Isaack Gilsemans (ca. 1606, in Rotterdam – 1646, in Batavia, Dutch East Indies),[2] was a Dutch merchant, officer of the Dutch East India Company[3] and artist.
Biography
Gilsemans is most noted for joining the explorer Abel Tasman on his expedition in 1642-43 during which Tasmania, New Zealand and several Pacific Islands became known to Europeans. Gilsemans produced a number of drawings that documented island and native life. His depictions of the Māori people were the first for Europeans.[1][3]
A sketcher and cartographer, he is thought to have been responsible for the coastal profiles in Tasman's journal and therefore the first European to make an image of Van Diemen's Land.[4] Gilsemans' chart is responsible for documenting the first European landing in Tasmania in 1642,[5] as a result of which Gilsemans Bay near Dunalley is named after him.
References
External links
- "The Merchant of the Zeehaen: Isaac Gilsemans and the Voyages of Abel Tasman" by Grahame Anderson
- "Some New Aspects of Tasman's Visit to the East Coast of Tasmania in 1642" by A. L. Meston