Nicolaes Witsen
Encyclopedia
Dutch East India Company
The Dutch East India Company was a chartered company established in 1602, when the States-General of the Netherlands granted it a 21-year monopoly to carry out colonial activities in Asia...
. In 1689 he was extraordinary-ambassador to the English court, and became Fellow of the Royal Society. In his free time he was cartographer, maritime writer, and an authority on shipbuilding
Shipbuilding
Shipbuilding is the construction of ships and floating vessels. It normally takes place in a specialized facility known as a shipyard. Shipbuilders, also called shipwrights, follow a specialized occupation that traces its roots to before recorded history.Shipbuilding and ship repairs, both...
. His books on the subject are important sources on Dutch shipbuilding in the 17th century. Furthermore he was an expert on Russian affairs. There is a plan now to publish his study Noord en Oost Tartarye [North and East Tartary] in a Russian translation).
Early life
Nicolaes Witsen was the son of Cornelis Jan WitsenCornelis Jan Witsen
Cornelis Jansz. Witsen was a counsellor and mayor of the city of Amsterdam. He was the father of Nicolaes Witsen and the son of Jan Witsz and Grietje Claes....
, burgomaster
Burgomaster
Burgomaster is the English form of various terms in or derived from Germanic languages for the chief magistrate or chairman of the executive council of a sub-national level of administration...
of Amsterdam, head bailiff and administrator of the Dutch West India Company
Dutch West India Company
Dutch West India Company was a chartered company of Dutch merchants. Among its founding fathers was Willem Usselincx...
. In 1656 Nicolaes went with his father to England, where he was introduced to Oliver Cromwell
Oliver Cromwell
Oliver Cromwell was an English military and political leader who overthrew the English monarchy and temporarily turned England into a republican Commonwealth, and served as Lord Protector of England, Scotland, and Ireland....
's children. In March 1662 Nicolaes Witsen held a disputation at the Amsterdam Athenaeum Illustre, in which he argued against the influence of comet
Comet
A comet is an icy small Solar System body that, when close enough to the Sun, displays a visible coma and sometimes also a tail. These phenomena are both due to the effects of solar radiation and the solar wind upon the nucleus of the comet...
s on the welfare of all earthly things, possibly influenced by his nephew Joannes Hudde
Johann van Waveren Hudde
Johannes Hudde was a burgomaster of Amsterdam between 1672 – 1703, a mathematician and governor of the Dutch East India Company....
. In 1664 and 1665 Nicolaes made an embassy to Moscovia with the envoy Jacob Boreel
Jacob Boreel
Jacob Boreel was an ambassador in France, sheriff and burgomaster of Amsterdam in 1696. Between 1664 / 65 he travelled through Russia with his friend Nicolaes Witsen. In 1679 he became the ambassador in Paris...
. By boat they went to Riga
Riga
Riga is the capital and largest city of Latvia. With 702,891 inhabitants Riga is the largest city of the Baltic states, one of the largest cities in Northern Europe and home to more than one third of Latvia's population. The city is an important seaport and a major industrial, commercial,...
, then Swedish, and over land to Novgorod and Moscow. The talks with czar Alexis of Russia about a monopoly
Monopoly
A monopoly exists when a specific person or enterprise is the only supplier of a particular commodity...
on tar
Tar
Tar is modified pitch produced primarily from the wood and roots of pine by destructive distillation under pyrolysis. Production and trade in tar was a major contributor in the economies of Northern Europe and Colonial America. Its main use was in preserving wooden vessels against rot. The largest...
were no success. Witsen wrote in his diary that no-one there was occupied with art or science. Witsen visited the Patriarch Nikon
Patriarch Nikon
Nikon , born Nikita Minin , was the seventh patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church...
and made notes on the worship of icon
Icon
An icon is a religious work of art, most commonly a painting, from Eastern Christianity and in certain Eastern Catholic churches...
s, interested in his name saint, saint Nicholas
Saint Nicholas
Saint Nicholas , also called Nikolaos of Myra, was a historic 4th-century saint and Greek Bishop of Myra . Because of the many miracles attributed to his intercession, he is also known as Nikolaos the Wonderworker...
