Gerritsz, Hessel

Dutch engraver, cartographer, publisher. Apprenticed to Willem Blaeu as an engraver, he set up on his own in Amsterdam, and in 1617 was appointed official mapmaker for the Dutch East India Company – and for the Dutch West India company, too, in 1621. In that capacity he was responsible for compiling and supplying the company with accurate sea charts updated according to the latest information from the Company’s ships’ logs and notated charts. Upon his death, he was succeeded in this capacity by Blaeu. He created many maps of both the Old and New World, but most importantly for this site, he engraved Blaeu’s “Magni Ducatus Lithuaniae…” in 1613.