Marina Rajaković

Map Projection Reconstruction of a Map by Mercator

The paper describes the beginning of research on Mercator’s map Sclavonia, Croatia, Bosnia cum Dalmatiae parte. This map has many editions and shows a great part of present-day Croatia. Zagreb, the capital of Croatia, is shown in two different places on the map. Naturally, this raises the question of its accuracy. One of the first steps in the research process was finding the mathematical basis, i.e. the map projection used to create the map. The research results showed it was a trapezoidal projection, but there are no references as to where an appropriate derivation of the equations can be found. Therefore, on the basis of Mercator’s own description, cited in this paper, the derivation of the equations for his trapezoidal projection is given. He used this map projection to produce the map Sclavonia, Croatia, Bosnia cum Dalmatiae parte, as well as many other maps.