, 1661 in Hegenitius, Itin. Frisio-Hoil., in 1667 by Verbiest, and finally in 1757 in Leuven), a record of a journey in [[Belgium]] and the [[Rhineland]] made in 1575. In 1589 he published [[Maris Pacifici]], the first dedicated map of the [[Pacific]] to be printed.<ref>[http://mapmogul.com/catalog/product_info.php+products_id+52 Map Mogul – Antique Maps & Prints – Ortelius, Abraham SOLD Maris Pacifici<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> Among his last works were an edition of Caesar (''C. I. Caesaris omnia quae extant'', Leiden, Raphelingen, 1593), and the ''Aurei saeculi imago, sive Germanorum veterum vita, mores, ritus et religio.'' (Philippe Galle, Antwerp, 1596). He also aided Welser in his edition of the [[Peutinger Table]] in 1598.<ref name="EB1911"/>

Contrary to popular belief, Abraham Ortelius, who had no children, never lived at the ''Mercator-Orteliushuis'' (Kloosterstraat 11–17, Antwerpen), but lived at his sister's house (Kloosterstraat 33–35, Antwerpen).<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.sint-andries.com/Archief/straatnamen/huizen/Kloosterstraat-Het%20Mercator-Orteliushuis%20te%20Antwerpen.htm |title=Het Mercator-Orteliushuis te Antwerpen |access-date=2013-03-25 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304095724/http://www.sint-andries.com/Archief/straatnamen/huizen/Kloosterstraat-Het%20Mercator-Orteliushuis%20te%20Antwerpen.htm |archive-date=2016-03-04 |url-status=dead |df=dmy-all }}</ref>

==Modern use of maps==
Originals of Ortelius's maps are popular collectors' items and often sell for tens of thousands of dollars. [[Facsimile]]s of his maps are also available from many retailers. A map he made of North and South America is also included in the world's largest commercially available [[jigsaw puzzle]], which is of four world maps.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.jigsawgallery.com/details.php?refnum=R17821 |title=JigsawGallery.com's World Map – The Worlds Largest Puzzle |access-date=2009-05-21 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070412131634/http://www.jigsawgallery.com/details.php?refnum=R17821 |archive-date=April 12, 2007 }}</ref> This puzzle is made by [[Ravensburger]], measures {{convert|6|ft|m}} × {{convert|9|ft|m}}, and has over 18,000 pieces.

==Imagining continental drift==
Ortelius was the first to underline the geometrical similarity between the coasts of America and Europe-Africa and to propose [[continental drift]] as an explanation. Kious described Ortelius's thoughts in this way:<ref>{{cite book |last=Kious |first=W.J. |author2=Tilling, R.I. |title=This Dynamic Earth: the Story of Plate Tectonics |orig-year=1996 |url=http://pubs.usgs.gov/gip/dynamic/dynamic.html |access-date=2008-01-29 |edition=Online |publisher=U.S. Geological Survey |isbn=0-16-048220-8 |chapter=Historical perspective |chapter-url=http://pubs.usgs.gov/gip/dynamic/historical.html |year=2001}}; Ortelius, ''Thesaurus Geographicus'' (Antwerp, (Belgium): Officina Plantiniana [Plantin Press] 1596), [https://books.google.com/books?id=AWhXAAAAcAAJ&pg=RA1-PR24 entry: "Gadiricus"]</ref>
{{quote|Abraham Ortelius in his work ''Thesaurus Geographicus'' … suggested that the Americas were "torn away from Europe and Africa … by earthquakes and floods" and went on to say: "The vestiges of the rupture reveal themselves, if someone brings forward a map of the world and considers carefully the coasts of the three [continents]."}}
Ortelius's observations of continental juxtaposition and his proposal of rupture and separation went unnoticed until the late 20th century. However, they were repeated in the 18th and 19th centuries (for example, [[Antonio Snider-Pellegrini]]) and later by [[Alfred Wegener]], who published his hypothesis of [[continental drift]] in 1912 and in following years.<ref>Wegener, Alfred (July 1912); Wegener, Alfred (1966)</ref> Because his publications were widely available in German and English and because he adduced geological support for the idea, Wegener is credited by most geologists as the first to recognize the possibility of continental drift.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=McIntyre |first1=Michael |last2=Eilers |first2=H. Peter |last3=Mairs |first3=John |title=Physical geography |year=1991 |publisher=Wiley |location=New York |isbn=0-471-62017-3 |page=[https://archive.org/details/physicalgeograph00mcinrich/page/273 273] |url=https://archive.org/details/physicalgeograph00mcinrich/page/273 }}</ref> [[Frank Bursley Taylor]] (in 1908) was also an early advocate of continental drift.  During the 1960s geophysical and geological evidence for [[seafloor spreading]] at [[mid-oceanic ridge]]s became increasingly compelling to geologists (e.g. [[Harry H. Hess]], 1960) and finally established continental drift as an ongoing global mechanism (e.g. by the work of [[W. Jason Morgan]] by 1967 and [[Dan McKenzie (geophysicist)|Dan McKenzie]] in 1968). After more than three centuries, Ortelius's supposition of continental drift was vindicated.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://pubs.usgs.gov/gip/dynamic/historical.html|title=Historical perspective |work=This Dynamic Earth |publisher=[[USGS]]}}</ref>

