Lucas Janszoon Waghenaer

Lucas Janszoon Waghenaer (c. 1534–c. 1606) was a Dutch cartographer, known for his pioneering contributions to nautical geography and mapmaking. Part of his success as a mapmaker hinged on his personal experience at sea. For almost thirty years he served aboard ships, starting as the decoy, but soon working his way up to chief officer and sailing on most of the major ports of Europe. After retiring from a life at sea, he began compiling maps, publishing his first major work, Spieghel der zeevaerdt (Mariner’s Mirror), in 1584. This was a distinctly nautical atlas, and something the world had not seen before. It attained huge popularity and was followed by another two nautical atlases in 1592 and 1598.

Despite the success of his volumes, he died in poverty.

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