  As the European maritime powers expanded their reach beyond north Atlantic
coastal waters to distant lands as far away as the East Indies, access to a
practical means of maritime navigation in the southern hemisphere became
imperative. The first few voyages undertaken by the Dutch East India Company
and its predecessor explicitly aimed at compiling star charts and
constellations that were only visible south of the Equator, as practical
navigation aids. The oldest known star atlas of southern constellations was
published in 1603 by Frederick de Houtman. Controversies have plagued de
Houtman's astronomical credentials from their inception, however, with
contemporaries variously attributing the early southern star charts to Pieter
Dirkszoon Keyser, de Houtman, or even to their tutor Petrus Plancius. The
balance of available evidence suggests that Keyser initially led the
astronomical observing campaign, ably assisted by de Houtman. Upon Keyser's
untimely death, de Houtman embraced a leading role in compiling astronomical
observations for maritime navigation purposes, whereas Plancius most probably
led the delineation of the 12 new southern constellations that soon became part
and parcel of the nautical consciousness.
