Johannes van Walbeeck

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Jan, Johan or Johannes van Walbeeck (1602 in Amsterdam – after 1649) was a Dutch navigator and cartographer during a 1620s circumnavigation of the earth, an admiral of the Dutch West India Company, and the first governor of the Netherlands Antilles.

Early life

Van Walbeeck is thought to have been born in Amsterdam in 1601 or 1602 [1][2] and he might be the Jan van Walbeeck, son of the merchant Jacob van Walbeeck and of Weijntgen van Foreest, who were apparently the only Walbeeck family in town, and was baptized on 15 August 1602 in Amsterdam.[3]

He studied at the

University of Leiden before enlisting as navigator and cartographer on the ship De Amsterdam during the three-year circumnavigation of the world from 1623 to 1626 by the Nassau fleet (Nassause vloot)[4] led by Admiral Jacques l'Hermite and Vice Admiral Gheen Huygensz Schapenham. It is thought that the account of this voyage published by Hessel Gerritsz
shortly after the expedition's return in 1626 was written and drawn by Van Walbeeck.

In 1627, Van Walbeeck continued his mathematics and physics study in Leiden, but interrupted it again to join Laurens Reael's diplomatic mission to Denmark at the end of the year. Upon his return, he enlisted in a fleet that sailed to the Dutch East Indies.[1]

Map of Recife made by Van Walbeeck

Dutch West India Company

In 1629, back in the Netherlands, he changed employment from the

war). Van Walbeeck immediately was made a member of the Politieke Raad ("Political Council"), the highest level of government in Dutch Brazil.[1] Already in the same year, Loncq sent him (as "Admiral of the Brazilian coast") and Maarten Valck to establish a Dutch base on the Chilean coast from which to explore Terra Australis. However, due to the colonial conflicts between the Dutch Republic and Portugal, the expedition did not get to its destination.[5]
Several more expeditions followed, until in 1632 Van Walbeeck was promoted to president of the Politieke Raad.

Fort Amsterdam

In 1633, Van Walbeeck and the governor of Dutch Brazil,

Province of Venezuela, both for the salt pans (large quantities of salt were needed to preserve fish), and as a strategic location off the South American mainland. The natural harbor of St Anna Bay on Curaçao
was the perfect location for this.

Governor of the Netherlands Antilles.

On 6 April 1634 Van Walbeeck was assigned with the task of taking St Anna Bay on

Coro, keeping about seventy-five of the latter as laborers. Thus, Van Walbeeck became the first director/governor of the Netherlands Antilles. The first task was to build a fortification at the natural harbor, renamed "Schottegat" by the Dutch, which pentagonal structure Fort Amsterdam was finished in 1635, following standard Dutch military engineering practice. During his three years as governor, the beginnings of the town of Willemstad were built next to the fort.[6][7]

In 1638, he and Le Grand were sent to Brazil, while

Hendrick Brouwer to establish a trading base in Chile. He went back to Brazil, being mentioned as elder of the Reformed Church there. In 1647 he left Brazil and maybe died in the Netherlands, as he lived in Amsterdam when his wife was buried there on 29 April 1649.[1][9]

Like

New Netherlands merely by not being in the Netherlands at the right time.[1]

Bibliography

  • Johannes van Walbeeck (attributed), Journael vande Nassausche vloot, ofte Beschryvingh vande voyagie om den gantschen aerdt-kloot, gedaen met elf Schepen, onder `t Beleydt van den Admirael Iaques L`Heremite, ende Vice-Admirael Gheen Huygen Schapenham, in de Jaren 1623, 1624, 1625 en 1626, Amsterdam 1626

References

  1. ^ a b c d e "Encyclopedie van de Nederlandse Antillen" (in Dutch). Curacao-encyclopedia.com. Archived from the original on 2014-04-19. Retrieved 2014-05-14.
  2. ^ Donkersloot-de Vrij, M. (2003). "Repertory of Dutch mapmakers" (PDF). Maphist.nl. p. 215.
  3. ^ "Doopregisters voor 1811" (in Dutch). Stadsarchief.amsterdam.nl. Archived from the original on 2014-10-15. Retrieved 2014-05-14.
  4. ^ "Nassau Index". 2007-06-21. Archived from the original on June 21, 2007. Retrieved 2014-05-14.
  5. ISBN 0-521-39268-3
  6. ^
    ISBN 1-57607-027-1
    .
  7. ^ "De geschiedenis van de Nederlandse Antillen". Engelfriet.net. Retrieved 2014-05-14.
  8. ISBN 0-670-68628-X
  9. ^ "Begraafregisters voor 1811" (in Dutch). Stadsarchief.amsterdam.nl. Archived from the original on 2012-05-30. Retrieved 2014-05-14.

Further reading

  • Eisler, William Lawrence and Bernard Smith, ed. Terra Australis: The Furthest Shore. Sydney: International Cultural Corporation of Australia, 1988.
  • Goslinga, Cornelis Christiaan. A Short History of the Netherlands Antilles and Surinam. The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, 1979.
  • Hartog, Johannes. History of the Netherlands Antilles. Aruba: DeWitt, 1968.
  • Henige, David P. Colonial Governors from the Fifteenth Century to the Present. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1970.
  • Hoebel, Edward Adamson, ed. The Netherlands East and West Indies. Inter-Allied Publications, 1945.
  • Klooster, Wim. Illicit Riches: Dutch Trade in the Caribbean, 1648–1795. Leiden: KITLV Press, 1998.
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