Age of DiscoveryExploration Mercator projection 1569Major A map projection that lets sailors plot straight-line compass courses. ▲ MattersSaveShareTrace roots Longest chain: The Big Bang → First stars ignite → Supernovae seed heavy elements → The Sun forms → Earth forms → First oceans → First life → Photosynthesis evolves → Great Oxidation Event → Complex cells (eukaryotes) → Multicellular life → First animals → Cambrian Explosion → First vertebrates → Jawed fish → Fish walk onto land → The amniotic egg → The Great Dying → Dinosaurs appear → Asteroid ends the dinosaurs → Early primates → Apes split from monkeys → Human line splits from chimpanzees → Walking upright → First stone tools → Genus Homo appears → Homo erectus → Control of fire → Habitual fire and cooking → Homo sapiens appears → Complex language → Natufian villages → Oldest known bread → Agriculture begins → Irrigation → Uruk and the first cities → Cylinder seals → Writing (cuneiform) → Akkadian Empire → Neo-Assyrian Empire → Persian Empire founded → Persian Royal Road → Silk Road opens → Marco Polo's journey → Columbus reaches the Americas → First circumnavigation → Mercator projection Community notesLoading notes… Learn more ranked by votesDocumentbritannica.comMercator projection (Britannica) ↗Editor's pickDocumentbritannica.comGerardus Mercator (Britannica) ↗Editor's pickBookAndrew TaylorThe World of Gerard Mercator ↗Editor's pickVideoSearch on YouTubeMercator projection history explained ↗Editor's pick