Nicolaes Witsen
Nicolaas or Nicolaes Witsen (8 May 1641 - 10 August 1717) was a Dutch diplomat, cartographer, writer and thirteenth mayor of Amsterdam between 1682-1706. Furthermore, he was a representative to the States-General, administrator of the VOC and extraordinary-ambassador extraordinaris to the English court. Witsen was an authority on shipbuilding and his books on the subject are important sources on Dutch shipbuilding in the 17th century.
Nicolaes Witsen was the son of Cornelis Jan Witsen, mayor of Amsterdam, head bailiff and administrator of the Dutch West India Company. Nicolaes Witsen married a daughter of Dirk Tulp (Dr Nicolaes Tulp's son) and so became the owner of the country house Tulpenburg on the Amstel.
Shipbuilding
In March 1662 Nicolaes Witsen held a disputation at the Amsterdam Athenaeum, in which he - as his friend, the minister Balthasar Bekker, would do later - argued against the influence of comets on the welfare of all earthly things, possibly influenced by his nephew Joannes Hudde. In 1664 and 1665 Nicolaes traveled through Russia with Jacob Boreel, and in his diary wrote that no-one there was occupied with art or science. Witsen visited the patriarch Nikon, and he made notes on the worship of icons, interested in his name saint, saint Nicholas. Then he studied law at Leiden University. He wrote "Aeloude and hedendaegsche Scheepsbouw en Bestier" in 1671, which quickly became seen as the standard work on the subject. Because of this, a correspondence began between him and Peter the Great on modernising the Imperial Russian Navy, then backward by Western European standards. This led to an order for warships from Amsterdam shipyards in return for an ukase (negotiated by Witsen) on Dutch-Russian trade, guaranteeing to supply the Republic with grain, wood, talc, tar and skins. In 1697 Witsen organised a 4-month training period for the tsar on at the Dutch East India Company shipyards during his Grand Embassy, with the Tsar staying in Witsen's house and being taken by him to meet Frederik Ruysch.[1]
Cartography
After 20 years study, in 1687 Witsen published the first map of Siberia, and in 1692 a treatise titled "Noord en Oost Tartaryen", describing Siberia and the surrounding areas, though without literary references. Witsen had discussed with the tsar the trade routes to Persia via the Caspian Sea and to China via Siberia.
Mayor
Witsen had contact with the painter Jan de Bray over a plan to improve the city's water-supply. In 1688 Witsen played an important part in William III's crossing to England.
He also collected curiosities and artworks for his cabinet, gathering corals, lacquer, books, paintings, weapons, porcelain, insects, shells, stuffed animals and precious stones into his house on Herengracht on the Gouden Bocht. As mayor, he was patron to the arts and sciences, and maintained contacts with German scholars, such as Leibniz. 46 persons dedicated books to Witsen, including one of the first books of the historian Olfert Dapper, one by the brother of the world traveler Johan Nieuhof (including descriptions of Chinese shipbuilding), and "Cato, of de ondergang der Roomsche vryheid" by the pharmacist Hermanus Angelkot jr. and Pieter Langendijk.[2]
Witsen was also interested in religion, but for economic reasons and with interests stretching to "holy Confucius" as he called him, and to shamanism.
Works
- Architectura navalis et reginem nauticum (or Aeloude en hedendaegsche scheepsbouw en bestier), 1671, second edition 1690.
- Noord en Oost Tartaryen, 1692, second edition 1705.
Notes
- ^ Driessen, J. (1996) Tsaar Peter de Grote en zijn Amsterdamse vrienden. In cooperation with Amsterdams Historisch Museum, p. 40.
- ^ Marion Peters, Nepotisme, patronage en boekopdrachten bij Nicolaes Witsen (1641-1717), Burgemeester van Amsterdam.
External links
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