This constellation is one of the 12 figures formed by the Dutch navigators
Pieter Dirkszoon Keyser and Frederick de Houtman from stars they charted in the
southern hemisphere on their voyages to the East Indies at the end of the 16th
century. It first made its appearance in 1598 on a globe by the Dutch
cartographer Petrus Plancius.
The Indian is portrayed holding spears or arrows as though hunting. It is not
known whether he is supposed to be a native of the East Indies, or perhaps
southern Africa or Madagascar (where the Dutch fleet stayed for several months
on their way east); perhaps the figure is symbolic, representing all the
indigenous peoples the explorers encountered on their various travels, from
South America to the Indies. Whatever the case, early depictions such as in Bayer’s Uranometria of 1603 strongly resemble this engraving of a native of Madagascar from an account of the first Dutch voyage to the East
Indies, De eerste schipvaart naar Oost-Indië onder Cornelis de Houtman, first published in 1598 (thanks to Rob van Gent for the reference).
The constellation’s brightest stars are of third magnitude, but none are named.
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Indus, an Indian holding a spear and arrows, as shown in the Uranographia of Johann Bode (1801).
© Ian Ridpath. All rights reserved
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