In 1552 the Mercator family moved to the imperial city of Duisburg. The Duke of Cleves, the Lutheran William V, was hospitable to humanist scholars. Gerardus Mercator may have been attracted by the Duke's intention to found a university in Duisburg. Arnold learned the trade of cartography and mathematics from his father. He began as a cartographer in 1558 with a map of Iceland.Wolfgang Scharfe, Gerhard Mercator und seine Zeit: Vorträge und Berichte, 1996, p. 47 His map of the Trier diocese from 1566 is also documented.Roland Geiger, Die Arnold-Mercator-Karte von 1566, 2005, p. 2 ff.
