Petrus Plancius

Who was Petrus Plancius?

Petrus Plancius was a Flemish astronomer, cartographer and clergyman. He was born as Pieter Platevoet 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.

Because of fear for religious prosecution by the Inquisition he fled from Brussels to Amsterdam after the city fell into Spanish hands in 1585. There he became interested in navigation and cartography and, being fortunate enough to have access to nautical charts recently brought from Portugal, he was soon recognized as an expert on the shipping routes to India. He strongly believed in the idea of a North East passage through North America until the failure of Willem Barentsz's third voyage in 1597 seemed to preclude the possibility of such a route.