Development and Achievements of Dutch Northern and Arctic Cartography in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries

Abstract

During the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, the Dutch made a vital contribution to the mapping of the northern and arctic regions, and their cartographic work played a decisive part in expanding the geographical knowledge of that time. Amsterdam became the centre of international map production and the map trade. Its cartographers and publishers acquired their knowledge partly from the results of expeditions fitted out by their fellow countrymen and partly from foreign voyages of discovery. This paper will describe the growing Dutch awareness of the northern and arctic regions stage by stage and region by region, with the aid of Dutch maps.