Willem Blaeu
NetherlandsBiography of Willem Blaeu
Willem Blaeu was a Dutch cartographer and publisher, born in 1571 in Alkmaar. He studied astronomy and cartography under Tycho Brahe from 1594 to 1596. In 1600, he discovered the variable star P Cygni. Around 1603, Blaeu settled in Amsterdam, where he began making globes. He soon started producing terrestrial and maritime maps, including a world map in 1605.
In 1629, Blaeu managed to inherit the printing plates of Jodocus Hondius. With these, he published his own atlas, which consisted of 60 maps, 37 of which were Hondius' maps. He changed the name on the printing plates to Blaeu. In 1633, he was appointed the cartographer of the Dutch Republic and the official cartographer of the Dutch East India Company.
Blaeu created a large collection of maps and conducted extensive publishing activities, releasing works by renowned scientists such as René Descartes, Willebrord Snell, Gerhard Johann Vossius, and Pieter Corneliszoon Hooft.
Revival of Tartary
His sons, Joan (1596-1673) and Cornelius, continued his work. After the destruction of their workshop in a fire during the Amsterdam Fire of 1672, and the subsequent death of Joan Blaeu, the company founded by Willem Blaeu ceased to exist in 1698.
On October 21, 1638, Willem Blaeu was buried in Nieuwe Kerk, Amsterdam.
