The VOC’s mapping of the Maldives: navigation, shipwrecks, and cartography in the heart of the Indian Ocean

The Maldives, an archipelago of some 1,200 islands in the Indian Ocean, has been a maritime crossroads for centuries. During the Age of European Expansion, the Maldives came to occupy a prominent role in world history. The islands provided vast quantities of cowry shells to European traders, which were used as currency and helped to facilitate the transatlantic slave trade. Throughout the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, the Dutch East India Company (VOC) was the Maldivians' most important European trading partner. After the VOC established itself on the nearby island of Ceylon (modern-day Sri Lanka) and the coasts of the Indian subcontinent, the Dutch quickly realized that the Maldives were a significant navigational hazard that needed to be documented and charted to safely navigate to and from nearby outposts and avoid dangerous and costly shipwrecks. Throughout the VOC's existence, its ships experienced numerous mishaps in the Maldivian islands, whereby vessels were wrecked, sailors died, and trade goods were lost. By analyzing the VOC's extant cartographic and documentary records, this study presents a wealth of new information about Maldivian-Dutch interactions, shipwrecks, and the VOC's mapping of the Maldivian archipelago.