Willem Schouten depicted with other explorers

When Willem Schouten arrived home in the Dutch Republic in 1617, Jacob le Maire had already passed away on the return voyage from Batavia. Schouten was eager to claim credit for the discoveries made during the expedition’s travels around the world. He was first to publish an account of the journey and thereby staked his claim that he should be seen as the main discoverer of the new passage south of the Strait of Magellan.

This image was part of the publication of Schouten’s journal. On the top of the image, Schouten sits across Ferdinand Magellan, which suggests that Schouten’s accomplishment was of the same level as that of Magellan. Their ships are Victoria and Eendracht are depicted next to them. Magellan had discovered the Strait of Magellan between Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego.

Under Magellan and Schouten the full globe is shown with the route that Schouten and Le Maire completed. To the left and right of the map we see four European explorers who successfully circumnavigated the globe before Schouten: The Englishmen Francis Drake and Thomas Cavendish and the Dutchmen Oliver van Noort and Joris van Spilbergen, who arrived in Batavia only a few days before Schouten and Le Maire in October 1616. The image clearly seeks to convery the superiority of Schouten and Magellan’s accomplishments.