Pieter Kielmann
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Pieter Kielmann (Hendalarskisch: Píter Kílman; 30th May 1619 - 21st May 1693) was a Hendalarskara merchant, explorer, cartographer and writer known for his accounts of his travels in, around and beyond Levantia during the seventeenth century; these are considered some of the earliest classic literature in the Hendalarskara language. As Hendalarsk became a more stagnant and isolated society in the century after his death, his chronicles and maps are also considered some of the last great works of the Hendalarskara Golden Age.
Born into a Hernemünde mercantile family, the young Píter (in his own telling) acquired his love for nautical travel while accompanying his father Henrik on trade trips along the Herne river and across the central Vandarch to the Pentapolis; the Kílmans were copper merchants and the Maximilianic Unification had fully opened the Herne watershed (and its rich seams of copper) to commercial interests. By the age of 18, Píter was conducting his own voyages to the Kílmans' factor in Jendaburg, where the family's copper was eagerly sought by the island's many gunsmiths. After Henrik's death in 1640, Píter's older brother Mikel inherited control of the family firm, with Píter as a minor partner; Píter remained in Mikel's employ as a trusted lieutenant until 1651 but then requested that Mikel buy him out so that he could dedicate himself fully to exploration. [More to follow]