Petrus Plancius
Dutch-Flemish astronomer, cartographer and clergyman
Person · Open Library
- Born
- 1552
- Died
- 1622
- Works
- 1
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- La mappemonde de Petrus Plancius
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Article
Petrus Plancius ( Dutch: [ˈpeːtrʏs ˈplɑŋkijʏs]; born Pieter Platevoet [ˈpitər ˈplaːtəvut]; 1552 – 15 May 1622) was a Dutch-Flemish astronomer, cartographer and clergyman. Born in Dranouter, now in Heuvelland, West Flanders, he studied theology in Germany and England. At the age of 24 he became a minister in the Dutch Reformed Church.
Plancius fled from Brussels to Amsterdam to avoid religious persecution by the Inquisition after the city fell into Spanish hands in 1585. In Amsterdam he became interested in navigation and cartography and, having access to nautical charts recently brought from Portugal, he was soon recognized as an expert on safe maritime routes to India and the nearby "spice islands". This enabled colonies and port trade in both, including what would become the Dutch East Indies, named after the Dutch East India Company set up in 1602.
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1552 births1622 deaths16th-century Dutch astronomers16th-century Dutch businesspeople16th-century Dutch cartographers16th-century Flemish cartographers17th-century Dutch astronomers17th-century Dutch businesspeople17th-century Dutch Calvinist and Reformed ministers17th-century Dutch cartographersAstronomy in the Dutch RepublicDutch company founders