For much of the 1600s, Dutch mapmakers and sailors had few peers.
Dutchman Gerard Mercator’s revolutionary map projection had transformed navigation, and new printing processes were bringing maps of new lands to new audiences.
Dutch ships sailing under the flag of the world’s largest trading company, the Dutch-owned VOC (East India Company), had begun charting much of Australia’s coastline.
By accident and by design, the Dutch were steadily putting the continent on the map.




