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Abraham Ortelius: A Resource Guide

Featured Selection of Maps

The following galleries feature digitized maps by Abraham Ortelius from the Geography and Map Division collections at the Library of Congress. The additional descriptions for the featured maps were taken from Ortelius atlas maps: an illustrated guide by Marcel P.R. van den Broecke.

Gallery of Maps

Abraham Ortelius, cartographer. Tartariae sive Magni Chami Regni tÿpus. 1603. Library of Congress Geography and Map Division.
The map titled Tartariae sive Magni Chami Regni tÿpus was based on a map of Asia that was published in 1561 by Giacomo Gastaldi and a wall map of the world that was made by Abraham Ortelius in 1564.

Abraham Ortelius, cartographer. Peruuiae avriferæ regionis typus. 1584. Library of Congress Geography and Map Division.
The Peruuiae avriferæ regionis typus is of the Peruvian coast, Florida and the Huestaca region in Mexico. The name Didacus Mendezius is printed on the map of the Peruvian coast. Didacus Mendezius is unknown in cartographic history. The map of Florida was based on a map by Geronimo de Chaves. The author of the map of the Huestaca region is unknown.

Abraham Ortelius, cartographer. Africae Tabula Nova. 1570. Library of Congress Geography and Map Division.
The Africae Tabula Nova map was based on a map that was made in 1564 by Giacomo Gastaldi.

Abraham Ortelis, cartographer. Typvs orbis terrarvm. 1579. Library of Congress Geography and Map Division.
The Typvs orbis terrarvm map was based on Gerard Mercator's world map of 1569, Giacomo Gastaldi's world map of 1561, and a map of the Atlantic Ocean made by Diego Gutierrez in 1562.

Abraham Ortelius,cartographer. Portugalliae: que olim Lusitania, nouissima & exactissima descriptio. 1579. Library of Congress Geography and Map Division.
The Portugalliae: que olim Lusitania, nouissima & exactissima descripti map was based on a map by Fernando Alvarez Secco in 1561.

Abraham Ortelius, cartographer. Baptista Boazio's Irlandiæ c. 1606 = Irlandiæ accvrata descriptio.1606. Library of Congress Geography and Map Division.
The Irlandiæ accvrata descriptio map is a derivative of a larger map of Ireland that was created in 1599 by Auctore Baptista Boazio.