500th anniversary of the birth of Gerard Mercator

[Кирилл Сызранский]

The first cartographic work of Gerard Mercator appeared in 1537 and it was a map of Palestine.

In 1538, he published a map of the world in a double heart-shaped projection. One of the features of this card was a new interpretation of the name "America". As is known, has been named the new continent "America" ​​Martin Valdzeemyullerom in 1507, with the name refers only to the southern continent.
Then, over the years, this tradition was preserved. However, Mercator was convinced of the unity of Columbus' discovery of the world and on the above map in 1538 he signed accordingly, "America. Northern "and" America. The southern part of. "

In 1541 Mercator produced a terrestrial globe. Regarding the name of the new part of the world on this globe, Mercator has gone even further by breaking it into two parts: "America" ​​and "Rick" and signed by each part on different continents. A year earlier, Mercator published a manual on writing the words in italics, he substantiated his clarity, economy and convenience to the spelling of geographical names on maps. Since this type of font was used everywhere and is one of the major on modern maps.