Johannes Corputius

Johan van den Corput (also van (den) Kornput, also Cornput or Johannes de Corput, in German literature Johannes Corputius; April 1542 – September 17, 1611) was a Dutch engineer, cartographer, and military leader.

Corputius was born in Breda. He is the author of the well colored Corputius Plan, which shows the city of Duisburg from the air, completed in 1566. He died, aged 69, in Groningen.

Biography

Johan van den Corput was born in April 1542 in Breda, in the Low Countries (now the Netherlands). He was a Dutch engineer, cartographer, and military figure active in the later 16th century.

In 1566 he created the Corputius Plan, a detailed, coloured bird's-eye view of Duisburg, then in the Duchy of Cleves (now in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany). The plan, the earliest known map of the city, depicts Duisburg within its defensive walls and surrounding waterways and is noted for its high level of detail and precise measurement, while preserving the city’s late medieval layout.

He died on 17 September 1611 in Groningen, in the Dutch Republic (now the Netherlands), aged 69.