This brief excerpt from Jerry Brotton’s A History of the World in Twelve Maps provides the best short read on Mercator’s projection. For teachers there is a short lesson here.
A sophisticated explanation of the Mercator projection. Mercator’s projection was of special significance to navigators due to their accuracy and precision.
Born in 1512, he lived for 82 years, creating globes and maps up until his death.
Mercator drew the crucial latitude scale along the prime meridian through islands belonging to Spain and Portugal, the dominant naval powers of the era. (Location of Mercator’s prime meridian shown on map below)
View Mercator’s World Map in a larger map