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University of Amsterdam
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The University of Amsterdam is a public university located in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Established in 1632 by municipal authorities and later renamed for the city of Amsterdam and it is one of the largest research universities in Europe with 31,186 students,4,794 staff,1,340 PhD students and an annual budget of €600 million. It is the largest university in the Netherlands by enrollment, the main campus is located in central Amsterdam, with a few faculties located in adjacent boroughs. The university is organised into seven faculties, Humanities, Social and Behavioural Sciences, Economics and Business, Science, Law, Medicine, the University of Amsterdam has produced six Nobel Laureates and five prime ministers of the Netherlands. In 2014, it was ranked 50th in the world, 15th in Europe, in January 1632, the Athenaeum Illustre of Amsterdam was founded by the municipal authorities in Amsterdam. It was mainly devoted to medical teaching, the first two professors were Gerardus Vossius and Caspar Barlaeus. The Athenaeum Illustre provided education comparable to higher education institutions. After training at the Athenaeum, students could complete their education at a university in another town, Amsterdams large degree of religious freedom allowed for the establishment of these institutions. Students of the Colegium Chirugicum and the institutions regularly attended classes at the Athenaeum Illustre. ”The Athenaeum began offering classes for students attending non-academic professional training in pharmacy. The Athenaeum remained an institution until the 19th century, with no more than 250 students. Alumni of the Athenaeum include Cornelis Petrus Tiele, in 1877, the Athenuem Illustre became the Municipal University of Amsterdam and received the right to confer doctoral degrees. This gave the university the same privileges as national universities while being funded by the city of Amsterdam, the professors and lecturers were appointed by the municipal council. This resulted in a staff that was in ways more colorful than the staffs of national universities. The University of Amsterdams municipal status brought about the relatively early addition of the faculties of Economics, after the World War II the dramatic rise in the cost of university education put a constraint on the university’s growth. In 1961 the national government made the university a national university, giving it its current name, funding was now given by the national government instead of the city and the appointment of professors was transferred to the Board of Governors. The city of Amsterdam retained a limited influence until 1971, when the appointment was handed over to the Executive Board, the protest lasted for days and was eventually broken up by the police. During the 1970s and 1980s, the university was often the target of nationwide student actions, the university saw considerable expansion since becoming a national university, from 7,500 students in 1960 to over 32,000 in 2010. In 2007, UvA undertook the construction of the Science Park Amsterdam, much of the park has now been completed
2.
Joan Blaeu
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Joan Blaeu was a Dutch cartographer born in Alkmaar, the son of cartographer Willem Blaeu. In 1620 he became a doctor of law but he joined the work of his father, in 1635 they published the Atlas Novus in two volumes. Joan and his brother Cornelius took over the studio after their father died in 1638, Joan became the official cartographer of the Dutch East India Company. Blaeus world map, Nova et Accuratissima Terrarum Orbis Tabula, incorporating the discoveries of Abel Tasman, was published in 1648 and this map was revolutionary in that it depicts the solar system according to the heliocentric theories of Nicolaus Copernicus, which show the earth revolving around the sun. Blaeus map was copied for the map of the set into the pavement of the Groote Burger-Zaal of the new Amsterdam Town Hall, designed by the Dutch architect Jacob van Campen. As Jean Blaeu, he published the 12 volume Le Grand Atlas, ou Cosmographie blaviane, en laquelle est exactement descritte la terre, la mer. That was folio, and contained 593 engraved maps and plates, in March 2015, a copy was on sale for £750,000. Around 1649 Joan Blaeu published a collection of Dutch city maps named Toonneel der Steeden, in 1651 he was voted into the Amsterdam council. In 1654 Joan published the first atlas of Scotland, devised by Timothy Pont, in 1662 he reissued the Atlas Novus, also known as Atlas Maior, in 11 volumes, and one for oceans. A cosmology was planned as their project, but a fire destroyed the studio completely in 1672. Joan Blaeu died in Amsterdam the following year and he is buried in the Westerkerk there. Blaeu and Joan Blaeu, Houten, Hes & De Graaf publishers BV, ISBN 90-6194-438-4 BROTTON, Jerry, A History of the World in Twelve Maps, London, utrecht University Arader Galleries Collection of Maps from Blaeus Atlas Major. Brazil map by Joan Blaeu, Amsterdam 1650 Plan of Delft from Joan Blaeu Town book, Amsterdam 1660 Blaeu on the Dutch map Jonathan Potter Maps
3.
