Rodrigo Zamorano was a cosmographer of the royal house of Philip II of Spain

Philip II of Spain

Philip II was King of Spain, Portugal, Naples, Sicily, and, while married to Mary I, King of England and Ireland. He was lord of the Seventeen Provinces from 1556 until 1581, holding various titles for the individual territories such as duke or count....

. He was author of several books on navigation, astronomy, calendars and mathematics. He was, at one time, placed in charge of the Casa de Contratación

Casa de Contratación

La Casa de Contratación was a government agency under the Spanish Empire, existing from the 16th to the 18th centuries, which attempted to control all Spanish exploration and colonization...

.

In 1576, he translated Euclid's Elements

Euclid's Elements

Euclid's Elements is a mathematical and geometric treatise consisting of 13 books written by the Greek mathematician Euclid in Alexandria c. 300 BC. It is a collection of definitions, postulates , propositions , and mathematical proofs of the propositions...

 into Spanish.

The mathematician Edward Wright

Edward Wright (mathematician)

Edward Wright was an English mathematician and cartographer noted for his book Certaine Errors in Navigation , which for the first time explained the mathematical basis of the Mercator projection, and set out a reference table giving the linear scale multiplication factor as a function of...

  incorporated a translation of Zamorano's Compendio de la Arte de Navegar into his own work, Certaine Errors in Navigation, in 1599.