Barent Erickszoon

Barent Erickszoon (also Barent Eriksz , Bernhard Ericks o. Ä.) Was a Dutch seafarer towards the end of the 16th and beginning of the 17th century. He came from Enkhuizen, otherwise nothing is known about his origin. He is probably the first Dutchman to set foot on the West African Gold Coast after the Republic of the United Netherlands was established in 1579 .

Barent Erickszoon's ship set sail for Brazil on November 1, 1590. At the equator the ship got caught in a storm and subsequent strong headwinds left the ship wandering around in the Gulf of Guinea for three months until it landed on September 17, 1591 on the then unoccupied island of Príncipe , which was then part of Spain , in order to carry out necessary ship repairs. The Spaniards on the neighboring island of São Tomé did not miss the arrival of the Dutch and so one night they attacked the Dutch with 30 men. Barent Erickzoon and 36 of his companions were captured and incarcerated in São Tomé. In the course of a year and a half, 30 of the Dutch died. One day two French prisoners who had previously been held on Elmina were transferred to the São Tomé prison and locked up with the Dutch. The French told of the riches of the Gold Coast and a close friendship between the French and the Dutch soon developed. Together they finally managed to escape and in March 1593 they were happy again in Europe.

The Dutch reported the stories of the French in their homeland and the equipment of several expeditions to the gold-rich coast of West Africa was immediately tackled. In June 1593 the “Maegdt van Enckhuisen” was the first to sail towards the “Goudkust”. It had a crew of 25 and was led by Barent Erickszoon. After nine months, in March 1594, you were back again. In addition to a large amount of gold, there were also 8-9 loads of pepper and about 7-8 quintals of ivory on board.

However, Barent Erickszoon was not the only one to sail towards the Guinea Coast in 1593. A short time later another ship ran under the captain Dirk Veldemius from Hoorn in the direction of the Gold Coast. On the way, however, they fell into the hands of French pirates and there was no trace of the ship and crew. Also in 1593 a ship ran under Cornelis Treekszoon Vreyer from Medemblick in the direction of the Guinea coast. Storms at the equator, however, pushed the ship south of the course. Cornelis Treekszoon Vreyer is considered to be the first Dutchman to trade in Angola.

Barent Erickszoon made a total of 11 trips to the Guinea coast and one to India. From the latter he brought u. a. also 10,200 animal skins.

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• Nicolaus Hadeler, History of the Dutch colonies on the Gold Coast with a special focus on trade , Dissertation University of Bonn, 1904