. He studied law at Leiden University
Leiden University
Leiden University , located in the city of Leiden, is the oldest university in the Netherlands. The university was founded in 1575 by William, Prince of Orange, leader of the Dutch Revolt in the Eighty Years' War. The royal Dutch House of Orange-Nassau and Leiden University still have a close...
, but became more interested in languages and maps. In the 1666-1667 Witsen traveled to Roma and met with Cosimo III de' Medici in Pisa. In Paris he met the scientist Melchisédech Thévenot
Melchisédech Thévenot
Melchisédech Thévenot was a French author, scientist, traveler, cartographer, orientalist, inventor, and diplomat...
. In 1668 he travelled to Oxford
Oxford
The city of Oxford is the county town of Oxfordshire, England. The city, made prominent by its medieval university, has a population of just under 165,000, with 153,900 living within the district boundary. It lies about 50 miles north-west of London. The rivers Cherwell and Thames run through...
. In 1674 he married Catherina Hochepied. Four children were born, not surviving childhood.
Shipbuilding
Witsen wrote "Aeloude and hedendaegsche Scheepsbouw en Bestier" in 1671, which quickly became seen as the standard work on the subject. Even an anatomist like StenoSteno
Steno may refer to:*Steno, small community at the northwest of Salamis Island, Greece*Stenography, the process of writing in shorthand**Stenotype, a specialized chorded keyboard or typewriter used by stenographers for shorthand use...
read the book. The technique Witsen describes is shell-first, and not frame-first. The book is not easy to read, because of misty wording and the chaotic structure, but has a lot of interesting engravings, made by himself. It can be compared with Doctrine for Naval Architecture by fellow-shipbuilder Anthony Dean
Anthony Dean (mayor)
Sir Anthony Deane was a 17th century mayor of Harwich, naval architect, shipbuilder and member of Parliament.There is some doubt as to his origins. The Dictionary of National Biography states that he was born circa 1638 and was elder son of Anthony Deane, mariner of Harwich. There was an Anthony...
, a mayor of Harwich
Harwich
Harwich is a town in Essex, England and one of the Haven ports, located on the coast with the North Sea to the east. It is in the Tendring district. Nearby places include Felixstowe to the northeast, Ipswich to the northwest, Colchester to the southwest and Clacton-on-Sea to the south...
and also a mentor of Peter the Great. It led to a correspondence between him and Peter the Great on modernising the Imperial Russian Navy
Imperial Russian Navy
The Imperial Russian Navy refers to the Tsarist fleets prior to the February Revolution.-First Romanovs:Under Tsar Mikhail Feodorovich, construction of the first three-masted ship, actually built within Russia, was completed in 1636. It was built in Balakhna by Danish shipbuilders from Holstein...
, then backward by Western European standards. This led to an order for warships from Amsterdam shipyards in return for an ukase
Ukase
A ukase , in Imperial Russia, was a proclamation of the tsar, government, or a religious leader that had the force of law...
(negotiated by Witsen) on Dutch-Russian trade, guaranteeing to supply the Republic with grain, wood, talc
Talc
Talc is a mineral composed of hydrated magnesium silicate with the chemical formula H2Mg34 or Mg3Si4O102. In loose form, it is the widely-used substance known as talcum powder. It occurs as foliated to fibrous masses, its crystals being so rare as to be almost unknown...
, tar and skins. In 1697 Witsen organised a four-month training period for the tsar at the Dutch East India Company
Dutch East India Company
The Dutch East India Company was a chartered company established in 1602, when the States-General of the Netherlands granted it a 21-year monopoly to carry out colonial activities in Asia...
shipyards during his Grand Embassy
Grand Embassy of Peter I
The Grand Embassy was a Russian diplomatic mission, sent to Western Europe in 1697-1698 by Peter the Great....
, with the Tsar staying in Jacob J. Hinlopen
Jacob J. Hinlopen
Jacob J. Hinlopen lived in a house with Hinlopen in the gable, now at 155 Nieuwendijk. He traded in cloth and Indian wares. In 1602 he was co-founder of the Dutch East India Company in Enkhuizen, his descendants inherited very old stocks. He also was the first person of Flemish origin, that in...
