The sun is shining and the world is open to you – the road awaits and you maybe off on a road trip, did you look at a map before you leave? Most people do, unless they are planning on going the same way as they did before. Have you ever thought about the map or atlas? who drew them? who was the first? what skills were needed? what was going on in the world and did the person actually have to travel around the world to know? The book Mercator – the Man who mapped the planet by Nicolas Crane first published by Weidenfeld & Nicolson (paperback by Phoenix in 2003) London UK, 2002.

To make maps, particularly in the 1500’s took many skills, not the least is gathering great amounts of information to properly fit on the map. One can think about our present day, most of the world has been discovered but names of places continually change and need constant updates for the most current map. If you think about the 1500’s the patrons for the globes were typically the princes or kings of the government of the day. Each of them had slightly different religion or thoughts about religion and it was reflected in the maps of the day. For the maps of the day, did not just have land masses but drawings on the side to show the importance of the prince or king. In the 1500’s this was both good and bad – the Catholic Inquisition happened (Luther had introduced Protestant and the leaders who were Catholic when they went to war jailed anyone they thought or supported the Protestants), which meant the symbols on the maps could put and did put Mercator into jail. Fortunately, the university supported him and academic freedom helped release Mercator from jail.

When Mercator was not bothered by the clergy or Imperial pressures, his thought process was free to take lateral excursions, changing course, bursting the banks to flood the fields of conventional wisdom. Mercator’s greatest asset: the ability to reconcile apparently disparate concepts, to articulate the result with unprecedented graphic eloquence. Some would describe his gift of one of originality; he viewed it as an exercise in harmonization.

In a simpler language he took the great amount of information, and determined correctly how it fit and communicate that thorough his maps, which allowed others to make decisions. In addition, in the mid 1550’s the center of books and printers and dealers of Europe was Frankfurt and the twice yearly book fairs drew the  public. Mercator was represented and the quality of his map making lead to sales which allowed him to continue to make more maps.

Linking to dividend paying stocks, Mercator was a great map maker which lead to making maps, but the real story is the ability to sell his product through the printing houses of Frankfurt. His ability to harmonize the information, the placement of longitude lines which made sailing accurate, his use of italic in the font, through the use of triangulation he became the world’s first scientific mapmaker. There is much to celebrate about Gerard Mercator, to bring us to mere morals, it helps if you have a map for your investments. The map can be goals, expectations, when to sell, when to add to your holdings with an understanding things happen in the world, most of what happens is beyond your control.

There are more questions than answers, till the next time – to raising questions.