Option (C) Abraham Ortelius is correct because the textbook explicitly states that 'it was Abraham Ortelius, a Dutch map maker, who first proposed such a possibility as early as 1596.' This makes him the first person to consider the possibility of Europe, Africa and America being located side by side. While Antonio Pellegrini drew a map showing the three continents together, and Alfred Wegener later put forth the comprehensive 'continental drift theory' in 1912, Ortelius was the pioneer who first proposed this idea. Edmond Hess is associated with sea floor spreading, not the initial concept of continental proximity.