Pas caarte van de Kusten van Sumatra

The Van Keulen publishing house, In de Gekroonde Lootsman (“In the Crowned Pilot”), was founded in Amsterdam by Johannes van Keulen I in 1678 and became one of the leading Dutch firms producing maps, sea charts, atlases, and pilot books.

After Johannes I and his son Gerard developed the business, it passed to Gerard’s son, Johannes van Keulen II.

Johannes II is especially known for issuing the sixth and final volume of De nieuwe groote lichtende Zee-fakkel in 1753, devoted to Asian and Indian Ocean navigation.

The volume brought into print closely guarded VOC hydrographic knowledge, including information derived from manuscript charts and sailing directions that had previously been restricted because of their commercial and strategic value.

The fuller title wording records: Pas caarte van de Kusten van Sumatra, en daaronder behoorende Straaten, als Sunda, Banca, Drioens, Brouwer, Sin=Capoera, en Malacca mitsgaders alle daar onder behoorende eylanden, bekende dieptens, zanden, klippen en araker gronden.

The Zee-fakkel included this sea chart depicting Sumatra, Singapore, the southern Malay Peninsula, and the Sunda Strait between Sumatra and Java.

It also covers the associated passages of Sunda, Bangka, Drioens, Brouwer, Singapore, and Malacca, all of which were important to ships navigating between the Indian Ocean, the Java Sea, and the South China Sea.

The chart is oriented toward the northwest, with latitude lines running diagonally across the sheet.

It is dense with practical hydrographic information: depths are given in fathoms, plus signs mark shoals, reefs, and sandbanks, anchor symbols identify safe anchorage, and inscriptions describe seabed conditions, submerged banks, and sources of freshwater.

These details reflect the chart’s working purpose in waters where safe passage depended on close attention to depth, coast, current, and anchoring ground.