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A map from the world’s first atlas, produced in 1570, offers a window not only into the geography of the time, but a chance to learn about a pioneering female colourist and the many others who have made indelible contributions to cartography ever since.

The map, which depicts the surrounding areas of Milan, Spain, some 450 years ago, will be on display at �󷢿���ƽ̨’s Kelowna Campus Library for International Women’s day until March 8.

It’s on loan from the private collection of Geography Professor Terence Day, who posits that it was almost certainly coloured by Anna Ortel, sister of Abraham Ortel (or Ortelius), the producer of the atlas.

“What is particularly interesting about this map is the way in which it is coloured,” notes Day.

“Anna Ortel coloured it by hand using four colours – red, blue, yellow and green. This is in accordance with the four-colour theorem that says no more than four colours are required to colour a map to avoid having adjacent regions in the same colour. The mathematical proof for this didn’t come until 1976 but Anna Ortel was apparently aware of this more than four hundred years ago.”

And while the colours may have darkened with age, as Day notes, the map still provides a vibrant and intriguing example of the role women played as map colourists in the 16th and 17th centuries.

For Day, who teaches classes on cartography, Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and remote sensing, the map is also a way of illustrating for students the integral role that women play in