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Petrus Plancius
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Dutch-Flemish astronomer, cartographer and clergyman
OverviewAI-generated
Petrus Plancius, also known by his native name Pieter Platevoet, was a male Dutch astronomer, cartographer, theologian, and cleric. Born in Dranouter in 1552, he held citizenship in the Dutch Republic and Belgium. He worked in Amsterdam, where he served as an employee of the Dutch East India Company. His field of work included theology, and he adhered to Protestantism.
Plancius died in Amsterdam on 15 May 1622. His works are held in collections at the Maritime Museum Rotterdam, Skokloster Castle, Museum aan de Stroom, and Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen. One of his notable works is *La mappemonde de Petrus Plancius*. He is described in sources such as the *Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie* and the Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary.
Synthesized by Vinony from 33 facts across 6 sources: Wikidata, Open Library, Crossref, MusicBrainz, Europeana Sparql, Vinony graph. Generated from structured data (not the Wikipedia text) and checked against those facts — may still contain errors.
Key facts
- Born
- Pieter Platevoet , 1552, Dranouter , Habsburg Netherlands
- Died
- 15 May 1622 (1622-05-15) (aged 69–70)
- Known for
- Contributions to Netherlandish cartography and the mapping of southern constellations
- Fields
- Astronomy , cartography , theology
- Institutions
- Dutch Reformed Church
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- human
- Given name
- Petrus
- Gender
- male
- Citizenship
- Belgium
- Place of birth
- Dranouter
- Place of death
- Amsterdam
- Occupation
- engraver
- Employer
- Dutch East India Company
- Languages spoken
- Dutch
- Native language
- Dutch
- Religion
- Protestantism
- Field of work
- theology
- Official website
- nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petrus_Plancius
- Image
- Petrus Plancius.jpg
- Work location
- Amsterdam
Show 6 more facts
- Commons category
- Petrus Plancius
- date of birth
- 1522-00-00
- date of death
- 1622-05-15
- name in native language
- Pieter Platevoet
- has works in the collection
- Het Scheepvaartmuseum
- Commons Creator page
- Petrus Plancius
via Wikidata · CC0
Works in European collections
1 object attributed to Petrus Plancius, held across European museums, libraries & archives · via Europeana
~7 min read
Encyclopedic overview
Petrus Plancius ( Dutch: [ˈpeːtrʏs ˈplɑŋkijʏs]; born Pieter Platevoet [ˈpitər ˈplaːtəvut]; 1552 – 15 May 1622) was a Dutch-Flemish astronomer, cartographer and clergyman. Born in Dranouter, now in Heuvelland, West Flanders, he studied theology in Germany and England. At the age of 24 he became a minister in the Dutch Reformed Church.
Plancius fled from Brussels to Amsterdam to avoid religious persecution by the Inquisition after the city fell into Spanish hands in 1585. In Amsterdam he became interested in navigation and cartography and, having access to nautical charts recently brought from Portugal, he was soon recognized as an expert on safe maritime routes to India and the nearby "spice islands". This enabled colonies and port trade in both, including what would become the Dutch East Indies, named after the Dutch East India Company set up in 1602.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Petrus Plancius” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.