 Abraham Ortelius, a Flemish cartographer, and geographer, was credited with creating the

first modern atlas, "Theatrum Orbis Terrarum," in 1570.

 It was widely credited with kicking off the Golden Age of Dutch cartography, helping people
understand and explore the Earth better.
 Ortelius' most important contribution was his formulation of continental drift, which proposed
that Earth's continents have drifted over long geological periods.
 Theatrum Orbis Terrarum was renowned for its unrivaled collection of maps and geographic
knowledge, and its commitment to authenticity and relevance earned it praise and acceptance
among Western European researchers and educators.

 The German geologist Alfred Lothar Wegener proposed in 1915 that tectonic plates drifted
from the land and that all of the continents were connected into one enormous landmass before
they separated.
 The main reason for continental drift is the expansion of the seafloor.
 Evidence is presented to support the theory that the continents moved as a single
supercontinent known as Pangaea, which means "all the earth", making use of the fit of the
continents, paleoclimate indicators, truncated geologic features, and fossils.

 Isostasy theory is a geological concept that explains the equilibrium and balance of the Earth's
crust.
 It suggests that the Earth's crust floats on a semi-fluid layer beneath it, called the
asthenosphere.
 The theory states that when weight is added or removed from the Earth's crust, it causes the
crust to either sink or rise, respectively, in order to restore equilibrium.
 This process is known as isostatic adjustment.

 During the late 1800s and early 1900s, scientists held a concept regarding the dehydration of
Earth.
 They envisioned this process as akin to a grape desiccating and transforming into a raisin.
 In contrast to its former smooth and spherical state, the grape underwent contraction, leading
to the creation of elevations and depressions on the raisin's surface.
 This notion marked an early explanation for the genesis of mountains.