Isaak de Graaff (1668 – 5 September 1743) was a Dutch map maker. He was born in Amsterdam, the son of Abraham de Graaf and Susanna Pietersz Eppingh. His father was in the service of the

Dutch East India Company The United East India Company ( ; VOC ), commonly known as the Dutch East India Company, was a chartered company, chartered trading company and one of the first joint-stock companies in the world. Established on 20 March 1602 by the States Ge ...

from 1679 until his death in 1714, during which time he authored several standard texts of navigation. Thus Isaak grew up with a good grounding with the principles of

navigation Navigation is a field of study that focuses on the process of monitoring and controlling the motion, movement of a craft or vehicle from one place to another.Bowditch, 2003:799. The field of navigation includes four general categories: land navig ...

and

cartography Cartography (; from , 'papyrus, sheet of paper, map'; and , 'write') is the study and practice of making and using maps. Combining science, aesthetics and technique, cartography builds on the premise that reality (or an imagined reality) can ...

. In 1691, he received a commission to produce an Atlas of Africa and Asia for the Dutch East India Company, which could then be used by their governing council when considering policy. After this was completed in 1705, he was appointed their official cartographer until his death in 1743. Isaac de Graaf married Sanderina de Brauw in

Utrecht Utrecht ( ; ; ) is the List of cities in the Netherlands by province, fourth-largest city of the Netherlands, as well as the capital and the most populous city of the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of Utrecht (province), Utrecht. The ...

in 1708. They set up home on the

Brouwersgracht The Brouwersgracht is a canal in Amsterdam that connects the Singel with the Singelgracht. The canal marks the northwestern border of the Grachtengordel (canal belt). Between the Prinsengracht and the Singelgracht the Brouwersgracht forms the ...

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...

de Graaf map discovered

In 2015 following the discovery of the wreck of the '' Diemermeer '', further research revealed that one of de Graaf's maps was found in the

National Library of Australia The National Library of Australia (NLA), formerly the Commonwealth National Library and Commonwealth Parliament Library, is the largest reference library in Australia, responsible under the terms of the ''National Library Act 1960'' for "mainta ...

. This map was the original ship’s navigational map, an example of a navigational aid of which very few survive. The map was drawn by de Graaf in 1735, shortly before the ship was built. The last voyage of the ship is recorded on the map.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Graaff, Isaak de 1668 births 1743 deaths 17th-century Dutch cartographers 18th-century Dutch cartographers Scientists from Amsterdam