Note 447 — Chapter XI · (Addenda.) 1526-1614.

Gerard Mercator was born at Rupelmonde, in East Flanders, on the fifth of March, 1512. Mercator is the Latinized form of his German name, Kremer, a tradesman, merchant. After studying at Bois-le-Duc, in Brabant, he entered the university of Louvain. He selected for his profession the manufacture of mathematical instruments and the art of drawing and engraving. His cartographic fame began with the engraving of a map of Palestine, in 1537. Next followed a map of Flanders, in 1540. Then in 1541, a large terrestrial globe, which he dedicated to the “Illustriss Dno Nicolao Perrenoto, Domino à Granuella”; the original drawings of which are preserved in the Royal library of Belgium, in Brussels. In 1552, Mercator removed from Louvain to Duisburg, where, in 1569, he made his famous map of the world. He died in December, 1594.