Willem Schouten
Willem Schouten | |
|---|---|
 Willem Schouten by Mattheus Merian in 1631 | |
| Born | c. 1567 |
| Died | 1625 |
| Nationality | Dutch |
| Occupation | Navigator |
Willem Cornelisz Schouten (c. 1567 – 1625) was a Dutch navigator for the Dutch East India Company. He was the first to sail the Cape Horn route to the Pacific Ocean.
Biography
Willem Cornelisz Schouten was born in c. 1567 in Hoorn, Holland, Seventeen Provinces.
In april 1601 Willem Schouten was skipper of the Duyfken in the 'Moluccan fleet' of Wolfert Hermansz, and participated in the Battle of Bantam.[1]
On July 1, 1615 Willem Schouten and his younger brother Jan Schouten sailed from
The Eendracht completed the navigation and returned to the Netherlands on July 1, 1617.Although he had opened an unknown route (south of Cape Horn) for the Dutch, the VOC claimed infringement of its monopoly of trade to the Spice Islands. Schouten was arrested (and later released) and his ship confiscated in
Abel Tasman later used Schouten's charts during his exploration of the north coast of New Guinea.[2]
First publications
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Schouten described his travels in the Journal, published in a Dutch edition at Amsterdam in 1618 and soon translated into several other languages.
- Dutch edition: Journael ofte beschrijvinghe van de wonderlijcke reyse, gedaen door Willem Cornelisz. Schouten van Hoorn, in de Jaren 1615. 1616. en 1617: hoe hy bezuyden de straet van Magellanes een nieuwe passagie ofte strate, tot in de groote Zuyd-zee, ontdeckt, ende voort den geheelen aerdt-kloot omgezeylt heeft: wat eylanden, vreemde volcken en wonderlijcke avontueren hem ontmoet zijn. Amsterdam: Willem Jansz. 1618.
- French edition: Journal ou Description du marveilleux voyage de Guilliaume Schouten ... Amsterdam: Willem Jansz. 1618.
- English edition: The Relation of a Wonderfull Voiage made by Willem Cornelison Schouten of Horne. Shewing how South from the Straights of Magelan in Terra Delfuego: he found and discovered a newe passage through the great South Seaes, and that way sayled round about the world. London: Imprinted by T.D. for Nathanaell Newbery. 1619.
- German edition: Journal, oder Beschreibung der wunderbaren Reise W. Schouten auss Hollandt, im Jahr 1615–17 ... Frankfurt am Main. 1619.
- Latin edition: Novi Freti, a parte meridionali freti Magellanici in Magnum Mare Australe Detectio. Diarium vel descriptio laboriosissimi et molestissimi itineris, facti a Guilielmo Cornii Schoutenio annis 1615–17... Amsterdam: Janson. 1619.
Among historians, including A. L. Rowse, there is no consensus about the authorship of this Journal. Schouten has got the credit for it, and thus the voyage has come down to us under his name. The Dutch, French, German and Latin texts all have nine engraved maps and plates, which are not present in the English version, The Relation of a Wonderfull Voiage.
Notes and footnotes
- ^ there was no loss of life in the bungled cleaning/burning attempt in Patagonia of the hull of Hoorn as recorded in Schouten's journal The Relation
References
- Barreveld, Dirk J. Tegen De Heeren Van De VOC – Isaac Le Maire En De Ontdekking Van Kaap Hoorn. The Hague: Sdu Publishers. Uitgeverij 2002.
- Bolyanatz, Alexander H. "Where Is Claes Pietersz Bay? An Episode in the History of the Sursurunga of New Ireland", in Ethnohistory 45:2 (1998), p. 319–47
- ISBN 1-875567-25-9.
- Quanchi, Max (2005). Historical Dictionary of the Discovery and Exploration of the Pacific Islands. The Scarecrow Press. ISBN 0810853957.
External links
- Bartelds, Schouten, Willem Cornelisz., in Nieuw Nederlandsch biografisch woordenboek, vol. 7, A.W. Sijthoff, Leiden 1927. pp. 1117–18. (in Dutch)
- . Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography. 1900.
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