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Map of Willemstad and surroundings

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Map of Willemstad and surroundings

Geerts, S.

Title Leupe: Topographisch plan van de Willemstad, het fort Amsterdam en een gedeelte van het Eiland Curaçao, opgenomen en geteekend door.

This topographical map of Willemstad and its environs was made in 1754 by S. Geerts on the orders of Director Isaac Faesch, as part of a series of detailed site and project maps of the most important existing defensive works on Curaçao to be made in that year. These maps served as annexes to the progress reports about the execution of Van Burmania’s plan, which also included the strongholds in the outer bays, sent by the director to the board. Virtually nothing is known about S. Geerts. Given the surveying skills apparent in his maps and his talent for drawing technical military elements, including the stereographic representation of the strongholds in the outer bays, it seems likely that he was a military engineer in the artillery. Apart from his five maps of Curaçao, no other work of his is known, nor does his name appear in this context in earlier or later years.

North is upper left.

Scale-bar of 210 Rhineland Rods = [ca. 1 : 1.750].

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Sources and literature

Heijer, H. den, Grote Atlas van de West-Indische Compagnie = Comprehensive Atlas of the Dutch West India Company, II, de nieuwe WIC 1674-1791 = the new WIC 1674-1791 (2012)