's house and being taken by Witsen among many others to meet the botanist and anatomist Frederik Ruysch
Frederik Ruysch
Frederik Ruysch was a Dutch botanist and anatomist, remembered for his developments in anatomical preservation and the creation of dioramas or scenes incorporating human parts...
.
Cartography
Siberia
Siberia is an extensive region constituting almost all of Northern Asia. Comprising the central and eastern portion of the Russian Federation, it was part of the Soviet Union from its beginning, as its predecessor states, the Tsardom of Russia and the Russian Empire, conquered it during the 16th...
in 1690. This map represented the world from Nova Zembla
Novaya Zemlya
Novaya Zemlya , also known in Dutch as Nova Zembla and in Norwegian as , is an archipelago in the Arctic Ocean in the north of Russia and the extreme northeast of Europe, the easternmost point of Europe lying at Cape Flissingsky on the northern island...
to as far away as China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
. Witsen had discussed with the tsar the trade routes to Persia via the Caspian Sea
Caspian Sea
The Caspian Sea is the largest enclosed body of water on Earth by area, variously classed as the world's largest lake or a full-fledged sea. The sea has a surface area of and a volume of...
and to China via Siberia. In 1692 he published a compendium titled "Noord en Oost Tartarye", describing Siberia and the surrounding areas, though without literary references. He consulted classical authors and Arabic medieval writers as well as his learned contemporaries in Europe. The second enlarged edition, a bulky book, also written in 17th century Dutch, presents a rather complicated mixture of various texts with encyclopedic details. It appeared in 1705 and was reprinted in 1785. In this book, Witsen gave an account of all the information available to the Europeans at that time about the northern and eastern parts of Europe and Asia, and also about the Volga area, Crimea
Crimea
Crimea , or the Autonomous Republic of Crimea , is a sub-national unit, an autonomous republic, of Ukraine. It is located on the northern coast of the Black Sea, occupying a peninsula of the same name...
, Caucasus
Caucasus
The Caucasus, also Caucas or Caucasia , is a geopolitical region at the border of Europe and Asia, and situated between the Black and the Caspian sea...
, Central Asia
Central Asia
Central Asia is a core region of the Asian continent from the Caspian Sea in the west, China in the east, Afghanistan in the south, and Russia in the north...
, Mongolia
Mongolia
Mongolia is a landlocked country in East and Central Asia. It is bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south, east and west. Although Mongolia does not share a border with Kazakhstan, its western-most point is only from Kazakhstan's eastern tip. Ulan Bator, the capital and largest...
, Tibet
Tibet
Tibet is a plateau region in Asia, north-east of the Himalayas. It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people as well as some other ethnic groups such as Monpas, Qiang, and Lhobas, and is now also inhabited by considerable numbers of Han and Hui people...
, China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
, Korea
Korea
Korea ) is an East Asian geographic region that is currently divided into two separate sovereign states — North Korea and South Korea. Located on the Korean Peninsula, Korea is bordered by the People's Republic of China to the northwest, Russia to the northeast, and is separated from Japan to the...
and the neighboring parts of Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
. In the text, for instance, we find lists of 900 Georgian
Georgian language
Georgian is the native language of the Georgians and the official language of Georgia, a country in the Caucasus.Georgian is the primary language of about 4 million people in Georgia itself, and of another 500,000 abroad...
and 700 Kalmyk
Kalmyk language
The Kalmyk language , or Russian Oirat, is the native speech of the Kalmyk people of the Republic of Kalmykia, a federal subject of the Russian Federation. In Russia, it is the normative form of the Oirat language , which belongs to the Mongolic language family...
words and illustrations of the writing systems of Tibetan
Tibetan language
The Tibetan languages are a cluster of mutually-unintelligible Tibeto-Burman languages spoken primarily by Tibetan peoples who live across a wide area of eastern Central Asia bordering the Indian subcontinent, including the Tibetan Plateau and the northern Indian subcontinent in Baltistan, Ladakh,...
