Abraham Ortelius

Hello. My name is Abraham Ortelius. When I was a little boy, a long, long time ago, I loved looking at maps. Maps are like special drawings that show you where everything in the world is. I thought they were treasures. I loved seeing all the different countries, big oceans, and tall mountains.

Back then, maps were all different sizes and kept in different places. If you wanted to see the whole world, you had to look at lots of separate scrolls and papers. It was messy. One day, I had a big idea. What if I collected all the best maps and put them together in one single book? It would be like a giant picture book of the whole world.

I worked very hard. I found maps from all over, and I carefully drew them so they all looked like they belonged together. In the year 1570, I finished my book and called it the 'Theatrum Orbis Terrarum,' which means 'Theater of the World.' It was the very first atlas. People could open my book and see every corner of the Earth on its pages. It was like magic.

I lived to be 71 years old, and I was so happy that my book helped people explore the world from their own homes. Today, you can still find atlases in your school or library. Every time you open one to learn about a new place, you are using an idea that I had a very long time ago to bring the whole wide world together in a book.