JOHANNES VAN KEULEN, Pas. Kaart van een Gedeelte van de Aethiopische Zee, behelsende de Kusten Zanguebar, Ajan en Abex etc., c. 1680.

JOHANNES VAN KEULEN
Pas. Kaart van een Gedeelte van de Aethiopische Zee, behelsende de Kusten Zanguebar, Ajan en Abex etc.
Amsterdam: Johannes van Keulen, c. 1680
Copperplate engraving with original hand-color
Paper size: 24" x 30"

Van Keulan's sea chart of the Southern half of the Atlantic Ocean. Aethiopian or Ethiopian Sea was the name given to the southern half of the Atlantic Ocean in classical geographical works. The name appeared in maps from ancient times up to the turn of the 19th century.

Johannes van Keulen  was a 17th-century Dutch cartographer. 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. These were books of maps and descriptions of itineraries, used by helmsmen for safe navigation. The patent was a kind of protection against illegal copying of produced books and charts. This was especially important for the atlases which were made with extensive initial costs. Van Keulen named his firm ‘In de Gekroonde Lootsman’ ('In the Crowned Pilot'). Soon Van Keulen struck a deal with cartographer Claes Jansz. Vooght.

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 five volume Zee-Fakkel made Johannes van Keulen famous. The Zee-Fakkel was published in 5 volumes between 1681 and 1684 containing over 130 new charts.