Who Was Alive
Abraham Ortelius
Peter Paul Rubens / After Adriaen Thomasz. Key, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Abraham Ortelius

Cartographer and geographer

Born 4–14 April 1527 · died 28–29 June 1598, aged 71
Also known as Abraham Ortels, Abraham Oertel, Abram Ortellio

Who was alive at the same time as Abraham Ortelius?

  1. Erasmus, 1466 – 1536
  2. Niccolò Machiavelli, 1469 – 1527
  3. Albrecht Dürer, 1471 – 1528
  4. Nicolaus Copernicus, 1473 – 1543
  5. Michelangelo, 1475 – 1564
  6. Martin Luther, 1483 – 1546
  7. Hernán Cortés, 1485 – 1547
  8. Mimar Sinan, c. 1490 – 1588
  9. Jacques Cartier, 1491 – 1557
  10. Suleiman the Magnificent, 1494 – 1566
  11. John Calvin, 1509 – 1564
  12. Abraham Ortelius, 1527 – 1598
  13. Michel de Montaigne, 1533 – 1592
  14. Elizabeth I, 1533 – 1603
  15. Akbar, 1542 – 1605
  16. Miguel de Cervantes, c. 1547 – 1616
  17. Giordano Bruno, 1548 – 1600
  18. Francis Bacon, 1561 – 1626
  19. Galileo Galilei, 1564 – 1642
  20. William Shakespeare, 1564 – 1616
  21. Johannes Kepler, 1571 – 1630
  22. Peter Paul Rubens, 1577 – 1640
  23. Thomas Hobbes, 1588 – 1679
  24. René Descartes, 1596 – 1650

Drag across the timeline, or use the arrow keys, to see who was alive in any year and the age each person reached that year. Dashed lines mark world events. Faded ends mark uncertain dates.

When Abraham Ortelius was born, Michelangelo was 52, Martin Luther was 43, Niccolò Machiavelli was 57, Nicolaus Copernicus was 54 and Albrecht Dürer was 55.

When Abraham Ortelius died, William Shakespeare was 34, Galileo Galilei was 34, René Descartes was 2, Elizabeth I was 64 and Francis Bacon was 37.

Born during Abraham Ortelius’s lifetime: William Shakespeare, Galileo Galilei, René Descartes, Miguel de Cervantes, Elizabeth I, Francis Bacon, Johannes Kepler and Peter Paul Rubens.

Not quite contemporaries: Leonardo da Vinci died about 8 years before Abraham Ortelius was born, Rembrandt was born about 8 years after Abraham Ortelius died, Ferdinand Magellan died about 6 years before Abraham Ortelius was born and Raphael died about 7 years before Abraham Ortelius was born.

What happened in Abraham Ortelius’s lifetime

Where Abraham Ortelius’s contemporaries were born

Abraham Ortelius is labelled; the others are the best-known people we track who lived at the same time. Each dot is a birthplace from Wikidata (78 of 81 placed); tap one to open that person.
Birthplaces as a list

Compare Abraham Ortelius

The 150 best-known contemporaries

185 of the people we track were surely alive at the same time as Abraham Ortelius. The 150 best known are listed here. See also everyone alive in 1563.