Map
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A map is a symbolic depiction emphasizing relationships between elements of some space, such as objects, regions, or themes. Many maps are static, fixed to paper or some other durable medium, although the earliest maps known are of the heavens, geographic maps of territory have a very long tradition and exist from ancient times. The word map comes from the medieval Latin Mappa mundi, wherein mappa meant napkin or cloth, thus, map became the shortened term referring to a two-dimensional representation of the surface of the world. Cartography or map-making is the study and practice of crafting representations of the Earth upon a flat surface, in addition to location information maps may also be used to portray contour lines indicating constant values of elevation, temperature, rainfall, etc. The orientation of a map is the relationship between the directions on the map and the compass directions in reality. The word orient is derived from Latin oriens, meaning East, in the Middle Ages many maps, including the T and O maps, were drawn with East at the top. Today, the most common – but far from universal – cartographic convention is that North is at the top of a map, several kinds of maps are often traditionally not oriented with North at the top, Maps from non-Western traditions are oriented a variety of ways. Old maps of Edo show the Japanese imperial palace as the top, labels on the map are oriented in such a way that you cannot read them properly unless you put the imperial palace above your head. Medieval European T and O maps such as the Hereford Mappa Mundi were centred on Jerusalem with East at the top, indeed, prior to the reintroduction of Ptolemys Geography to Europe around 1400, there was no single convention in the West. Portolan charts, for example, are oriented to the shores they describe, Maps of cities bordering a sea are often conventionally oriented with the sea at the top. Route and channel maps have traditionally been oriented to the road or waterway they describe, polar maps of the Arctic or Antarctic regions are conventionally centred on the pole, the direction North would be towards or away from the centre of the map, respectively. Typical maps of the Arctic have 0° meridian towards the bottom of the page, reversed maps, also known as Upside-Down maps or South-Up maps, reverse the North is up convention and have south at the top. Buckminster Fullers Dymaxion maps are based on a projection of the Earths sphere onto an icosahedron, the resulting triangular pieces may be arranged in any order or orientation. Modern digital GIS maps such as ArcMap typically project north at the top of the map, compass decimal degrees can be converted to math degrees by subtracting them from 450, if the answer is greater than 360, subtract 360. The scale statement may be taken as exact when the region mapped is small enough for the curvature of the Earth to be neglected, over larger regions where the curvature cannot be ignored we must use map projections from the curved surface of the Earth to the plane. Thus for map projections we must introduce the concept of point scale, which is a function of position, although the scale statement is nominal it is usually accurate enough for all but the most precise of measurements. Large scale maps, say 1,10,000, cover relatively small regions in detail and small scale maps, say 1,10,000,000, cover large regions such as nations, continents. The large/small terminology arose from the practice of writing scales as numerical fractions, there is no exact dividing line between large and small but 1/100,000 might well be considered as a medium scale
4.
Abraham Ortelius
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Abraham Ortelius was a Flemish/Netherlandish cartographer and geographer, conventionally recognized as the creator of the first modern atlas, the Theatrum Orbis Terrarum. Ortelius was born in the city of Antwerp, which was then in the Habsburg Netherlands, the Orthellius family were originally from Augsburg, a Free imperial city of the Holy Roman Empire. In 1535, the family had fallen under suspicion of Protestantism, following the death of Ortelius father, his uncle Jacobus van Meteren returned from religious exile in England to take care of Ortelius. Abraham remained close to his cousin Emanuel van Meteren who would move to London. In 1575 he was appointed geographer to the king of Spain, Philip II, on the recommendation of Arias Montanus, beginning as a map-engraver, in 1547 he entered the Antwerp Guild of Saint Luke as an illuminator of maps. He supplemented his income trading in books, prints, and maps, in 1560, however, when travelling with Mercator to Trier, Lorraine, and Poitiers, he seems to have been attracted, largely by Mercator’s influence, towards the career of a scientific geographer. This map subsequently appeared in reduced form in the Terrarum, in 1578 he laid the basis of a critical treatment of ancient geography by his Synonymia geographica. In 1596 he received a presentation from Antwerp city, similar to that afterwards bestowed on Rubens and his death on 28 June 1598, and his burial in the church of St. Michaels Abbey, Antwerp, were marked by public mourning. Quietis cultor sine lite, uxore, prole, reads the inscription on his tombstone, on 20 May 1570, Gilles Coppens de Diest at Antwerp issued Ortelius’ Theatrum Orbis Terrarum, the first modern atlas. Most of the maps were