Who Was Alive
Gerardus Mercator
Nicolas de Larmessin, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Gerardus Mercator

Geographer and cosmographer

Born 5 March 1512 · died 2 December 1594, aged 82
Also known as Mercator, Gerard Merkator, Gérard de Cremer

Who was alive at the same time as Gerardus Mercator?

  1. Leonardo da Vinci, 1452 – 1519
  2. Vasco da Gama, c. 1464 – 1524
  3. Erasmus, 1466 – 1536
  4. Niccolò Machiavelli, 1469 – 1527
  5. Albrecht Dürer, 1471 – 1528
  6. Nicolaus Copernicus, 1473 – 1543
  7. Michelangelo, 1475 – 1564
  8. Ferdinand Magellan, c. 1480 – 1521
  9. Raphael, 1483 – 1520
  10. Martin Luther, 1483 – 1546
  11. Hernán Cortés, 1485 – 1547
  12. Jacques Cartier, 1491 – 1557
  13. Suleiman the Magnificent, 1494 – 1566
  14. Gerardus Mercator, 1512 – 1594
  15. Elizabeth I, 1533 – 1603
  16. Akbar, 1542 – 1605
  17. Miguel de Cervantes, c. 1547 – 1616
  18. Giordano Bruno, 1548 – 1600
  19. Francis Bacon, 1561 – 1626
  20. Galileo Galilei, 1564 – 1642
  21. William Shakespeare, 1564 – 1616
  22. Johannes Kepler, 1571 – 1630
  23. Peter Paul Rubens, 1577 – 1640
  24. Thomas Hobbes, 1588 – 1679

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 Gerardus Mercator was born, Leonardo da Vinci was 59, Michelangelo was 37, Martin Luther was 28, Niccolò Machiavelli was 42 and Nicolaus Copernicus was 39.

When Gerardus Mercator died, William Shakespeare was 30, Galileo Galilei was 30, Elizabeth I was 61, Francis Bacon was 33 and Johannes Kepler was 22.

Born during Gerardus Mercator’s lifetime: William Shakespeare, Galileo Galilei, Miguel de Cervantes, Elizabeth I, Francis Bacon, Johannes Kepler, Peter Paul Rubens and Akbar.

Not quite contemporaries: René Descartes was born about 2 years after Gerardus Mercator died, Christopher Columbus died about 6 years before Gerardus Mercator was born, Rembrandt was born about 12 years after Gerardus Mercator died and Diego Velázquez was born about 5 years after Gerardus Mercator died.

What happened in Gerardus Mercator’s lifetime

Where Gerardus Mercator’s contemporaries were born

Gerardus Mercator is labelled; the others are the best-known people we track who lived at the same time. Each dot is a birthplace from Wikidata (79 of 81 placed); tap one to open that person.
Birthplaces as a list

Compare Gerardus Mercator

The 150 best-known contemporaries

208 of the people we track were surely alive at the same time as Gerardus Mercator. The 150 best known are listed here. See also everyone alive in 1553.

