What is orontius phineas map?

Orontius Finnaeus, also known as Orontius Phineas, was a 16th-century cartographer and geographer from Belgium. He is most well-known for his pioneering work in creating the first modern-style maps of the Arctic and Antarctic regions, as well as his contributions to the study of magnetism.

Finnaeus was born in 1494 in Hainaut, a region in present-day Belgium. He received an education in mathematics and geography and eventually became a professor at the University of Louvain, where he taught astronomy, mathematics, and geography.

In 1531, Finnaeus published "De Orbis Situ Libri Tres," a book that contained several of his maps, including one of the North Pole. This map was groundbreaking for its time, as it depicted the Arctic as a frozen ocean surrounded by land masses, rather than as a continent. Finnaeus also showed the Arctic as being surrounded by a magnetic circle, which later influenced the study of geomagnetism.

In 1536, Finnaeus produced another map, this one of the South Pole, which also depicted the region as a frozen ocean surrounded by land. This map was particularly impressive because it was created before European explorers had actually reached the continent of Antarctica.

Finnaeus's maps were highly influential and were studied by other cartographers for centuries. He died in 1555, but his legacy lives on in the research he conducted and the maps he created.