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Hessel Gerritsz
1580–1632
Hessel Gerritsz name appearing on map

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Hessel Gerritsz's name on the cartouche of his chart of the Malay Archipelago

Little is known about Hessel Gerritsz, the Dutch cartographer, publisher and bookseller from Ansum, Noordholland. It is thought that he was apprenticed to Willem Blaeu as an engraver, and afterwards set up on his own in Amsterdam.

In 1617 there was a change in the way in which cartographic information was procured by the VOC (Dutch East India Company), when Gerritsz was appointed as their exclusive mapmaker. It was his task to provide charts for all ships of the VOC which sailed from the Dutch Republic, including those from chambers other than Amsterdam.

From 1617 until his death in 1632, as chief VOC cartographer Hessel Gerritsz studied all charts and logs belonging to Dutch sea captains, and produced maps based on their discoveries. Not all were published, and to preserve the VOC's competitive trading edge, several of his maps were kept secret or publication was delayed.

During the 1600s, the Dutch were among the world's finest and most creative mapmakers. Gerritsz stamped his maps with his own personality, providing the world an attractive means by which to discover the results of Dutch exploration of the new land. Gerritsz' charts accompanied all VOC captains on their voyages.

Four maps by Gerritsz chart the Dutch discovery of Australia. Mar Del Sur, published in 1622, reveals the Spanish and Dutch discoveries, and includes Willem Janszoon's voyage in the Duyfken in 1606. A map of the Indian Ocean, published in the same year, shows the Dutch discoveries of the west coast of Australia. Caert van't Landt van d'Eendracht (Map of Eendracht's Land), dated 1627, embraces the Dutch discoveries along the same coastline from 1616 to 1622, from Cape Leeuwin to North West Cape. A map of the Malay Archipelago, originally dated 1618 but more likely made in 1628, shows the Dutch discoveries on Australia's west and south coasts from 1616 to 1628.

The appointment of a purveyor of charts to the VOC continued until 1795. The mapmakers engaged in this task were respectively:

1617–1632 Hessel Gerritsz
1633–1705 The Blaeu Family
1705–1743 Isaac de Graaff
1743–1795 The Van Keulen Family