diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index cd3262116..9c6dd598b 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@ option(USE_TIFF "Adds tiff support" ON)
 option(USE_WEBP "Adds webp support" ON)
 option(USE_LIBXML2 "Adds libxml2 support" ON)
 option(USE_CAIRO "Adds the cairo renderer" ON)
+option(USE_PROJ4 "adds proj4 support" ON)
 
 option(USE_PLUGIN_INPUT_CSV "adds plugin input csv" ON)
 option(USE_PLUGIN_INPUT_GDAL "adds plugin input gdal" ON)
@@ -155,6 +156,13 @@ if(USE_CAIRO)
     list(APPEND MAPNIK_OPTIONAL_LIBS Cairo::Cairo)
 endif()
 
+if(USE_PROJ4)
+    message(STATUS "Using PROJ4")
+    find_package(PROJ4 CONFIG REQUIRED)
+    list(APPEND MAPNIK_COMPILE_DEFS MAPNIK_USE_PROJ4)
+    list(APPEND MAPNIK_OPTIONAL_LIBS proj)
+endif()
+
 add_library(headers INTERFACE)
 add_library(mapnik::headers ALIAS headers)