Willem barentsz

1550-1597

Place of birth:Netherlands

Biography:

Willem Barentsz was born around 1550 on the island Terschelling in the Seventeen Provinces, present-day Netherlands.

A cartographer by trade, Barentsz sailed to Spain and the Mediterranean to complete an atlas of the Mediterranean region, which he co-published with Petrus Plancius.

His career as an explorer was spent searching for the Northeast passage, which he reasoned must exist as clear, open water north of Siberia since the sun shone 24 hours a day, which he believed would have melted any potential ice.

Legacy:

Two of Barentsz' crewmembers later published their journals, Jan Huyghen van Linschoten who had accompanied him on the first two voyages, and Gerrit de Veer who had acted as the ship's carpenter on the last two voyages.

In 1853, the former Murmean Sea was renamed Barents Sea in his honour.Barentsburg, the second largest settlement on Svalbard, and the Barents Region were also named after Barents.

In the late 19th century, the Maritime Institute Willem Barents was opened on Terschelling.

In 1878, the Netherlands christened the Willem Barentsz Arctic exploration ship.

In 1931, Nijgh & Van Ditmar published a play written by Albert Helman about Barentsz' third voyage, although it was never performed.

In 1946, the Whaling ship Pan Gothia was re-christened the Willem Barentsz. In 1953, the second Willem Barentsz whaling ship was produced.^[

A protein in the molecular structure of the fruit fly was named Barentsz, in honour of the explorer.

Dutch filmmaker Reinout Oerlemans released a film called Nova Zembla in November 2011. It is the first Dutch 3D feature film.