admittedly reproductions, and many discrepancies of delineation or nomenclature occur, in 1573 Ortelius published seventeen supplementary maps under the title Additamentum Theatri Orbis Terrarum. Four more Additamenta were to follow, the last one appearing in 1597 and he also had a keen interest and formed a fine collection of coins, medals and antiques, and this resulted in the book Deorum dearumque capita. He also published Itinerarium per nonnuilas Galliae Belgicae partes, a record of a journey in Belgium, in 1589 he published Maris Pacifici, the first dedicated map of the Pacific to be printed. Among his last works were an edition of Caesar, and the Aurei saeculi imago, sive Germanorum veterum vita, mores and he also aided Welser in his edition of the Peutinger Table in 1598. Contrary to popular belief, Abraham Ortelius, who had no children, never lived at the Mercator-Orteliushuis, originals of Ortelius maps are popular collectors items and often sell for tens of thousands of dollars. Facsimiles of his maps are available from many retailers. A map he made of North and South America is also included in the worlds largest commercially available jigsaw puzzle which is of four world maps and this puzzle is made by Ravensburger, measures 6 feet ×9 feet, and has over 18,000 pieces. Ortelius was the first to underline the geometrical similarity between the coasts of America and Europe-Africa, and to continental drift as an explanation. Kious described Ortelius thoughts in this way, Abraham Ortelius in his work Thesaurus Geographicus, suggested that the Americas were torn away from Europe and Africa
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History of cartography
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Cartography, or mapmaking, has been an integral part of the human history for thousands of years. Maps began as drawings but can also adopt three-dimensional shapes. The term cartography is modern, loaned into English from French cartographie in the 1840s, the earliest known maps are of the stars, not the earth. Dots dating to 16,500 BC found on the walls of the Lascaux caves map out part of the night sky, the Cuevas de El Castillo in Spain contain a dot map of the Corona Borealis constellation dating from 12,000 BC. Cave painting and rock carvings used simple visual elements that may have aided in recognizing landscape features, another ancient picture that resembles a map was created in the late 7th millennium BC in Çatalhöyük, Anatolia, modern Turkey. This wall painting may represent a plan of this Neolithic village, however, Maps in Ancient Babylonia were made by using accurate surveying techniques. For example, a 7.6 ×6.8 cm clay tablet found in 1930 at Ga-Sur, near contemporary Kirkuk, cuneiform inscriptions label the features on the map, including a plot of land described as 354 iku that was owned by a person called Azala. Most scholars date the tablet to the 25th to 24th century BC, Leo Bagrow dissents with a date of 7000 BC. Hills are shown by overlapping semicircles, rivers by lines, the map also is marked to show the cardinal directions. An engraved map from the Kassite period of Babylonian history shows walls, in contrast, the Babylonian World Map, the earliest surviving map of the world, is a symbolic, not a literal representation. It deliberately omits peoples such as the Persians and Egyptians, who were known to the Babylonians. The area shown is depicted as a circular shape surrounded by water, examples of maps from ancient Egypt are quite rare. Its originality can be seen in the inscriptions, its precise orientation. In reviewing the literature of early geography and early conceptions of the earth, all lead to Homer. Regardless of the doubts about Homers existence, one thing is certain, Homers knowledge of the Earth was very limited. He and his Greek contemporaries knew very little of the Earth beyond Egypt as far south as the Libyan desert, the south-west coast of Asia Minor, furthermore, the coast of the Black Sea was only known through myths and legends that circulated during his time. In his poems there is no mention of Europe and Asia as geographical concepts and that is why the big part of Homers world that is portrayed on this interpretive map represents lands that border on the Aegean Sea. Additional statements about ancient geography may be found in Hesiods poems, through the lyrics of Works and Days and Theogony he shows to his contemporaries some definite geographical knowledge. He introduces the names of rivers as Nile, Ister, the shores of the Bosporus, and the Euxine, the coast of Gaul, the island of Sicily
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Amsterdam