  1. William Shakespeare 1564 – 1616
  2. Leonardo da Vinci 1452 – 1519
  3. Galileo Galilei 1564 – 1642
  4. Michelangelo 1475 – 1564
  5. Martin Luther 1483 – 1546
  6. Miguel de Cervantes c. 1547 – 1616
  7. Niccolò Machiavelli 1469 – 1527
  8. Nicolaus Copernicus 1473 – 1543
  9. Ferdinand Magellan c. 1480 – 1521
  10. Raphael 1483 – 1520
  11. Elizabeth I 1533 – 1603
  12. Francis Bacon 1561 – 1626
  13. Albrecht Dürer 1471 – 1528
  14. Johannes Kepler 1571 – 1630
  15. Vasco da Gama c. 1464 – 1524
  16. Peter Paul Rubens 1577 – 1640
  17. Hernán Cortés 1485 – 1547
  18. Akbar 1542 – 1605
  19. Jacques Cartier 1491 – 1557
  20. Thomas Hobbes 1588 – 1679
  21. Erasmus 1466 – 1536
  22. Suleiman the Magnificent 1494 – 1566
  23. Giordano Bruno 1548 – 1600
  24. Michel de Montaigne 1533 – 1592
  25. Mimar Sinan c. 1490 – 1588
  26. John Calvin 1509 – 1564
  27. François Rabelais 1494 – 1553
  28. Thomas More c. 1478 – 1535
  29. Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor 1500 – 1558
  30. Lope de Vega 1562 – 1635
  31. Tycho Brahe 1546 – 1601
  32. Nostradamus 1503 – 1566
  33. Francis Drake c. 1540 – 1596
  34. Henry VIII 1491 – 1547
  35. Ivan the Terrible 1530 – 1584
  36. Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina 1525 – 1594
  37. Caravaggio 1571 – 1610
  38. El Greco 1541 – 1614
  39. Luís de Camões c. 1525 – 1580
  40. Philip II of Spain 1527 – 1598
  41. Titian c. 1490 – 1576
  42. Teresa of Ávila 1515 – 1582
  43. Babur 1483 – 1530
  44. Mary, Queen of Scots 1542 – 1587
  45. Guru Nanak 1469 – 1539
  46. Paracelsus 1493 – 1541
  47. Ignatius of Loyola c. 1491 – 1556
  48. Cardinal Richelieu 1585 – 1642
  49. Anne Boleyn 1501 – 1536
  50. Henry IV of France 1553 – 1610
  51. Mary I 1516 – 1558
  52. Christopher Marlowe c. 1564 – 1593
  53. John Donne 1572 – 1631
  54. Shah Jahan 1592 – 1666
  55. Huldrych Zwingli 1484 – 1531
  56. John Amos Comenius 1592 – 1670
  57. Pope Julius II 1443 – 1513
  58. James VI and I 1566 – 1625
  59. Pope Gregory XIII 1502 – 1585
  60. Edward VI 1537 – 1553
  61. Torquato Tasso 1544 – 1595
  62. Hugo Grotius 1583 – 1645
  63. Hieronymus Bosch c. 1450 – 1516
  64. Pope Paul III 1468 – 1549
  65. Pope Leo X 1475 – 1521
  66. William Harvey 1578 – 1657
  67. Ludovico Ariosto 1474 – 1533
  68. Francis I of France 1494 – 1547
  69. Pieter Bruegel the Elder c. 1525 – 1569
  70. Pope Pius V 1504 – 1572
  71. Nicolas Poussin 1594 – 1665
  72. Ferdinand II of Aragon 1452 – 1516
  73. Selim I 1470 – 1520
  74. Francisco Pizarro c. 1478 – 1541
  75. Catherine de' Medici 1519 – 1589
  76. Pope Urban VIII 1568 – 1644
  77. Francis Xavier 1506 – 1552
  78. Giorgio Vasari 1511 – 1574
  79. Pope Paul V 1552 – 1621
  80. Claudio Monteverdi 1567 – 1643
  81. Ben Jonson 1572 – 1637
  82. Miyamoto Musashi 1584 – 1645
  83. Pope Adrian VI 1459 – 1523
  84. Hürrem Sultan c. 1507 – c. 1560
  85. Fuzuli c. 1488 – 1556
  86. Pope Pius IV 1499 – 1565
  87. Tintoretto 1519 – 1594
  88. Pope Leo XI 1535 – 1605
  89. Tokugawa Ieyasu 1543 – 1616
  90. John Napier 1550 – 1617
  91. Pope Clement VII 1478 – 1534
  92. Catherine of Aragon 1485 – 1536
  93. Andreas Vesalius 1514 – 1564
  94. Pope Clement VIII 1536 – 1605
  95. Pope Gregory XV 1554 – 1623
  96. Abbas the Great 1571 – 1629
  97. Ismail I 1487 – 1524
  98. Pope Julius III 1487 – 1555
  99. Pope Sixtus V 1521 – 1590
  100. Francisco de Quevedo 1584 – 1645
  101. Pedro Álvares Cabral 1467 – c. 1520
  102. Pope Paul IV 1476 – 1559
  103. Pope Urban VII 1521 – 1590
  104. John of the Cross 1542 – 1591
  105. Jahangir 1569 – 1627
  106. Pope Innocent X 1574 – 1655
  107. Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor 1459 – 1519
  108. Louis XII 1462 – 1515
  109. Gerolamo Cardano 1501 – 1576
  110. Humayun 1508 – 1556
  111. William the Silent 1533 – 1584
  112. Philipp Melanchthon 1497 – 1560
  113. Oda Nobunaga 1534 – 1582
  114. Pope Gregory XIV 1535 – 1591
  115. Lady Jane Grey 1537 – 1554
  116. Murad III 1546 – 1595
  117. Pope Clement X 1590 – 1676
  118. Bayezid II 1447 – 1512
  119. Andrea Palladio 1508 – c. 1580
  120. Paolo Veronese 1528 – 1588
  121. Willem Barentsz c. 1551 – 1597
  122. Hayreddin Barbarossa c. 1478 – 1546
  123. Lucrezia Borgia 1480 – 1519
  124. Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor 1503 – 1564
  125. Selim II 1524 – 1574
  126. Toyotomi Hideyoshi 1537 – 1598
  127. Edmund Spenser c. 1553 – 1599
  128. Guy Fawkes c. 1570 – 1606
  129. Philip III of Spain 1578 – 1621
  130. Pierre de Ronsard 1524 – 1585
  131. Henry III of France 1551 – 1589
  132. Tommaso Campanella 1568 – 1639
  133. Donato Bramante 1444 – 1514
  134. Pope Marcellus II 1501 – 1555
  135. Charles IX of France 1550 – 1574
  136. Pope Innocent IX 1519 – 1591
  137. Mehmed III 1566 – 1603
  138. Tulsidas c. 1522 – 1623
  139. Samuel de Champlain c. 1570 – 1635
  140. Francis de Sales 1567 – 1622
  141. Iskandar Muda 1583 – 1636
  142. Ahmed I 1590 – 1617
  143. Artemisia Gentileschi 1593 – 1653
  144. Giovanni Bellini c. 1430 – 1516
  145. Henry II of France 1519 – 1559
  146. Joanna of Castile 1479 – 1555
  147. Gustav Vasa 1496 – 1560
  148. Hans Holbein the Younger 1497 – 1543
  149. William Gilbert 1544 – 1603
  150. Walter Raleigh c. 1552 – 1618