, Manchu
Manchu language
Manchu is a Tungusic endangered language spoken in Northeast China; it used to be the language of the Manchu, though now most Manchus speak Mandarin Chinese and there are fewer than 70 native speakers of Manchu out of a total of nearly 10 million ethnic Manchus...
and Mongolian
Mongolian language
The Mongolian language is the official language of Mongolia and the best-known member of the Mongolic language family. The number of speakers across all its dialects may be 5.2 million, including the vast majority of the residents of Mongolia and many of the Mongolian residents of the Inner...
languages. Witsen provides word lists and other data on more than 25 languages. In 1692 Witsen received the diary of Maarten Gerritsz Vries
Maarten Gerritsz Vries
Maarten Gerritsz Vries, or Fries, also referred to as de Vries, was a 17th-century Dutch cartographer and explorer, the first Western European to leave an account of his visit to the Sea of Okhotsk and the island of Sakhalin.Not much is known about the life of de Vries...
, who had explored the coast of Sahkalin in 1643, and it was never seen again.
Mayor and Maecenas
In 1688, Witsen was visited and invited more than once to discuss William IIIWilliam III of England
William III & II was a sovereign Prince of Orange of the House of Orange-Nassau by birth. From 1672 he governed as Stadtholder William III of Orange over Holland, Zeeland, Utrecht, Guelders, and Overijssel of the Dutch Republic. From 1689 he reigned as William III over England and Ireland...
's proposed crossing to England, but he had great doubts and did not know what to advise. William Bentinck
William Bentinck, 1st Earl of Portland
Hans William Bentinck, 1st Earl of Portland, Baron Bentinck of Diepenheim and Schoonheten, KG, PC was a Dutch and English nobleman who became in an early stage the favourite of William, Prince of Orange, Stadtholder in the Netherlands, and future King of England. He was steady, sensible, modest...
called him the most sensitive man in the world. Of the other three burgomasters - Jean Appelman (a merchant trading with France), Johannes Hudde and Cornelis Geelvinck
Cornelis Geelvinck
Cornelis Geelvinck was important in the city administration of Amsterdam that arose after stadholder William III came to power in 1672, both as administrator, and as mayor in the years 1673, 1675, 1684, 1688 and 1689.-Biography:Cornelis Geelvinck was the grandson of a peas and beans merchant who...
- Geelvinck openly opposed the enterprise and Appelman was not trusted by the prince and thus was not informed. After the crossing went ahead, Witsen went to London in the next year to find a way of meeting the costs of 7,301,322 guilders the city of Amsterdam had incurred in supporting it. William offered to knight him as a baron, but the modest Witsen refused.
Already in his youth Witsen started to collect (Siberian) curiosities and artworks, gathering corals, lacquer, books, paintings, weapons, porcelain, insects, seashells, stuffed animals and precious stones into his house on Herengracht on the Golden Bend
Gouden Bocht
The Gouden Bocht is the most prestigious part of Herengracht in Amsterdam, between Leidsestraat and Vijzelstraat.Until 1663 Herengracht reached as far as the present Leidsegracht. From that year on, the fortifications around Amsterdam were expanded, within Herengracht, Keizersgracht and...
. As mayor, he was patron of the arts and sciences, and maintained contacts with German scholars, such as Leibniz. He corresponded with Antonie van Leeuwenhoek, discovering tiny creatures under his microscope
Microscope
A microscope is an instrument used to see objects that are too small for the naked eye. The science of investigating small objects using such an instrument is called microscopy...
. In 1698 Willem de Vlamingh
Willem de Vlamingh
Willem Hesselsz de Vlamingh was a Dutch sea-captain who explored the central west coast of Australia in the late 17th century.- Vlamingh and the VOC :...
offered him two seashells from New Holland (Australia)
New Holland (Australia)
New Holland is a historic name for the island continent of Australia. The name was first applied to Australia in 1644 by the Dutch seafarer Abel Tasman as Nova Hollandia, naming it after the Dutch province of Holland, and remained in use for 180 years....
and Witsen offered the drawings to Martin Lister
Martin Lister
Martin Lister FRS was an English naturalist and physician.-Life:Lister was born at Radcliffe, near Buckingham, the son of Sir Martin Lister MP for Brackley in the Long Parliament and his wife Susan Temple daughter of Sir Alexander Temple. Lister was connected to a number of well known individuals...
