Abraham Ortelius
Topic: Continental Drift, Sea-floor Spreading and Plate Tectonics · NCERT: Class 11, Ch 4 "Distribution of Oceans and Continents"
Meaning
Abraham Ortelius was a Dutch map maker. In 1596 he became the first person to suggest that the Americas, Europe and Africa were once joined together. He noticed that the coastlines on the two sides of the Atlantic Ocean look like matching halves, the way torn pieces of paper fit back together. He only suggested the idea from the shapes on his maps. He did not offer proof or a force that could move continents. He matters because the idea that later grew into the continental drift theory (that all continents were once one landmass that broke up and drifted apart) first appears in his work.
Example
The eastern bulge of Brazil in South America fits into the curve of the Gulf of Guinea on the west coast of Africa. This match across the Atlantic is the kind of fit Ortelius noticed.
Don't confuse with
- Alfred Wegener: a German meteorologist who set out the full continental drift theory in 1912. He backed it with evidence such as fossils and rocks, and named the supercontinent Pangaea. Ortelius only made an early suggestion based on the shapes of coastlines.
- Antonio Pellegrini: he drew a map that showed the three continents joined together. He did not make the first suggestion. Ortelius did that in 1596.