An important vellum manuscript chart of the Dutch East India Company

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Illustration 4: 1731 VOC list of instruments and charts for Chamber Zeeland
The fact that not all ships followed the prescribed sailing instructions, is demonstrated by the 1726 disaster of the Ravensteyn. Against Company regulations, this Zeeland Chamber ship sailed along the west side of the Maldives and ran aground on an outer reef of the Ari-atol. This catastrophe is mentioned on our chart: Ravensteyn gebleven (Ravensteyn lost here). This reference is only present on our chart – as is the case with the loss of the Zeewijck. Being chartmaker of the Zeeland Chamber, Abraham Anias gave full attention to this Zeeland calamity, as a matter of fact he even drew a detailed chart of the Ari-atol in 1728 (see ill.2). The wide-spread trading network of the VOC also stretched into the northwestern corner of the Indian Ocean, where the Company had trading-posts in Suratte, in the Persian Gulf and in Mocha. From Suratte the VOC ships sailed via Strait Hormus to Gamron in the north of the Persian Gulf and to Basra on the Shatt-al-Arab. The southern part shows the ‘Isola de Barein’ (Bahrain). While the Gulf was significant for the silk trade, later the trade in gold was more important. Literature: Destombes, M., Cartes Hollandaises. La Cartographie de la Compagnie des Indes Orientales, 1593-1743. Saigon 1941. De VOC in de kaart gekeken. Cartografie en navigatie van de Verenigde Oostindische Compagnie, 1602-1799. ’s-Gravenhage, SDU uitgeverij, 1988. Gaastra, F. De geschiedenis van de VOC. Zutphen: Walburg Pers, 2002. Paesi, R. Het VOC-retourschip Ravesteyn, Nijmegen, 1999. Schilder, G.,‘Organization and Evolution of the Dutch East India Company’s Hydrographic Office in the Seventeenth Century’. In: Imago Mundi 28 (1976). Sigmond, J.P., Zuiderbaan, L.H., Dutch Discoveries of Australia, 1979, Australia.
Page 1 and 2: An important vellum manuscript char
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Page 5 and 6: The Gentlemen Seventeen, the highes
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An important vellum manuscript chart of the Dutch East India Company

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