In 39 1 a.d., fanatical Christians did the most serious damage to culture: they razed the Alexandria Library, the largest treasure house of knowledge in the world at that time. In the following 1000 years, the real geographical situation of the earth was shrouded in layers of fog. Thus, Jerusalem became the center of the world, and Asia became the producing area of carnivorous vultures. ?

It was not until the16th century that map drawing got back on track. A new generation of draftsmen drew many maps according to the explorer's development and mathematical knowledge. One of the most famous is the map drawn by the Flemish scholar Gé rard de Kramer. His Latin name is Gerardus Mercator, which means "businessman". Mercator's name often appears on the most widely used maps in the world.

Mercator, written by Nicholas Crane, tells the story of Mercator in detailed and fascinating details. Mercator was born in Flanders (now Belgium) in 15 12. When he was a child, he lived a very poor life and experienced the social and religious turmoil that swept across Europe. Mercator became a homeless orphan at the age of 18. He changed his name to Latin and entered the University of Leuven.

He wanted to be a philosopher at first, but he soon realized that this was not the way to get rich. He found that people needed maps more and more, so he studied mathematics. 1569, Mercator drew the first map of the world according to Mercator projection method.

However, this is only the beginning of the surveying and mapping revolution initiated by Mercator. In his view, geography not only determines the location of cities and rivers, but also grasps the world political situation. Mercator created the concept of "atlas" (the word was also invented by him) and marked the magnetic orientation on the map for the first time.

Extended data

Character introduction:

Gerardus Mercator? 1565438+March 5, 2002-159465438+February 2) was a cartographer of16th century. Proficient in astronomy, mathematics and geography. 15 12 was born in Flanders (near Antwerp, Belgium) on March 5th.

1530 ——1532 studied at the University of Leuven. 1552 moved to Duisburg, Germany. As early as 1537, the first map (Palestine) was drawn, followed by a field survey in Flanders, and the magnetic meridian discovered by Columbus was taken as the standard meridian, which was the beginning of mapping.

Baidu Encyclopedia-Mercator