This list grew in every Latin Edition, and included no less than 183 names in 1601. In the bibliography, in the section 'Catalogus Auctorum', not only were the 33 cartographers mentioned whose work was recorded in the Theatrum (which at the time was not yet customary), but also the total of 87 cartographers of the 16th century that Ortelius knew. This was the first time that the entirety of Western European knowledge of the world was brought together in one book. In addition to the maps he provided a descriptive comment and referrals on the reverse. In the Ortelius atlas, however, the maps were all in the same style and of the same size, printed from copper plates, logically arranged by continent, region and state. Previously, groupings of disparate maps were only released as custom lots, to individual order. The atlas contained virtually no maps from the hand of Ortelius, but 53 bundled maps of other masters, with the source as indicated. The publication of the Theatrum Orbis Terrarum (1570) is often considered as the official beginning of the Golden Age of Netherlandish cartography (approximately 1570s–1670s). The Ortelius atlas is sometimes referred to as the summary of sixteenth-century cartography.

Written by Abraham Ortelius, strongly encouraged by Gillis Hooftman and originally printed on in Antwerp, it consisted of a collection of uniform map sheets and supporting text bound to form a book for which copper printing plates were specifically engraved. Theatrum Orbis Terrarum ( Latin:, 'Theatre of the Lands of the World') is considered to be the first true modern atlas.

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