''Caert van't Landt van d'Eendracht'' ("Chart of the Land of Eendracht") is a 1627 map by Hessel Gerritsz. One of the earliest maps of

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

, 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, when he named Eendrachtsland after his ship. The map is oriented with north to the left and shows lines of

latitude In geography, latitude is a 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 the south pole to 90° at the north pol ...

from

20th parallel south The 20th parallel south is a circle of latitude that is 20 degrees south of the Earth's equatorial plane. It crosses the Atlantic Ocean, Africa, the Indian Ocean, Australasia, the Pacific Ocean and South America. Around the world Starting at ...

to the

35th parallel south The 35th parallel south is a circle of latitude that is 35 degrees south of the Earth's equatorial plane. It crosses the Atlantic Ocean, the Indian Ocean, Australasia, the Pacific Ocean and South America. At this latitude the sun is visible ...

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 reac ...

. The top left of the map shows a river labelled ''Willems revier, besocht by 't volck van 't Schip Mauritius in Iulius A° 1618'' ("Willem's River, visited by the crew of the ship Mauritius in July 1618"). 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 ''Mauritius'' in 1618, under the command of Supercargo Willem Janszoon and captained by Lenaert Jacobszoon, and is one of the few features named on ...

'', is unknown; it is possibly the Ashburton River. In the bottom left corner is a feature labelled ''Hier ist Engels schip de Trial vergaen in Iunias, A° 1622'' ("Here the English ship ''

Trial In law, a trial is a coming together of Party (law), parties to a :wikt:dispute, dispute, to present information (in the form of evidence (law), evidence) in a tribunal, a formal setting with the authority to Adjudication, adjudicate claims or d ...

'' was wrecked in June 1622"). This is possibly the first appearance on a map of the Tryal Rocks, 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 The 21st parallel south is a circle of latitude that is 21 degrees south of the Earth's equatorial plane. It crosses the Atlantic Ocean, Africa, the Indian Ocean, Australasia, the Pacific Ocean and South America. Around the world Starting at t ...

and the

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 Atlantic Ocean, Africa, the Indian Ocean, Australia, the Pacific Ocean and South America. Around the world Starting ...

, labelled T Landt van de Eendracht, opghedaen by Dirck Hartogs met 't Schip d'Eendracht in October A° 1616'' ("The Land of Eendracht", discovered by Dirk Hartog of the ''

Eendracht The Eendracht is a former tidal branch of river Scheldt that has been channelised to form the northern stretch of the Scheldt-Rhine Canal. It flows from the Zoommeer lake (formerly part of the Oosterschelde) near Bergen op Zoom past the town ...

'' in October 1616"). 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. It may be a sovereign state or make up one part of a larger state. For example, the country of Japan is an independent, sovereign state, while the ...

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

Dirk Hartog Island A dirk is a long bladed thrusting dagger.Chisholm, Hugh (ed.), ''Dagger'', The Encyclopædia Britannica, 11th ed., Vol. VII, New York, NY: Cambridge University Press (1910), p. 729 Historically, it gained its name from the Highland Dirk (Scot ...

, as part of mainland

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

. The middle third of the map has two main features. One, labelled ''Fr. Houtman's abrolhos'', shows the

archipelago An archipelago ( ), sometimes called an island group or island chain, is a chain, cluster, or collection of islands, or sometimes a sea containing a small number of scattered islands. Examples of archipelagos include: the Indonesian Archi ...

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. 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 ''Tortelduyff'' ("Turtledove"), lies slightly to the south (that is, to the right) of the Houtman Abrolhos. Now known as Turtle Dove Shoal, the name is thought to signify that the shoal was first discovered by the ship ''Tortelduif'', 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 Ommelanden, which included the much-larger area of the Residency ...

on 21 June 1623. Gerritsz's 1627 ''Caert'' is the earliest known map to show this feature. The rightmost third of the map shows a section of coastline labelled ''t Landt van de Leeuwin beseylt A° 1622 in Maert.'' ("Land made by the ship Leeuwin in March 1622.") This is thought to represent the coast between present-day Hamelin Bay and Point D’Entrecasteaux. Portions of this coastline are labelled ''Duynich landt boven met boomen ende boseage'' ("Dunes with trees and forest"), ''Laegh ghelijck verdroncken landt'' ("Low land like flood liable land") and ''Laegh duynich landt'' ("Low land with dunes"). This section of coastline is significant because the ''Leeuwin''s

log book A logbook (or log book) is a record used to record states, events, or conditions applicable to complex machines or the personnel who operate them. Logbooks are commonly associated with the operation of aircraft, nuclear plants, particle accelera ...

is lost, and very little is known of this ship's voyage, other than what is revealed by this map.

References

{{reflist 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