ORTELIUS, ABRAHAM, a celebrated geographer, called the Ptolemy of his time, was born at Antwerp in 1527.
He resided at Oxford in the reign of Edward VI.; came a second time into England in 1577; and is said to have persuaded Camden to write his Britannica. His Theatrum Orbis Terrarum, published at Antwerp in 1570, was the most complete work of the kind which had yet appeared, and gained him great reputation. He also wrote several other geographical works, the principal of which are, his Synonymia Geographica, Antwerp, 1578, and his Theatrum Geographicus, Antwerp, 1594. He died at Antwerp in 1598.