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Amsterdam is the capital and most populous municipality of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. Its status as the capital is mandated by the Constitution of the Netherlands, although it is not the seat of the government, which is The Hague. Amsterdam has a population of 851,373 within the city proper,1,351,587 in the urban area, the city is located in the province of North Holland in the west of the country. The metropolitan area comprises much of the part of the Randstad, one of the larger conurbations in Europe. Amsterdams name derives from Amstelredamme, indicative of the citys origin around a dam in the river Amstel, during that time, the city was the leading centre for finance and diamonds. In the 19th and 20th centuries the city expanded, and many new neighborhoods and suburbs were planned, the 17th-century canals of Amsterdam and the 19–20th century Defence Line of Amsterdam are on the UNESCO World Heritage List. As the commercial capital of the Netherlands and one of the top financial centres in Europe, Amsterdam is considered a world city by the Globalization. The city is also the capital of the Netherlands. Many large Dutch institutions have their headquarters there, and seven of the worlds 500 largest companies, including Philips and ING, are based in the city. In 2012, Amsterdam was ranked the second best city to live in by the Economist Intelligence Unit and 12th globally on quality of living for environment, the city was ranked 3rd in innovation by Australian innovation agency 2thinknow in their Innovation Cities Index 2009. The Amsterdam seaport to this day remains the second in the country, famous Amsterdam residents include the diarist Anne Frank, artists Rembrandt van Rijn and Vincent van Gogh, and philosopher Baruch Spinoza. The Amsterdam Stock Exchange, the oldest stock exchange in the world, is located in the city center. After the floods of 1170 and 1173, locals near the river Amstel built a bridge over the river, the earliest recorded use of that name is in a document dated October 27,1275, which exempted inhabitants of the village from paying bridge tolls to Count Floris V. This allowed the inhabitants of the village of Aemstelredamme to travel freely through the County of Holland, paying no tolls at bridges, locks, the certificate describes the inhabitants as homines manentes apud Amestelledamme. By 1327, the name had developed into Aemsterdam, Amsterdam is much younger than Dutch cities such as Nijmegen, Rotterdam, and Utrecht. In October 2008, historical geographer Chris de Bont suggested that the land around Amsterdam was being reclaimed as early as the late 10th century. This does not necessarily mean there was already a settlement then, since reclamation of land may not have been for farming—it may have been for peat. Amsterdam was granted city rights in either 1300 or 1306, from the 14th century on, Amsterdam flourished, largely from trade with the Hanseatic League
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Engraving
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Engraving is the practice of incising a design onto a hard, usually flat surface by cutting grooves into it. Wood engraving is a form of printing and is not covered in this article. Engraving was an important method of producing images on paper in artistic printmaking, in mapmaking. Other terms often used for printed engravings are copper engraving, copper-plate engraving or line engraving, hand engraving is a term sometimes used for engraving objects other than printing plates, to inscribe or decorate jewellery, firearms, trophies, knives and other fine metal goods. Traditional engravings in printmaking are also engraved, using just the same techniques to make the lines in the plate. Each graver is different and has its own use, engravers use a hardened steel tool called a burin, or graver, to cut the design into the surface, most traditionally a copper plate. Modern professional engravers can engrave with a resolution of up to 40 lines per mm in high grade work creating game scenes, dies used in mass production of molded parts are sometimes hand engraved to add special touches or certain information such as part numbers. In addition to engraving, there are engraving machines that require less human finesse and are not directly controlled by hand. They are usually used for lettering, using a pantographic system, there are versions for the insides of rings and also the outsides of larger pieces. Such machines are used for inscriptions on rings, lockets. Gravers come in a variety of shapes and sizes that yield different line types, the burin produces a unique and recognizable quality of line that is characterized by its steady, deliberate appearance and clean edges. The angle tint tool has a curved tip that is commonly used in printmaking. Florentine liners are flat-bottomed tools with multiple lines incised into them, ring gravers are made with particular shapes that are used by jewelry engravers in order to cut inscriptions inside rings. Flat gravers are used for work on letters, as well as wriggle cuts on most musical instrument engraving work, remove background. Knife gravers are for line engraving and very deep cuts, round gravers, and flat gravers with a radius, are commonly used on silver to create bright cuts, as well as other hard-to-cut metals such as nickel and steel. Square or V-point gravers are typically square or elongated diamond-shaped and used for cutting straight lines, V-point can be anywhere from 60 to 130 degrees, depending on purpose and effect. These gravers have very small cutting points, other tools such as mezzotint rockers, roulets and burnishers are used for texturing effects. Burnishing tools can also be used for stone setting techniques
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Gerardus Mercator
