Typus Orbis Terrarum.

A fine first edition third printing example of Aberham Ortelius' iconic 1570 map of the world. 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. Centered on the Atlantic Ocean, the map, naturally, covers the entire world from pole to pole. The general presentation of an oval projection derived from earlier maps by Appianus and Bordonius. Cartographically it is derived from the world of Gerard Mercator (1569), Gastaldi (1561), and Gutierrez. 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.

Our survey of this important map will begin in North America. Much of the continent is unexplored but here Ortelius has roughly followed the work and forms laid down by Gerard Mercator in 1569. Beyond known colonial centers in central Mexico and the West Indies, the cartography is largely speculative. The eastern seaboard juts noticeably eastward - a product of inaccurate measurements of longitudes and magnetic variation. No trace is to be found of the Mississippi River despite its c. 1540 discovery by Hernando de Soto and Moscoso. Place names north of Mexico nonetheless generally correspond to American Indian centers discovered by De Soto (east of Texas) and Coronodo (west of Texas). In the northeast the results of voyages of exploration of Giovanni de Verrazzano and Jacques Cartier are much in evidence with the St. Lawrence being clearly if exaggeratedly represented. The mythical kingdom of gold Norumbega is identified along the Atlantic coast roughly in the vicinity of the Penobscot River. Of the Great Lakes, there is as yet no trace. 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 t - See more at: http://www.geographicus.com/P/AntiqueMap/TypusOrbisTerrarum-ortelius-1570#sthash.QFqZCEpX.dpuf