Scarce c.17th hand coloured map of the East Indies showing the first Dutch discoveries of the Australian coast on the western side of Cape York by Janz in 1606.
Mathius Merian based this map on Blaeu’s 1635 map of the East Indies.
Blaeu’s map was one of the first printed maps to include the Dutch discoveries made on the western side of Cape York Peninsula.
Dutch Name (1606) English Translation Modern Name / Location
Hoge landt High Land Prince of Wales Island
Rivier van Spelt Spelt River Pennefather River
Rivier van Batavia Batavia River Wenlock River
Water places Watering Places Archer River
Rivier Coen Coen River Coen River (South)
Vereingto Rivier United River Mitchell River
Water places Watering Places Pormpuraaw Region
Rivier Nassua Nassau River Nassau River
Staten Rivier States River Staaten River
At lower left is the title cartouche with two male figures dressed in Asian livery. Blaeu had taken over from Gerritsz as VOC mapmaker in 1633, and in that position had access to the latest navigational information available from the East Indies. Helped by his friend Reael, Blaeu obtained the copper plate for this new map after the death of Gerritsz to add to his two volume Atlas Novus of 1634. Consequently the map has a number of the early Dutch discoveries including those by Dirk Hartog 1616 (‘ Landt van Eendracht’), Lenaert Jacobs in the Mauritius 1618 (‘ Revier’), Jan Carstensz on the western side of the Cape York Peninsula 1623 and de Wit on the northwest coast 1628 (‘.F.de Wits Landt’).
Also noted are the Trial Islands near present-day Dampier named after the English ship the Trial or Tryal. The Trial had sailed for Java and was only the second English ship to use the new sea route to the Indies pioneered by Brouwer in 1611 which took advantage of the westerly trade winds known as the Roaring Forties. The Trial had struck unknown ‘’ on 25 May 1622 at night, in good weather and was wrecked with only forty-six survivors including Captain Brookes. In Brookes’ subsequent report, he stated that the rocks were well west of their true position in attempt to avoid blame for his error. Within weeks of the Trial’ wreck, another Dutch ship ran into difficulty in the area which caused great concern to the VOC. It was resolved in 1622 that two ships, the Haring and Hasewint, should voyage south to chart the South Land but en route the ships had to aid, the Mauritius and ‘ Wapen van Rotterdam, consequently the voyage came to nothing. In 1623, two more ships, the Pera and Arnhem , were sent under the command of Jan Carstensz and Willem van Colster, resulting in the successful charting of the west coast of Cape York. The urgent need for more information of the west coast of Australia prompted Hessel Gerritsz, the official VOC cartographer 1617-1632, to issue a map in 1627 which included the Trial Rocks, to provide mariners with more accurate cartography of the region, Gerritsz’ use of the reports from the English survivors of the Trial led to him to incorrectly place the islands. He stated ‘ the English ship the Trial went down in June 1622’. Due to their incorrect placement on Gerritsz’ chart, the Trial Rocks remained a mystery for a further two hundred years until Phillip Parker King in the Mermaid investigated their position in 1820 and finally confirmed: ‘ remains no doubt in my mind but that Barrow Island … are the same Tryal Rocks’.
From: Johann Ludwig Gottfried, Newe archontologia cosmica in 1638.
