<P> Abraham Ortelius generally recognized as the creator of the world's first modern atlas, the Theatrum Orbis Terrarum (Theatre of the World). Ortelius's Theatrum Orbis Terrarum (1570) is considered the first true atlas in the modern sense: a collection of uniform map sheets and sustaining text bound to form a book for which copper printing plates were specifically engraved . It is sometimes referred to as the summary of sixteenth - century cartography . </P> <P> During the Age of Discovery (the Dutch Golden Age in particular, approximately 1580s--1702), using their expertise in doing business, cartography, shipbuilding, seafaring and navigation, the Dutch traveled to the far corners of the world, leaving their language embedded in the names of many places . Dutch exploratory voyages revealed largely unknown landmasses to the civilized world and put their names on the world map . In the 16th and 17th centuries, Dutch - speaking cartographers helped lay the foundations for the birth and development of modern cartography, including nautical cartography and stellar cartography (celestial cartography). The Dutch - speaking people came to dominate the map making and map printing industry by virtue of their own travels, trade ventures, and widespread commercial networks . The Dutch initiated what we would call today the free flow of geographical information . As Dutch ships reached into the unknown corners of the globe, Dutch cartographers incorporated new discoveries into their work . Instead of using the information themselves secretly, they published it, so the maps multiplied freely . The Dutch were the first (non-natives) to undisputedly discover, explore and map many unknown isolated areas of the world such as Svalbard, Australia, New Zealand, Tonga, Sakhalin, and Easter Island . In many cases the Dutch were the first Europeans the natives would encounter . Australia (originally known as New Holland), never became a permanent Dutch settlement, yet the Dutch were the first to undisputedly map its coastline . The Dutch navigators charted almost three - quarters of the Australian coastline, except the east coast . During the Age of Exploration, the Dutch explorers and cartographers were also the first to systematically observe and map (chart) the largely unknown far southern skies--the first significant scientific addition to the celestial cartography since Ptolemy's time (2nd century AD). Among the IAU's 88 modern constellations, there are 15 Dutch - created constellations, including 12 southern constellations . </P> <P> Triangulation had first emerged as a map - making method in the mid sixteenth century when Gemma Frisius set out the idea in his Libellus de locorum describendorum ratione (Booklet concerning a way of describing places). Dutch cartographer Jacob van Deventer was among the first to make systematic use of triangulation, the technique whose theory was described by Gemma Frisius in his 1533 book . </P> <P> The modern systematic use of triangulation networks stems from the work of the Dutch mathematician Willebrord Snell (born Willebrord Snel van Royen), who in 1615 surveyed the distance from Alkmaar to Bergen op Zoom, approximately 70 miles (110 kilometres), using a chain of quadrangles containing 33 triangles in all . The two towns were separated by one degree on the meridian, so from his measurement he was able to calculate a value for the circumference of the earth--a feat celebrated in the title of his book Eratosthenes Batavus (The Dutch Eratosthenes), published in 1617 . Snell's methods were taken up by Jean Picard who in 1669--70 surveyed one degree of latitude along the Paris Meridian using a chain of thirteen triangles stretching north from Paris to the clocktower of Sourdon, near Amiens . </P>

Who are the major contributors to cartography in history and what did they contribute