Willem Janszoon Blaeu and Joan Blaeu

After training with the famous Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe Willem Janszoon Blaeu set up as a globe and map maker in Amsterdam. Globes were always made in pairs: one terrestrial and one celestial. Celestial globes show the principal stars in the form of constellations. On Blaeu's first celestial globe (1603) the stars around the South Pole, discovered just previously by the navigators Houtman and De Keyser, were shown for the first time. Blaeu's terrestrial and marine maps also invariably show the newest discoveries. His mariner's guides were famous. He did not live to see the completion of the world atlas begun by him, but his business was continued by his son Joan, who finally produced the Atlas Major. Another celebrated major achievement of Joan's was the Spectacle of the Towns of the United Netherlands.