[Sebald de Weert arriving in South America].

Scarce print (150x175mm.) showing Sebald de Weert making landfall in South America on a German text sheet taken from a first edition of Johann Ludwig Gottfried's "Newe Welt Vnd Americanische Historien/ Jnhaltende Warhafftige vnd volkommene Beschreibungen Aller West-Indianischen Landschafften…" published by M.Merian in 1631.

Sebald or Sebalt de Weert (May 2, 1567 – May 30 or June 1603) was a Dutch captain and vice-admiral of the Dutch East India Company ( VOC). He is most widely remembered for accurately plotting the Falkland Islands in 1600.
It was on his homeward leg back to the Netherlands after having left the Straits of Magellan that De Weert noticed some unnamed and uncharted islands, at least islands that did not exist on his nautical charts. There he attempted to stop and replenish but was unable to land due to harsh conditions. The islands Sebald de Weert charted were a small group off the northwest coast of the Falkland Islands (Islas Malvinas) and are in fact part of the Falklands. De Weert then named these islands the “Sebald de Weert Islands” and the Falklands as a whole were known as the Sebald Islands until well into the 18th century. In 1766, the British settlers of Saunders Island renamed the small group of the NW that De Weert had plotted Jason Islands and Carcass Island after the vessels Jason and Carcass on which they had arrived. In Spanish these are still known as the "Islas Sebaldes" or "Sebaldinas" for short.
Although Sebald de Weert is usually credited with first sighting the Falklands in 1598, both the Spanish and British claim their own explorers discovered the islands earlier.

More about Johann Ludwig Gottfried. [+]