Michael Mercator was the grandson of the famous Flemish geographer, mathematician and cartographer Gerardus Mercator (born Geert de Kremer, 1512-1594), who became known for his invention of the so-called “Mercator projection”, a map projection that, although it respects the shapes of the continents, does not conform to their actual size. Mercator applied that projection to his Atlas sive Cosmographicae meditationes de fabrica mundi et fabricati figura (Atlas or cosmographical meditations upon the creation of the universe, and the universe as created). The first two volumes of the work were published in 1594, while the third one was completed by his son Rumold and grandson Michael.
 

Michael created this map based on another one made by his father in 1587. In it, he renders some notions that were specific to his time, like, for instance, the idea that the Strait of Magellan separated South America from Antarctica, a landmass where he placed Tierra del Fuego; it also depicts the four islands of the North Pole and the St. Lawrence River crossing through half of North America.
 

The texts and explanations completing the map help us to understand the mentality of the time as well as the importance of the new discoveries that were being made. As examples of the curiosities found in the map, the statement that “on 11 October in the year of our Lord 1492, Christopher Columbus discovered the New India in the name of the King of Castile;” that the first land he explored was Hispaniola [on the map also called Haiti, corresponding to present day Haiti and Dominican Republic]; that “some people call that continent [Antarctica] ‘Magallanes’ in honour of the explorer who reached the strait on 21 October 1520;” that Magellan “was murdered in the Barussis Islands [Cebu, Philippines] and that his crew completed the journey around the world and returned to Spain after three years of navigation;” the heading “Terra Australis Nondum” visible in the bottom left section of the map alludes to the still uncharted areas of the Globe; we can also find references to Pinzón (one of the crew who joined Columbus’ exhibition) and to Francisco de Orellana, “a relative of the Pizarros, with whom he took part in the conquest of Peru in 1535.”

The plates of the Mercator atlases were acquired in 1606 by the cartographer and engraver Jodocus Hondius (1563-1612) with a view to continuing their publication.