Hessel Gerritsz facts for kids

A 1625 map by Hessel Gerritsz showing the Guianas in South America.

Hessel Gerritsz (born around 1581, died 1632) was a famous Dutch artist, map-maker, and publisher. He was a very important person during the Golden Age of Netherlandish cartography. This was a time when Dutch map-makers were the best in the world. Even with many other talented people around, some say Gerritsz was "the most important Dutch cartographer of the 17th century."

A cartographer is a person who creates maps. An engraver is an artist who carves designs onto a hard surface, like a metal plate, to make prints.

Learning to Make Maps

Hessel Gerritsz began his career in the city of Alkmaar in the Netherlands. He was an apprentice for Willem Jansz Blaeu, another famous map-maker who was ten years older. An apprentice is someone who learns a skill or trade by working for an expert.

Gerritsz learned so much that by 1610, he opened his own printing workshop in Amsterdam. He became very successful. Many of his beautiful engravings and accurate maps were used in the famous atlases (books of maps) published by Blaeu and other map-makers like Jan Janssonius.

Famous Works and Discoveries

A Groundbreaking World Map

In 1612, Gerritsz created a world map that showed new discoveries. It included an island group discovered by the explorer Pedro Fernandes de Queirós. Queirós had named it Austrialia del Espiritu Santo. Today, we know this place is the island nation of Vanuatu.

At the time, people thought it might be part of a giant southern continent. Gerritsz's map was very important. It helped influence how people thought about the Pacific Ocean and the "South Land." It was also one of the first maps to use a name very similar to Australia.

The Spitsbergen Story

An engraving by Gerritsz showing a walrus and its calf. This was for his book about Spitsbergen.

Gerritsz was not just a map-maker, but also a writer and a talented artist. In 1613, he published a book called History of the land named Spitsbergen. Spitsbergen is a group of islands in the Arctic Ocean. His book described its discovery and the whaling that happened there.

The book also showed off his skill as an engraver. One famous picture from the book shows a walrus with its calf. He also created maps of Russia and portraits of famous people.

Chief Map-Maker for the VOC

A Very Important Job

Gerritsz's fame grew so much that in 1617, he was given a very important job. He became the first official map-maker for the Dutch East India Company, also known as the VOC. The VOC was one of the biggest and most powerful companies in the world at the time. It had ships sailing to Asia, Africa, and the Americas.

As the VOC's cartographer, Gerritsz had access to secret information. Every time a VOC ship returned from a voyage, the captain had to give his logbooks and charts to Gerritsz. This meant Gerritsz had the newest information about coastlines, islands, and sailing routes. In return, he created updated, accurate maps for all VOC captains to use on their journeys.

Putting Australia on the Map

Hessel Gerritsz played a key role in creating the first maps of Australia.

• Early charts: A 1622 map by Gerritsz was one of the first to show the part of Australia's coast seen by Dutch sailor Willem Janszoon in 1606.
• A separate land: Gerritsz suspected that the land people were finding was not part of New Guinea. He wrote on his map that if New Guinea ended at a certain point, then the land to the south must be a new, separate continent.
• The Eendrachtsland Map: In 1627, he made a special map called the Caert van't Landt van d'Eendracht. This map focused only on the coastline of Western Australia. The name Eendrachtsland came from the ship of explorer Dirk Hartog, who landed there in 1616.
• The first outline: In 1628, Gerritsz added new information from another explorer, François Thijssen, who had mapped the southern coast. This created the very first map that showed a rough outline of the Australian continent.

His maps, like the "Map of the Great South Sea" from 1622, were used by later explorers like Abel Tasman on his famous voyages.

Final Voyage and Legacy

Gerritsz was so curious about the world that he did something unusual for a map-maker. In 1628, he went on a long sea voyage himself, sailing to Brazil and the Caribbean.

The information he gathered helped him create maps for a 1630 book called Description of the West Indies. His map of Florida was so good that for the next 200 years, many people called the region Tegesta, the name Gerritsz had used on his map.

Hessel Gerritsz died in 1632 and was buried in Amsterdam. His job as the VOC's chief cartographer was taken over by his old teacher and friend, Willem Blaeu. Gerritsz's work was so important that his maps continued to be used by sailors and other map-makers for many years.