==Bibliography==
[[File:Ortelius, Abraham – Theatrum orbis terrarum, 1609 – BEIC 12854531.jpg|thumb|{{Lang|la|[[Theatrum Orbis Terrarum]]}}, 1609]]
* {{Cite book|author=Ortelius, Abraham|title=Nomenclator ptolemaicus|volume=|publisher=Robert Bruneau|location=Antwerpen|year=1603|language=la|url=https://gutenberg.beic.it/webclient/DeliveryManager?pid=12856724}}
* {{Cite book|author=Ortelius, Abraham|title=Theatrum orbis terrarum|volume=|publisher=Jean Baptiste Vrints|location=Antwerpen|year=1609|language=la|url=https://gutenberg.beic.it/webclient/DeliveryManager?pid=12854531}}
* Abraham Ortelius, ''{{Lang|la|Theatrum Orbis Terrarum}}. Gedruckt zu Nuermberg durch Johann Koler Anno MDLXXII. Mit einer Einführung und Erläuterungen von Ute Schneider.'' Second unchanged edition (''2. unveränd. Aufl''). Darmstadt, Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, 2007.

==Notes==
{{Reflist|group=Note}}

==References==
[[File:Abraham Ortelius-Islandia-ca 1590.jpg|thumb|Iceland, {{Circa|1590}}]]
[[File:Brittenburg-Ortelius-1581.jpg|thumb|Brittenburg-Ortelius-1581]]
[[File:1584 map of Greece by Abraham Ortelius.jpg|thumb|1584 map of Greece by Abraham Ortelius]]
{{reflist}}

