The island Spitsbergen was discovered in 1596 by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willem_Barentsz" class="extiw" title="en:Willem Barentsz">Willem Barentsz</a> (c. 1550-1597) while searching for a north-eastern seaway to India. After its discovery, the Dutch established the whaling station Smerenburg that would become the most important station for the Dutch whalers in the 17th and 18th centuries. This map of Spitsbergen was published in 1662 by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joan_Blaeu" class="extiw" title="en:Joan Blaeu">Joan Blaeu</a> (1598-1673) in the first volume of his <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlas_Maior" class="extiw" title="en:Atlas Maior">Atlas Maior</a>.
<bdi><a href="https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q19972007" class="extiw" title="d:Q19972007"><span title="Dutch artist">Dirk Jansz van Santen</span></a>
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1662<div style="display: none;">date QS:P571,+1662-00-00T00:00:00Z/9</div>
This digital media file - and/or the physical objects depicted on it - originates from the digital and/or physical collections of the <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.kb.nl/">Koninklijke Bibliotheek</a>, national library of the Netherlands.