ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Dutch maritime cartography in the Age of Discovery

When people a long, long time ago wanted to travel from one place to another using water, they needed maps to figure out where they were and where they needed to go. And that's where cartography comes in. Cartography is the science of making maps.

A few hundred years ago, there were Dutch people who were really good at making maps, and they started making maps of the oceans and seas. They did this during what is called the Age of Discovery, which is when people started sailing to new places to explore and find new trade routes.

The Dutch are very famous for their maritime cartography because they were really good at it. They had advanced technology for their time, such as compasses, sextants, and telescopes. With these instruments, they could measure the position of the stars, the sun, and the moon to figure out where they were in the ocean.

Once they knew where they were, they could draw maps that were really accurate. These maps were useful not only for sailors but also for traders who wanted to know the best routes to take to get to new places.

The Dutch were also really good at making maps that were easy to read. They used symbols to show things like islands, reefs, and sandbars, which made it much easier for sailors to navigate the seas safely.

So, in summary, the Dutch were really good at making maps of the oceans and seas during the Age of Discovery. They used advanced technology and symbols to make maps that were accurate and easy to read, which helped sailors navigate safely and traders find new routes to trade goods.