() is a 1627 map by

Hessel Gerritsz Hessel Gerritsz (buried 4 September 1632) was a Dutch engraver, cartographer, and publisher. A notable figure in the Golden Age of Netherlandish cartography, despite strong competition Gerritsz is considered by some "unquestionably the chief ...

. One of the earliest maps of

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

, it shows what little was then known of the west coast, based on a number of voyages beginning with the 1616 voyage of

Dirk Hartog Dirk Hartog (; baptised 30 October 1580 – buried 11 October 1621) was a 17th-century Dutch sailor and explorer. Dirk Hartog's expedition was the second European group to land in Australia and the first to leave behind an artifact to record hi ...

, when he named

Eendrachtsland or (fully and ) are obsolete geographical names for an area centred on the Gascoyne region of Western Australia. Between 1616 and 1644, during the European Age of Exploration, was also a name for the entire Australian mainland. From 1644, i ...

after his ship. The map is oriented with north to the left and shows lines of

latitude In geography, latitude is a geographic coordinate system, geographic coordinate that specifies the north-south position of a point on the surface of the Earth or another celestial body. Latitude is given as an angle that ranges from −90° at t ...

from

20th parallel south Following are circles of latitude between the 15th parallel south and the 20th parallel south: 16th parallel south The 16th parallel south is a circle of latitude that is 16 degrees south of the Earth's equatorial plane. It crosses the Atlant ...

to the

35th parallel south Following are circles of latitude between the 30th parallel south and the 35th parallel south: 31st parallel south The 31st parallel south is a circle of latitude that is 31 degrees south of the Earth's equatorial plane. It crosses the Atla ...

and also shows the

Tropic of Capricorn The Tropic of Capricorn (or the Southern Tropic) is the circle of latitude that contains the subsolar point at the December (or southern) solstice. It is thus the southernmost latitude where the Sun can be seen directly overhead. It also reach ...

. The top left of the map shows a river labelled (). The identity of this river, now referred to as ''

Willem River The Willem River or Willem's River was named during the voyage of the Dutch East India Company ship in 1618, under the command of Supercargo Willem Janszoon and captained by Lenaert Jacobszoon, and is one of the few features named on a nautical ...

'', is unknown; it is possibly the Ashburton River. In the bottom left corner is a feature labelled (). This is possibly the first appearance on a map of the

Tryal Rocks Tryal Rocks, sometimes spelled Trial Rocks or Tryall Rocks, formerly known as Ritchie's Reef or Greyhound's Shoal, is a reef of rock located in the Indian Ocean off the northwest coast of Australia, northwest of the outer edge of the Montebell ...

, the identity of which was not determined until the 1960s. Other than these two features, the leftmost third of the map shows a fairly straight, featureless coastline, set in between the 21st parallel south and the

26th parallel south Following are circles of latitude between the 25th parallel south and the 30th parallel south: 26th parallel south The 26th parallel south latitude is a circle of latitude that is 26 degrees south of Earth's equatorial plane. It crosses the ...

, labelled (). The way this is written on the map in such bold figures implies that the Dutch were naming the entire

country A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. When referring to a specific polity, the term "country" may refer to a sovereign state, state with limited recognition, constituent country, ...

(land). Right on the 26th parallel south latitude is written showing what is now known as

Dirk Hartog Island Dirk Hartog Island is an island off the Gascoyne (Western Australia), Gascoyne coast of Western Australia, within the Shark Bay, Western Australia, Shark Bay World Heritage Area. It is about long and between wide and is Western Australia's ...

, as part of mainland

Western Australia Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Aust ...

. The middle third of the map has two main features. One, labelled , shows the

archipelago An archipelago ( ), sometimes called an island group or island chain, is a chain, cluster, or collection of islands. An archipelago may be in an ocean, a sea, or a smaller body of water. Example archipelagos include the Aegean Islands (the o ...

discovered by

Frederick de Houtman Frederick de Houtman ( – 21 October 1627) was a Dutch explorer, navigator, and colonial governor who sailed on the first Dutch expedition to the East Indies from 1595 until 1597, during which time he made observations of the southern cel ...

in 1619, and now known as the

Houtman Abrolhos The Houtman Abrolhos (often called the Abrolhos Islands) is a chain of 122 islands and associated coral reefs in the Indian Ocean off the west coast of Australia about west of Geraldton, Western Australia. It is the southernmost true coral r ...

. Although this map was not the first to show the Houtman Abrolhos, it represents the earliest known publication of the name. The other feature, labelled (), lies slightly to the south (that is, to the right) of the Houtman Abrolhos. Now known as

Turtle Dove Shoal Turtle Dove Shoal is a dangerous shoal about wide, located at , in the Indian Ocean about south of the Houtman Abrolhos, off the coast of Western Australia. The shoal was first charted on a 1627 map by Hessel Gerritsz, where it was labelled ...

, the name is thought to signify that the shoal was first discovered by the ship , which is recorded as having arrived at

Batavia, Dutch East Indies Batavia was the capital of the Dutch East Indies. The area corresponds to present-day Jakarta, Indonesia. Batavia can refer to the city proper or its suburbs and hinterland, the , which included the much larger area of the Residency of Batavia ...

on 21 June 1623. Gerritsz's 1627 is the earliest known map to show this feature. The rightmost third of the map shows a section of coastline labelled () This is thought to represent the coast between present-day Hamelin Bay and

Point D'Entrecasteaux Point D'Entrecasteaux is a Peninsula, point on the south coast of Western Australia. The first European sighting was by the Frenchman Antoine Bruni d'Entrecasteaux in the 1700s, although there were possible sightings by Dutch navigators from s ...

. Portions of this coastline are labelled (), () and (). This section of coastline is significant because the ''Leeuwin''s log book is lost, and very little is known of this ship's voyage, other than what is revealed by this map.

References

{{subject bar , auto=y , portal1=Western Australia , portal2=Netherlands , portal3=Modern history 1627 works Exploration of Western Australia Historic maps of Oceania Maps of Australia Shark Bay Works of the Dutch Golden Age Cartography in the Dutch Republic 17th-century maps and globes