Petrus Plancius

Petrus Plancius (1552 – May 15, 1622) was a Flemish/Dutch/Netherlandish astronomer, cartographer and clergyman. He was born as Pieter Platevoet 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.

Because of fear of religious prosecution by the Inquisition Plancius fled from Brussels to Amsterdam after the city fell into Spanish hands in 1585. There he became interested in navigation and cartography and, being fortunate enough to have access to nautical charts recently brought from Portugal, he was soon recognized as an expert on the shipping routes to India. He strongly believed in the idea of a North East passage through North America until the failure of Willem Barentsz's third voyage in 1597 seemed to preclude the possibility of such a route.

In 1592 Plancius published his best known world map titled "Nova et exacta Terrarum Tabula geographica et hydrographica". Apart from maps, he published journals and navigational guides and developed a new method for determining longitude. He also introduced the Mercator projection for navigational maps.

Plancius was one of the founders of the Dutch East India Company for which he drew over 100 maps.

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