What is it about?
The hydrographical charts of the southeastern coast of China produced by mariners of the Dutch East India Company constitute a rare body of reliable historical sources documenting coastal waters and shorelines at the operational scale of sailing-vessel maneuvering. This article reconstructs the specific occasions on which Dutch mariners were able to acquire such navigational knowledge, often with the assistance of local Chinese sailors, and examines the intentions underlying Dutch chartmaking as well as the distortions embedded in their representations.
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Why is it important?
By contextualizing these charts and reading them critically, this study aims to provide historians with a more accurate maritime background, thereby enabling a better assessment of Chinese sailing skills and the dynamism of coastal maritime society—features that are largely absent from Chinese official sources.
Perspectives
This article forms part of a series of related studies, including “VOC Mariners’ Nautical Investigations along the Two Shores of the Taiwan Strait (1622–1636)” (in Chinese), “VOC Mariners’ Nautical Investigations around Taiwan between 1636 and 1668” (in Chinese), and “Sailing from the China Coast to the Pescadores and Taiwan.” Taken together, these works cover the period from 1622 to 1668, encompassing nearly the entire span of Dutch maritime activity along the China coast.
Associate Research Fellow Weichung Cheng
Academia Sinica
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: VOC Mariners’ Nautical Investigations and Hydrographical Charting of the Chinese Coast between 1647 and 1668, December 2025, De Gruyter,
DOI: 10.1163/9789004740556_010.
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