  1. William Shakespeare 1564 – 1616
  2. Galileo Galilei 1564 – 1642
  3. Michelangelo 1475 – 1564
  4. Martin Luther 1483 – 1546
  5. René Descartes 1596 – 1650
  6. Miguel de Cervantes c. 1547 – 1616
  7. Niccolò Machiavelli 1469 – 1527
  8. Nicolaus Copernicus 1473 – 1543
  9. Elizabeth I 1533 – 1603
  10. Francis Bacon 1561 – 1626
  11. Albrecht Dürer 1471 – 1528
  12. Johannes Kepler 1571 – 1630
  13. Peter Paul Rubens 1577 – 1640
  14. Hernán Cortés 1485 – 1547
  15. Akbar 1542 – 1605
  16. Jacques Cartier 1491 – 1557
  17. Thomas Hobbes 1588 – 1679
  18. Erasmus 1466 – 1536
  19. Suleiman the Magnificent 1494 – 1566
  20. Giordano Bruno 1548 – 1600
  21. Michel de Montaigne 1533 – 1592
  22. Mimar Sinan c. 1490 – 1588
  23. John Calvin 1509 – 1564
  24. François Rabelais 1494 – 1553
  25. Thomas More c. 1478 – 1535
  26. Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor 1500 – 1558
  27. Lope de Vega 1562 – 1635
  28. Tycho Brahe 1546 – 1601
  29. Nostradamus 1503 – 1566
  30. Francis Drake c. 1540 – 1596
  31. Henry VIII 1491 – 1547
  32. Ivan the Terrible 1530 – 1584
  33. Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina 1525 – 1594
  34. Caravaggio 1571 – 1610
  35. El Greco 1541 – 1614
  36. Luís de Camões c. 1525 – 1580
  37. Philip II of Spain 1527 – 1598
  38. Titian c. 1490 – 1576
  39. Teresa of Ávila 1515 – 1582
  40. Babur 1483 – 1530
  41. Mary, Queen of Scots 1542 – 1587
  42. Guru Nanak 1469 – 1539
  43. Paracelsus 1493 – 1541
  44. Ignatius of Loyola c. 1491 – 1556
  45. Cardinal Richelieu 1585 – 1642
  46. Anne Boleyn 1501 – 1536
  47. Henry IV of France 1553 – 1610
  48. Mary I 1516 – 1558
  49. Christopher Marlowe c. 1564 – 1593
  50. John Donne 1572 – 1631
  51. Shah Jahan 1592 – 1666
  52. Huldrych Zwingli 1484 – 1531
  53. John Amos Comenius 1592 – 1670
  54. James VI and I 1566 – 1625
  55. Pope Gregory XIII 1502 – 1585
  56. Edward VI 1537 – 1553
  57. Torquato Tasso 1544 – 1595
  58. Hugo Grotius 1583 – 1645
  59. Pope Paul III 1468 – 1549
  60. William Harvey 1578 – 1657
  61. Ludovico Ariosto 1474 – 1533
  62. Francis I of France 1494 – 1547
  63. Pieter Bruegel the Elder c. 1525 – 1569
  64. Pope Pius V 1504 – 1572
  65. Nicolas Poussin 1594 – 1665
  66. Francisco Pizarro c. 1478 – 1541
  67. Catherine de' Medici 1519 – 1589
  68. Pope Urban VIII 1568 – 1644
  69. Francis Xavier 1506 – 1552
  70. Giorgio Vasari 1511 – 1574
  71. Pope Paul V 1552 – 1621
  72. Claudio Monteverdi 1567 – 1643
  73. Ben Jonson 1572 – 1637
  74. Miyamoto Musashi 1584 – 1645
  75. Hürrem Sultan c. 1507 – c. 1560
  76. Fuzuli c. 1488 – 1556
  77. Pope Pius IV 1499 – 1565
  78. Tintoretto 1519 – 1594
  79. Pope Leo XI 1535 – 1605
  80. Tokugawa Ieyasu 1543 – 1616
  81. John Napier 1550 – 1617
  82. Pope Clement VII 1478 – 1534
  83. Catherine of Aragon 1485 – 1536
  84. Andreas Vesalius 1514 – 1564
  85. Pope Clement VIII 1536 – 1605
  86. Pope Gregory XV 1554 – 1623
  87. Abbas the Great 1571 – 1629
  88. Gustavus Adolphus 1594 – 1632
  89. Pope Julius III 1487 – 1555
  90. Pope Sixtus V 1521 – 1590
  91. Francisco de Quevedo 1584 – 1645
  92. Pope Paul IV 1476 – 1559
  93. Pope Urban VII 1521 – 1590
  94. John of the Cross 1542 – 1591
  95. Jahangir 1569 – 1627
  96. Pope Innocent X 1574 – 1655
  97. Gerolamo Cardano 1501 – 1576
  98. Humayun 1508 – 1556
  99. William the Silent 1533 – 1584
  100. Philipp Melanchthon 1497 – 1560
  101. Oda Nobunaga 1534 – 1582
  102. Pope Gregory XIV 1535 – 1591
  103. Lady Jane Grey 1537 – 1554
  104. Murad III 1546 – 1595
  105. Pope Clement X 1590 – 1676
  106. Andrea Palladio 1508 – c. 1580
  107. Paolo Veronese 1528 – 1588
  108. Willem Barentsz c. 1551 – 1597
  109. Hayreddin Barbarossa c. 1478 – 1546
  110. Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor 1503 – 1564
  111. Selim II 1524 – 1574
  112. Toyotomi Hideyoshi 1537 – 1598
  113. Edmund Spenser c. 1553 – 1599
  114. Guy Fawkes c. 1570 – 1606
  115. Philip III of Spain 1578 – 1621
  116. Pierre de Ronsard 1524 – 1585
  117. Henry III of France 1551 – 1589
  118. Tommaso Campanella 1568 – 1639
  119. Pope Marcellus II 1501 – 1555
  120. Charles IX of France 1550 – 1574
  121. Pope Innocent IX 1519 – 1591
  122. Mehmed III 1566 – 1603
  123. Tulsidas c. 1522 – 1623
  124. Gerardus Mercator 1512 – 1594
  125. Samuel de Champlain c. 1570 – 1635
  126. Francis de Sales 1567 – 1622
  127. Iskandar Muda 1583 – 1636
  128. Ahmed I 1590 – 1617
  129. Artemisia Gentileschi 1593 – 1653
  130. Henry II of France 1519 – 1559
  131. Joanna of Castile 1479 – 1555
  132. Gustav Vasa 1496 – 1560
  133. Hans Holbein the Younger 1497 – 1543
  134. William Gilbert 1544 – 1603
  135. Walter Raleigh c. 1552 – 1618
  136. Boris Godunov 1552 – 1605
  137. Mustafa I 1591 – 1639
  138. Michael of Russia 1596 – 1645
  139. Hernando de Soto c. 1500 – 1542
  140. Rudolf II, Holy Roman Emperor 1552 – 1612
  141. Sigismund III Vasa 1566 – 1632
  142. Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor 1578 – 1637
  143. Bartolomé de las Casas 1484 – 1566
  144. Atahualpa c. 1500 – 1533
  145. Francis II of France 1544 – 1560
  146. Étienne de La Boétie 1530 – 1563
  147. Margaret of Valois 1553 – 1615
  148. Mumtaz Mahal 1593 – 1631
  149. Bohdan Khmelnytsky 1595 – 1657
  150. Marguerite de Navarre 1492 – 1549