{"product_id":"about-willem-and-johannes-blaeu-information-only","title":"About Willem and Johannes Blaeu  (information only)","description":"\u003cp\u003eMMA014\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c!-- split --\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMapmaker\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e1571\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWillem Janszoon Blaeu\u003cspan\u003e (\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e1571-1638), \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003ewas a Dutch \u003c\/span\u003ecartographer\u003cspan\u003e, \u003c\/span\u003eatlas\u003cspan\u003e maker, and \u003c\/span\u003epublisher\u003cspan\u003e. Along with his son \u003c\/span\u003eJohannes (or Joan) Blaeu\u003cspan\u003e, Willem is considered one of the notable figures of the \u003c\/span\u003eNetherlandish or Dutch school of cartography\u003cspan\u003e during its golden age in the 16th and 17th centuries.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eWillem Janz. Blaeu was the son of a well-to-do \u003c\/span\u003eherring\u003cspan\u003e salesman, but his interests lay more in \u003c\/span\u003emathematics\u003cspan\u003e and \u003c\/span\u003eastronomy\u003cspan\u003e. Between 1594 and 1596, as a student of the \u003c\/span\u003eDanish\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003eastronomer\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003eTycho Brahe\u003cspan\u003e, he qualified as an instrument and \u003c\/span\u003eglobe\u003cspan\u003e maker. Once he returned to Holland, he made country maps and world globes, and as he possessed his own printing works, he was able to regularly produce country maps in an atlas format, some of which appeared in the \u003ci\u003eAtlas Novus\u003c\/i\u003e published in 1635. In 1633 he was appointed map-maker of the Dutch East India Company. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eHe had two sons, Johannes and Cornelis Blaeu, who continued their father's mapmaking and publishing business after his death in 1638.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eJoan Blaeu (1596-1673), also called Johannes Blaeu, was the official cartographer of the Dutch East India Company. Blaeu is most notable for his map published in 1648, which was the first map to incorporate the heliocentric theory into a map of the world and was the first map that incorporated the discoveries of Abel Tasman. Blaeu renamed what is now New Zealand as \u003ci\u003eNieuw Zeeland\u003c\/i\u003e after the Dutch province of Zeeland; the anglicized version of the name is still in use today.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThe \u003ci\u003eAtlas Maior\u003c\/i\u003e is the final version of Joan Blaeu's atlas, published in Amsterdam between 1662 and 1672, in Latin (11 volumes), French (12 volumes), Dutch (9 volumes), German (10 volumes) and Spanish (10 volumes), containing 594 maps and around 3,000 pages of text.\u003csup id=\"cite_ref-1\" class=\"reference\"\u003e\u003c\/sup\u003e It was the largest and most expensive book published in the seventeenth century. Earlier, much smaller versions, titled \u003ci\u003eTheatrum Orbis Terrarum, sive, Atlas Novus\u003c\/i\u003e, were published from 1634 onwards. The \u003ci\u003eAtlas Maior\u003c\/i\u003e is widely considered a masterpiece of the Golden Age of Dutch\/Netherlandish cartography (approximately 1570s–1670s).\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eA fire destroyed the studio and all of Blaeu's work in December 1672. Blaeu died a year later, 21 December 1673, in Amsterdam. He was survived by his son, Joan II, who continued his father's work until 1712.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eItem Number: MMA014\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Information Only","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47705080037630,"sku":"MMA014","price":0.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0554\/4332\/5124\/files\/Screenshot2026-01-17112829.png?v=1768667320","url":"https:\/\/mapsofantiquity.com\/products\/about-willem-and-johannes-blaeu-information-only","provider":"Maps of Antiquity","version":"1.0","type":"link"}