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Gerardus Mercator was a 16th-century German-Netherlandish cartographer, geographer and cosmographer. Mercator was one of the founders of the Netherlandish school of cartography and is considered as the most notable representative of the school in its golden age. He chose the word as a commemoration of a King Atlas of Mauretania whom he considered to be the first great geographer and this King Atlas was a son of the Titan Atlas but the two myths very quickly coalesced. A large part of Mercators income came from the sales of his terrestrial and celestial globes, for sixty years they were considered to be the finest in the world, and they were sold in such great numbers that there are many surviving examples. This was a substantial enterprise involving making the spheres, printing the gores, building substantial stands and he was also renowned for his scientific instruments, particularly his astrolabes and astronomical rings used to study the geometry of astronomy and astrology. Mercator wrote on geography, philosophy, chronology and theology, all of the wall maps were engraved with copious text on the region concerned. As an example the famous map of 1569 is inscribed with over 5000 words in fifteen legends. His table of chronology ran to some 400 pages fixing the dates of earthly dynasties, major political and military events, volcanic eruptions and he also wrote on the gospels and the old testament. Mercator was a devout Christian born into a Catholic family at a time when Martin Luthers Protestantism was gaining ground and he never declared himself as a Lutheran but he was clearly sympathetic and he was accused of heresy. He spent six months in prison but he emerged unscathed and this period of persecution is probably the major factor in his move from Catholic Leuven to a more tolerant Duisburg where he lived for the last thirty years of his life. Gerardus Mercator was born Geert De Kremer, the child of Hubert De Kremer. Their home town was Gangelt in the Duchy of Jülich but, at the time of the birth, Hubert was a poor artisan, a shoemaker by trade, but Gisbert, a priest, was a man of some importance in the community. Their stay in Rupelmonde was brief and within six months returned to Gangelt. Six years later, in 1518, the Kremers moved back to Rupelmonde, possibly motivated by the conditions in Gangelt—famine, plague. Today, many Belgians and Germans still claim Mercator as their own, despite the lack of any evidence pertaining to the birthplace and background of his father, Hubert. Most modern scholars adopt a position, hesitating to assign a nationality to Mercator. After Huberts death in 1526, Gisbert became Mercators guardian, hoping that Mercator might follow him into the priesthood, he sent the 15 year old Geert to the famous school of the Brethren of the Common Life at s-Hertogenbosch in the Duchy of Brabant. Mercator would follow similar precepts later in life—with problematic outcomes, the Brethren were renowned for their scriptorum and here Mercator may have encountered the italic script which he employed in his later work
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John Speed
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John Speed was an English cartographer and historian. He is known as Englands most famous and well-known Stuart period mapmaker of his time, Speed was born at Farndon, Cheshire and went into the tailoring business of his father, Samuel, later in life. While working in London, Speed was a tailor and member of a corresponding guild and these individuals included Sir Fulke Greville, who subsequently made him an allowance to enable him to devote his whole attention to research. By 1598 he had enough patronage to leave his manual labor job, as a reward for his earlier efforts, Queen Elizabeth granted Speed the use of a room in the Custom House. Speed, was, by point, as tailor turned scholar who had a highly-developed pictorial sense. In 1575, Speed married a woman named Susanna Draper in London, regardless, there is no doubt that the Speed family was relatively well-off. At age 77 or 78, in August 1629, Speed died and he was buried alongside his wife in Londons St Giles-without-Cripplegate church on Fore Street within the Barbican Estate. Later on, a memorial to John Speed was also erected behind the altar of the church, according to the churchs website, one of the few memorials that survived the bombing of London during The Blitz of 1940–1941. The website also notes that he cast for the niche in which the bust is placed was provided by the Merchant Taylors Company and his memorial brass has ended up on display in the Burrell Collection near Glasgow. It was with the encouragement of William Camden that Speed began his Historie of Great Britaine, the atlas was not above projections of his political opinions Speed represented King James I as one who unified the Kingdoms of the British isles. Most, but not all, of the county maps have town plans on them,54 His maps of English and Welsh counties, often with bordered with custumed figures ranging from nobility to country folk, are often found framed in homes throughout the United Kingdom. He also drew maps of the Channel Islands, Poland, and the Americas, on the year of his death, yet another collection of maps of Great Britain he had drawn the year before were published. As these writings indicate, he possibly saw Wales as English, since his maps were used in many high circles, Speeds legacy has been long-reaching. a scholar. a distinguished writer on history. He was also called a celebrated chronologer and histographer, cartographer, antique Maps, with information about John Speed John Speed Wikisource Stanford Libraries collection of John Speed and John Ogilby, 15-16th Century Cartographers John Speeds Find A Grave entry
