Johan Sems
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Johan Sems also Semp (* 1572 in Franeker ; † around January 1635 in Groningen) was a Dutch cartographer , surveyor and engineer. His specialty was land reclamation as well as dyke and fortress construction .
biography
Sems was born in 1572 to Sem IJsbrandts and Claesgen Adriaens. In 1581 his father enrolled at the University of Leiden . His father committed suicide in 1584 as a result of excessive alcohol consumption.
In 1600 he worked on the textbook Practijck des lantmetens by Jan Pietersz, which was published by Willem Blaeu . In 1602 Sems became a surveyor in Friesland. A year later he made a detailed map of Leeuwarden, which was printed by Pieter Bast .
From 1604 to 1608 he supervised the construction of the fortresses in Bourtange , Delfzijl and Bellingwolde . Around 1610 he moved to Bunde . The Bunderneuland had been polded since 1604 with the help of Amsterdam investors.
In 1616, Sems was called in for poldering near Bredstedt and participated in the canal system from Christianshavn to Amager , but returned in 1618 to clarify border disputes near Ter Apel with the province of Drenthe . In 1621 he was back in the Bunderneuland. The polder was now a kind of " no man's land ", which led to quarrels between the Dutchman and Count Enno III. led. However, East Frisia had been under such Dutch rule for years that Enno even applied for East Frisia to be admitted to the Netherlands. However, this failed because of the estates. During the Thirty Years' War , however, the Dutch used Ostfriesland as a winter supply base and, from 1622 onwards, housed the dreaded troops of the mercenary Ernst von Mansfeld in the country without Enno having been able to do anything .
In 1623 Sems was in Groningen and in the same year published his book De arithmetische fundamenten in Emden . Around this time he was also appointed Dikgrave of Bunderneuland. In 1625 his polder near Bredstedt was destroyed again by a storm surge.
In 1626 he was commissioned to draw a map of the area north of Pieterburen and two years later he worked on building the fortress in Westerwolde . But he got increasingly into financial difficulties, so that from 1629 to 1632 his income was seized. He died in 1635 after building fortresses in Dutch Brazil for a short time .
Individual evidence
Web links
- F. Westra Johan Sems, 1572-1635 (doctoral thesis Groningen 1980, edition 2010; PDF; 279 kB)
- Encyclopedie Drenthe Online: Sems, Johan
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Sems, Johan |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Semp, Johan |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Dutch cartographer, surveyor and engineer |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 1572 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Franeker |
| DATE OF DEATH | around January 1635 |
| Place of death | Groningen |