. Witsen who had invested in the journey, was disappointed the men had been more interested in setting up trade than in exploring.
Witsen tried to introduce coffee plants from Batavia via Amsterdam to countries in South America. Boerhaave estimated that Witsen had put together a collection of more than 1500 paintings of plants that came to be known as the Codex Witsenii. These passed into the custody of Caspar Commelin, Professor of Botany at the Athenaeum Illustre and working in the Hortus Botanicus (Amsterdam)
Hortus Botanicus (Amsterdam)
Hortus Botanicus is a botanical garden in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. One of the oldest in the world, it is one of Amsterdam's major tourist attractions.- History:...
. Witsen had contact with the painter Jan de Bray
Jan de Bray
Jan de Bray , was a Dutch Golden Age painter.-Biography:Jan de Bray was born in Haarlem. According to Houbraken he was the most famous pupil of his father, the architect and poet Salomon de Bray. Houbraken called Jan the "pearl in Haarlem's crown"...
over a plan to improve the city's water-supply, and helped the artist Cornelis de Bruijn
Cornelis de Bruijn
Cornelis de Bruijn was a Dutch artist and traveler. He made two large tours and published illustrated books with his observations of people, buildings, plants and animals.- Biography :...
, who needed contacts in Egypt and Russia - indeed, it was probably Witsen who encouraged De Bruijn to make drawings of Persepolis
Persepolis
Perspolis was the ceremonial capital of the Achaemenid Empire . Persepolis is situated northeast of the modern city of Shiraz in the Fars Province of modern Iran. In contemporary Persian, the site is known as Takht-e Jamshid...
, to show to the Royal Society
Royal Society
The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, known simply as the Royal Society, is a learned society for science, and is possibly the oldest such society in existence. Founded in November 1660, it was granted a Royal Charter by King Charles II as the "Royal Society of London"...
.
46 persons dedicated books to Witsen, including several by Olfert Dapper
Olfert Dapper
Olfert Dapper was a Dutch physician and writer. He wrote books about history and geography, although he never travelled outside Holland. Until today, his book Description of Africa is a key text for Africanists....
, one by the brother of Johan Nieuhof
Johan Nieuhof
Johan Nieuhoff was a Dutch traveler who wrote about his journeys to Brazil, China and India...
(including descriptions of Chinese shipbuilding), one by Jan van der Heyden
Jan van der Heyden
Jan van der Heyden was a Dutch Baroque-era painter, draughtsman, printmaker, a mennonite and inventor who significantly contributed to contemporary firefighting. He improved the fire hose in 1672, with his brother Nicolaes, who was a hydraulic engineer...
on his invention of the fire hose
Fire hose
A fire hose is a high-pressure hose used to carry water or other fire retardant to a fire to extinguish it. Outdoors, it is attached either to a fire engine or a fire hydrant. Indoors, it can be permanently attached to a building's standpipe or plumbing system...
and by the pharmacist Hermanus Angelkot
Hermanus Angelkot junior
Hermanus or Hermannus Angelkot Jr. was an Amsterdam pharmacist who also wrote poems and plays. He was the son of Judith Muijsart and Hermanus Angelkot Sr. , who also wrote plays and practised as a pharmacist. The sources are not entirely clear over which was which, but both wrote. Hermanus Jr...
jr. and Pieter Langendijk
Pieter Langendijk
Pieter Langendijk was a damask weaver, city artist, dramatist, and poet.-Life:Pieter was the son of Arend Kort, a mason born in Langedijk. His father died when he was young so he and his mother began a textile business. In 1695, they moved to the Hague, then Amsterdam...
. He helped Maria Sybilla Merian to publish her prints with plants and insects from Surinam.
