Gerhard Mercator (1512–1594) and His Influence on Globes in the 16th Century

Horst, Thomas (2016): Gerhard Mercator (1512–1594) and His Influence on Globes in the 16th Century. In: Globe Studies, Vol. 61/62: pp. 9-39

Abstract

2012 was the 500th anniversary of the birth of a great man who would transform the cartography of the modern era in a pioneering manner, namely the universal scholar, Gerhard Mercator (1512-1594). He not only produced extraordinary maps, but also segments of a terrestrial globe (1541) as well as connected to that, a celestial globe (1551) these are all looked at closely in the following study. Additionally, the historical museum in Basle is in possession of a remarkable astrological disc that the author proves here is the underside of the frame of Mercator's celestial globe held in the map collection of the Berlin state library. This disc and an instruction manual for Mercator's globes shows that this could also be used for astrological questions. Mercator strongly influenced his contemporaries with the appearance of his monumental world map of 1569. Philip Apian, the Bavarian cartographer (terrestrial globe in the Bavarian state library, Munich from 1575/76) as well as the unknown maker of the St. Gallen globe, used this map as a template for their visualised image of the world on both of their globes.

• Item Type: Journal article
• Keywords: Astrological disk; Gerhard Mercator (1541/1551); Globe pair
• Faculties: History and Art History > Department of History > Methods of Historiography and Historiographical Studies of Media
• Subjects: 900 History and geography > 910 Geography and travel; 900 History and geography > 940 History of Europe > 943 General Europe; Germany
• ISSN: 2305-6355
• Language: English