Isaack Gilsemans

Isaack Gilsemans (ca. 1606, in Rotterdam – 1646, in Batavia, Dutch East Indies),^[2] was a Dutch merchant, officer of the Dutch East India Company^[3] and artist.

A view of the Murderers' Bay, as you are at anchor here in 15 fathom by Isaack Gilsemans, Alexander Turnbull Library,^[1] 1642

Biography

Gilsemans is most noted for joining the explorer Abel Tasman on his expedition in 1642-43 during which Tasmania, New Zealand and several Pacific Islands became known to Europeans. Gilsemans produced a number of drawings that documented island and native life. His depictions of the Māori people were the first for Europeans.^[1][3]

A sketcher and cartographer, he is thought to have been responsible for the coastal profiles in Tasman's journal and therefore the first European to make an image of Van Diemen's Land.^[4] Gilsemans' chart is responsible for documenting the first European landing in Tasmania in 1642,^[5] as a result of which Gilsemans Bay near Dunalley is named after him.