Among the great Arctic explorers of the first half of the nineteenth century were Parry, the two Bosses, and Sir John Franklin. See POLAR RESEARCH.
Final proof of the fact that the oceans encircle the continents was supplied by McClure's achieve ment of the northwest passage (1850-54), and by Nordenskjiild's voyage from Norway along the Siberian coast and out through Bering Strait in 1878.79. In 1892 Peary established the insular character of Greenland. Nansen's voyage in the Frain, (1893-96) determined the problem of the Arctic ice motion, and proved that there can be no large land division at the North Pole. Borch grevinck visited the Antarctic regions in 189 1 95, and again in 1898-1900, and his observations are now being extended by the co5perating expe ditions from England, Germany, and Norway.
The first geographical atlas was prepared by Claudius Ptolemy at Alexandria about A.D. 150. This gave the location of places on the earth's surface, and continued to be the best compendium for fourteen hundred years. It was printed many times during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, usually with the addition of maps embodying the results of contemporary travel and observation. It was finally superseded by the Atlas of Ortelius, published in 1570, and this in turn gave place in 1595 to that of Mercator, who had devised, about 1539, the principle of the projection known by his name, a scheme for representing a spheri cal surface on a plane, which is still most com monly used for practical working charts and maps. Ramusio and Hakluyt, contemporaries of Mercator, published the first two great collec tions of travels in the less-known parts of the world, thereby providing the data for succeeding efforts to enlarge geographical knowledge. At
lases making notable contributions to general knowledge were published by Blaen in 1638, Sanson in 1645, Delisle in 1700, D'Anville, 1745 71. and Stieler in 1817. Malte-Brun began the publication of his great Geographic universelle at Paris in 1810. One of the most distinguished names in the history of geographical literature is that of Karl Ritter, who died in the same year with Alexander Humboldt (1859). The publications of the Royal Geographical Society, founded in 1830, and Petermann's Mittheilungen, begun in 1845, are the most important sources of information on all matters of geographical interest. Jomard, Monuments de la Geographic (Paris, 1842-62), and Nordenskjold, Facsimile Atlas (Stockholm, 1889), and Periplus (Stock holm, 1897), are the principal sources of the study of early cartography. A monumental work on general geography is Reclus, Nouvelle geogra phic universelle (19 vols., Paris, 1875-94). The most valuable and comprehensive encyclopedia of geography is the Dictionnaire de geographic universelle of Vivien de Saint-Martin (Paris, 1877 - 90; supplement, 1895 - 1900). Consult: Cooley, History of Maritime and Inland Discov eries (London, 1831) ; Vivien de Saint-Martin, Ilistoire de la geographie (Paris, 1873) ; Lela wel, Geographie du moyen age (Brussels, 1852). German treatises on the age of discovery, "Das Zeitalter der Entdeekungen," are those of Peschel (Munich, 1858 and 1865), Huge (Berlin, 1881 and 1892), Kretschiner (Berlin. 1892), and GtInther (Berlin, 1892). Of special works the most important are those of Harrisse and Winsor on America; Grimm and Calvert on Australia ; and and Scott-Keltie on Africa.