Gerardus Mercator’s Groundbreaking Projection

The Mercator projection gets a lot of grief for distorting the relative sizes of different land masses, but Mercator’s map was actually pretty good at helping people navigate long distances at sea.

Research:

• “A new view: A new world map projection seeks to minimse the problems inherent in flattening the globe.” Geographical, vol. 93, no. 4, Apr. 2021, pp. 6+. Gale In Context: Science, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A669328662/GPS?u=mlin_n_melpub&sid=bookmark-GPS&xid=ab5b9ea8. Accessed 4 May 2022.
• Battersby, Sarah E. et al. “Implications of Web Mercator and Its Use in Online Mapping.” Cartographica: The International Journal for Geographic Information and Geovisualization, Volume 49, Number 2, Summer 2014. https://muse.jhu.edu/article/547504
• Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. “cylindrical projection”. Encyclopedia Britannica, 22 Oct. 2007, https://www.britannica.com/science/cylindrical-projection. Accessed 5 May 2022.
• DiSpezio, Michael A. “Seafarers, great circles, and a tad of rhumb: Understanding the Mercator Misconception.” Science Scope , NOVEMBER 2010, Vol. 34, No. 3. Via JSTOR. https://www.jstor.org/stable/43182923
• Freitas, Pedro. “Pedro Nunes and Mercator: a Map From a Table of Rhumbs.” International Center for Mathematics. Bulletin #37. October 2016. http://www.cim.pt/magazines/bulletin/3/article/31/pdf
• Gaspar, Joaquim Alves and Henrique Leitão. “Squaring the Circle: How Mercator Constructed His Projection in 1569.” Imago Mundi, Vol. 66, No. 1 (2014). Via JSTOR. https://www.jstor.org/stable/24270927
• “Gerardus Mercator.” Science and Its Times, edited by Neil Schlager and Josh Lauer, vol. 3, Gale, 2001. Gale In Context: Science, link.gale.com/apps/doc/K2643411143/GPS?u=mlin_n_melpub&sid=bookmark-GPS&xid=40780a22. Accessed 4 May 2022.
• Harvey, PDA. “Portolan charts before 1400.” British Library. https://www.bl.uk/picturing-places/articles/portolan-charts-before-1400
• History Today. “Birth of Gerardus Mercator.” March 2012.
• “Introduction of the Mercator World Map Revolutionizes Nautical Navigation.” Science and Its Times, edited by Neil Schlager and Josh Lauer, vol. 3, Gale, 2001. Gale In Context: Science, link.gale.com/apps/doc/CV2643450266/GPS?u=mlin_n_melpub&sid=bookmark-GPS&xid=b5b64a31. Accessed 4 May 2022.
• Monmonier, Mark. “Rhumb Lines and Map Wars: A Social History of the Mercator Projection.” University of Chicago Press. 2004.
• Sokol, Joshua. “Can This New Map Fix Our Distorted Views of the World?” New York Times. 2/24/2021. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/24/science/new-world-map.html

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