Witsen was also interested in religion, but in an ecumenical
Ecumenism
Ecumenism or oecumenism mainly refers to initiatives aimed at greater Christian unity or cooperation. It is used predominantly by and with reference to Christian denominations and Christian Churches separated by doctrine, history, and practice...
way: his interests stretched to "saint Confucius
Confucius
Confucius , literally "Master Kong", was a Chinese thinker and social philosopher of the Spring and Autumn Period....
" as he called him, as well as to shamanism
Shamanism
Shamanism is an anthropological term referencing a range of beliefs and practices regarding communication with the spiritual world. To quote Eliade: "A first definition of this complex phenomenon, and perhaps the least hazardous, will be: shamanism = technique of ecstasy." Shamanism encompasses the...
. The minister famous for attacking witch-hunts, Balthasar Bekker
Balthasar Bekker
Balthasar Bekker was a Dutch minister and author of philosophical and theological works. Opposing superstition, he was a key figure in the end of the witchcraft persecutions in early modern Europe.-Life:...
, was his friend. Peter the Great was present when Witsen died and said he lost a great friend. Witsen was buried in Egmond aan den Hoef, not far from his country house, called "Tijdverdrijf" (= pastime).
Works
- N. Witsen, Moskovische Reyse 1664-1665. Journaal en Aentekeningen (Ed. Th.J.G. Locher and P. de Buck) (‘s-Gravenhage, 1966; Transl.: Nikolaas Vitsen, Puteshestvie v Moskoviiu 1664-1665, St. Petersburg, 1996)
- N. Witsen, Aeloude en hedendaegsche scheepsbouw en bestier (1671)
- N. Witsen, Architectura navalis et regimen nauticum (second edition, 1690)
- N. Witsen, Noord en Oost Tartarye, Ofte Bondig Ontwerp Van eenig dier Landen en Volken Welke voormaels bekent zijn geweest. Beneffens verscheide tot noch toe onbekende, en meest nooit voorheen beschreve Tartersche en Nabuurige Gewesten, Landstreeken, Steden, Rivieren, en Plaetzen, in de Noorder en Oosterlykste Gedeelten Van Asia En Europa Verdeelt in twee Stukken, Met der zelviger Land-kaerten: mitsgaders, onderscheide Afbeeldingen van Steden, Drachten, enz. Zedert naeuwkeurig onderzoek van veele Jaren, door eigen ondervondinge ontworpen, beschreven, geteekent, en in 't licht gegeven (Amsterdam MDCCV. First print: Amsterdam, 1692; Second edition: Amsterdam, 1705. Reprint in 1785)
See also:
- Marion Peters, De wijze koopman. Het wereldwijde onderzoek van Nicolaes Witsen (1641-1717), burgemeester en VOC-bewindhebber van Amsterdam (Amsterdam 2010) [Transl.: "Mercator Sapiens. The Worldwide Investigations of Nicolaes Witsen, Amsterdam Mayor and Boardmember of the East India Company"]
- Marion Peters, 'Nicolaes Witsen and Gijsbert Cuper. Two seventeenth-century Burgomasters and their Gordian Knot', Lias 16-1 (1989) 111-151
- Marion Peters, 'From the study of Nicolaes Witsen (1641-1717). His Life with Books and Manuscripts', Lias 21-1 (1994) 1-49
- Marion Peters, Nepotisme, patronage en boekdedicaties bij Nicolaes Witsen (1641-1717), burgemeester en VOC-bewindhebber van Amsterdam, Lias 25-1 (1998) 83-134
External links
- Witsen's maps
- Biography Busken Huet - Het land van Rembrand
- The oldest Korean wordlist from Mr. Eibokken, written down by Witsen, translated into English.
- HIS LIFE WITH BOOKS AND MANUSCRIPTS
See also
- Sakha languageSakha languageSakha, or Yakut, is a Turkic language with around 360,000 native speakers spoken in the Sakha Republic in the Russian Federation by the Sakha or Yakuts.Sakha is an agglutinative language, and it employs vowel harmony.-Classification:...
- Hunmin JeongeumHunmin JeongeumHunminjeongeum is a document describing an entirely new and native script for the Korean language. The script was initially named after the publication, but later came to be known as hangul...
- Anna Maria Sibylla Merian