ABEE, MICHELE D., Ph.D. The Mercator Projection: Its Uses, Misuses, and Its Association with Scientific Information and the Rise of Scientific Societies. (2019) Directed by Dr. Jeff Patton and Dr. Linda Rupert. 309 pp. This study examines the uses and misuses of the Mercator Projection for the past 400 years. In 1569, Dutch cartographer Gerard Mercator published a projection that revolutionized maritime navigation. The Mercator Projection is a rectangular projection with great areal exaggeration, particularly of areas beyond 50 degrees north or south, and is ill-suited for displaying most reference and thematic world maps. The current literature notes the significance of Gerard Mercator, the Mercator Projection, the general failings of the projection, and the twentieth century controversies that arose as a consequence of its misuse. This dissertation illustrates the path of the institutionalization of the Mercator Projection in western cartography and the roles played by navigators, scientific societies and agencies, and by the producers of popular reference and thematic maps and atlases. The data are pulled from the publication record of world maps and world maps in atlases for content analysis. The maps ranged in date from 1569 to 1900 and displayed global or near global coverage. The results revealed that the misuses of the Mercator Projection began after 1700, when it was connected to scientists working with navigators and the creation of thematic cartography. During the eighteenth century, the Mercator Projection was published in journals and reports for geographic societies that detailed state-sponsored explorations. In the nineteenth century, the influence of well- known scientists using the Mercator Projection filtered into the publications for the general public. This dissertation offers a glimpse into the complexities of mapping, the choice of map projection and why the Mercator Projection changed human’s ability of moving from one place to another, or, their perception of spatial arrangement of the globe. THE MERCATOR PROJECTION: ITS USES, MISUSES, AND ITS ASSOCIATION WITH SCIENTIFIC INFORMATION AND THE RISE OF SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES by Michele D. Abee A Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of The Graduate School at The University of North Carolina at Greensboro in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy Greensboro 2019 Approved by Committee Co-Chair Committee Co-Chair © 2019 Michele D. Abee APPROVAL PAGE This dissertation, written by Michele D. Abee, has been approved by the following committee of the Faculty of The Graduate School at The University of North Carolina at Greensboro. Committee Co-Chair Committee Co-Chair Committee Members Date of Acceptance by Committee Date of Final Oral Examination ii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page LIST OF FIGURES ............................................................................................................ v CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................... 1 Research Approach ......................................................................................3 Structure of the Dissertation ........................................................................4 II. UNDERSTANDING MAP PROJECTIONS .......................................................7 Choosing a Map Projection ........................................................................19 The Mercator Projection ............................................................................23 Alternatives to The Mercator Projection....................................................32 III. THE MERCATOR PROJECTION’S HISTORICAL BACKGROUND ...........51 Origins of the Mercator Projection and the Role of Mercator’s Network .................................................................................................54 The Mercator Projection in Dutch Atlas Production .................................60 The English Connection: John Dee and Edward Wright ...........................70 IV. LITERATURE, DATA, METHODS, AND RESULTS ....................................80 Approaches to the Mercator Projection in Current Literature ...................80 Data and Methods ......................................................................................89 Results of the Survey .................................................................................93 1569 – 1699....................................................................................99 1700 – 1799..................................................................................100 1800 – 1849..................................................................................102 1850 – 1900..................................................................................107 V. THE SPREAD OF THE MERCATOR PROJECTION ...................................113 Navigation, Corrections, and Initial Spread of the Mercator Projection ............................................................................................115 Early Thematic Mapping and the Rise of the Geographic Discipline .............................................................................................123 iii Early Thematic Mapping and Edmund Halley ........................................125 Scientific Exploration and Thematic Mapping ........................................137 Geographical Societies.............................................................................148 Cartography for the General Public .........................................................158 VI. CONCLUSION .................................................................................................179 BIBLIOGRAPHY ............................................................................................................189 APPENDIX A. DATA FOR THE STUDY....................................................................213 iv LIST OF FIGURES Page Figure 2.1. Diagram Showing the Developable Surfaces in Mapping: Cones, Cylinders or Planes ..................................................................................11 Figure 2.2. Tissot’s Indicatrix for (a) the Mercator Projection, (b) a Compromise Projection, and (c) an Equal Area Projection .....................17 Figure 2.3. The Loss of Sea Ice on the Mercator Projection Versus a Polar Projection ................................................................................................21 Figure 2.4. The Relative Size of Sweden and Cameroon on the Mercator Projection Compared to an Equal Area Projection .................................22 Figure 2.5. Gerard Mercator, ‘New and More Complete Representation of the Terrestrial Globe Properly Adapted for Use in Navigation,’ Duisburg, Duchy of Cleves, 1569, and The Mercator Projection Today .....................................................................................25 Figure 2.6. Loxodrome on a Globe ................................................................................28 Figure 2.7. A Great Circle Route Compared to the Rhumb Line and Multiple Rhumb Lines ...........................................................................................29 Figure 2.8. The Process of Transferring Data from One Projection to Another ............32 Figure 2.9. Oestliche und Westliche Halbkugel der Erde…Western and Eastern Hemispheres, Carl Ferdinand Wiland (Weimar, Germany: Geographisches Institut, 1842) ..............................................33 Figure 2.10. Eckert Projections I, III, and VI ..................................................................34 Figure 2.11. Goode’s Homolographic, Homolosine, and Current Projections ................37 Figure 2.12. The Miller Projection ..................................................................................40 Figure 2.13. The World in Armadillo by Erwin Raisz ....................................................41 Figure 2.14. The Gall Projection Versus the Gall-Peters Projection ...............................43 Figure 2.15. The Robinson Projection. ............................................................................45 v Figure 2.16. The Patterson Cylindrical Projection ..........................................................46 Figure 2.17. The Equal Earth Projection .........................................................................47 Figure 2.18. The Equal Earth Projection as Used by NASA ...........................................48 Figure 3.1. Portolan Chart of the Western Mediterranean, Portolan Chart, Naples, Italy, 1511 ..................................................................................52 Figure 3.2. ‘Typus Orbis Terrarum,’ Abraham Ortelius (Antwerp: Ex Officina Plantiniana, Abrah. Ortelij aere & cura, 1570)..........................64 Figure 3.3. Ptolemy’s World Map, 2nd Projection, Claudius Ptolemy, Lienhart Holle, Beatissimo Patri Paulo Secundo Pontifici Maximo, Donis Nicolaus Germanus (1482) ...........................................................65 Figure 3.4. ‘Holland Sea Chart,’ Lucas Jansz Waghenaer, Spieghel, Teerste Deel Vande Spieghel der Zeevaerdt, Vande Navigatie der Westersche Zee, Innehoudende Alle de Custen van Vranckrijck, Spaignen Ende ‘t Principaelste Deel van Engelandt, in Diversche Zee Caerten Begrepen (Leiden: Ghedruct tot Leyden: by Christoffel Plantijn: 1584) ...................................................68 Figure 3.5. ‘Nova et Aucta Orbis Terrae Description ad Usum Navigantium Emendate Accomodata,’ Gerard Mercator (Duisburg: 1569) .................73