Mer·ca·tor  (mər-kā'tər, měr-kä'tôr)  Flemish cartographer who developed the Mercator projection (1568). |
| Mercator (mər-kā'tər) Pronunciation Key
Flemish cartographer who in 1568 developed the Mercator projection. In 1585 he began work on a book of maps of Europe, a project that was later completed by his son and published in 1595. As a result of the drawing of the Greek titan Atlas carrying the globe on his shoulders on the book's cover, the term "atlas" was subsequently applied to any book of maps. |