Johannes van Keulen

He published the influential nautical atlas the Zee-Atlas and the pilot guide Zee-Fakkel (meaning Sea-Torch in English).

In 1678 Johannes van Keulen established himself in Amsterdam and in 1680 he obtained a patent from the States of Holland and West Friesland allowing him to print and publish maritime atlases and shipping guides.

Van Keulen named his firm ‘In de Gekroonde Lootsman’ ('In the Crowned Pilot').

From 1681 onwards the Nieuwe Lichtende Zee-Fakkel appeared, a five-volume atlas for which Vooght compiled the maps[1] and which was illustrated by Jan Luyken.

The wife of Johannes II, Catharina Buijs (1714–1781), took over the business when her husband died and assumed his position of official mapmaker for the Amsterdam office of the powerful Dutch East India Company.

Johannes van Keulen, 1689 map of the East Indies.
Johannes van Keulen, map of the Northern sea. Unknown date (ca. 1680). A version is kept at the Norwegian Hydrographic Service [ no ]