==Sources==
* {{cite book |last=Binding |first=Paul |title=Imagined Corners: exploring the world's first atlas |publisher=Review Books |location=London |year=2003 |isbn=0747230404 }}
* {{ODNBweb |first=Joost |last=Depuydt |title=Ortelius, Abraham (1527–1598) |year=2004 |edition=online |id=20854 }}
* {{cite journal |last=Génard |first=P. |title=La généalogie du géographe Abraham Ortelius |journal=Bulletin de la Société royale de Géographie d'Anvers |date=1880 |volume=5 |pages=312–49 }}
* {{cite book |last=Hess |first=H. H. |year=1960 |chapter=Nature of great oceanic ridges |title=Preprints of the First International Oceanographic Congress (New York, August 31 – September 12, 1959 |place=Washington |publisher=American Association for the Advancement of Science. (A) |pages=33–34 }}
* {{cite book |editor-first=J. H. |editor-last=Hessels |title=Abrahami Ortelii epistulae |series=Ecclesiae Londino-Batavae archivvm |volume=1 |location=Cambridge |year=1887 }} (an edition of Ortelius's letters)
* {{cite book | first=Robert J. Jr. |last=Karrow |title=Mapmakers of the Sixteenth Century and their Maps: bio-bibliographies of the cartographers of Abraham Ortelius, 1570 |location=Chicago |publisher=Speculum Orbis Press |year=1993 |isbn=0932757057 }} 
* {{cite book |first=C. |last=Koeman |title=The History of Abraham Ortelius and his Theatrum Orbis Terrarum |location=Lausanne |publisher=Sequoia |year=1964 }}
* {{cite journal |last=Rooses |first=Max |year=1880 |title=Ortelius et Plantin: note communiqué à M. P. Genard |journal=Bulletin de la Société royale de géographie d'Anvers |volume=5 |pages=350–356 }}
* {{cite book |first=Marcel |last=van den Broecke |orig-year=1996 |year=2011 |title=Ortelius Atlas Maps: an illustrated guide |edition=2nd |publisher=HeS & De Graaf |location=Houten |isbn=9789061943808 }}
* {{cite book |editor1-first=Marcel |editor1-last=van den Broecke |editor2-first=Peter |editor2-last=van der Krogt |editor3-first=Peter |editor3-last=Meurer |title=Abraham Ortelius and the First Atlas: essays commemorating the quadricentennial of his death, 1598–1998 |publisher=HeS Publishers |location=Houten |year=1998 |isbn=9789061943884 }}
* {{cite book |first=Emanuel |last=van Meteren |author-link=Emanuel van Meteren |title=Historia Belgica |location=Amsterdam |year=1670 }}
* {{cite book |last=Wauwermans |first=H. E. |year=1895 |title=Histoire de l'école cartographique belge et anversoise du XVe siècle |location=Brussels |publisher=Institute nationale de géographie |volume=2 |pages=109–61, 452–59 }}
* {{cite book |last=Wauwermans |first=H. E. |year=1901 |chapter=Abraham Ortels ou Wortels, dit Ortelius, géographe et antiquaire |title=Biographie Nationale de Belgique |volume=16 |location=Brussels |pages=291–332 }}
* {{cite journal |last=Wegener |first=Alfred |s2cid=129316588 |date=July 1912 |title=Die Entstehung der Kontinente |journal=Geologische Rundschau |volume=3 |issue=4 |pages=276–92 |bibcode=1912GeoRu...3..276W |doi=10.1007/BF02202896 }}
* {{cite book |last=Wegener |first=Alfred |translator-first=John |translator-last=Biram |year=1966 |title=The Origin of Continents and Oceans |url=https://archive.org/details/originsofcontine0000unse |url-access=registration |location=New York |publisher=Dover |isbn=0-486-61708-4 }} (Translated from the fourth revised German edition.)
* {{cite book |first=Charles |last=Wehrenberg |title=Before New York |publisher=Solo Zone |location=San Francisco |orig-year=1995 |year=2001 |isbn=1-886163-16-2 }}

==Further reading==
* {{cite book |last=Meganck |first=Tine Luk |title=Erudite Eyes: friendship, art and erudition in the network of Abraham Ortelius (1527–1598) |year=2017 |location=Boston |publisher=Brill |isbn=978-9-004-34167-8 }}

==See also==
* {{Lang|la|[[Theatrum Orbis Terrarum]]}} (''Theatre of the World'')
* [[History of cartography]]
* [[Early modern Netherlandish cartography]]
* [[Golden Age of Netherlandish cartography]]

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Ortelius, Abraham}}
[[Category:16th-century Flemish cartographers]]
[[Category:1527 births]]
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[[Category:Scientists from Antwerp]]
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