In the history of exploration, Nicolaas Kruik is one of the names that keeps returning.
The record lists Nicolaas Kruik as Dutch cartographer and meteorologist (1678–1754).
Nicolaas Kruik was born at Vlieland in 1678. His recorded nationality is Dutch Republic.
Seventeenth-century voyaging was commercial and Dutch-led, mapping coastlines for companies rather than kings.
He is recorded as astronomer, cartographer and surveyor.
Distance was the hardest problem of the pre-modern world, and it was solved by people willing to risk it.
Recognition followed: Fellow of the Royal Society.
Nicolaas Kruik died in 1754, aged 76. The routes and charts outlived the journey, which is how exploration is actually measured.
Achievements
- Fellow of the Royal Society
- Recorded as astronomer, cartographer and surveyor
