Hendrik Brouwer

Hendrik Brouwer (around 1581 ; † August 7, 1643 ) was a Dutch navigator and governor-general of the Dutch East Indies from 1632 to 1636.

Live and act

Little is known about Hendrik Brouwer's youth. As the commander of a fleet of three ships of the Dutch East India Company on the way to the Dutch East Indies , in 1611 he discovered a cheap sea route from South Africa to Indonesia , which is known as the Brouwer route . This sea route planned to stay at about 35-45 ° south latitude from the Cape of Good Hope and only head north towards Batavia at around 110 ° east longitude . At first glance, this route appears longer than the previously known ones, but it offered several advantages: On the one hand, it saved time, since the ship on this southern latitude is all the time within the Roaring Forties , a strong westerly wind zone, and on the other hand it was possible to avoid the other two routes used at the time. The Mozambique Strait between Mozambique and Madagascar was controlled by the Portuguese and the sea route east of Madagascar was avoided because of its dangerous currents. Neither the Portuguese nor the VOC (East India Company) were aware of the continent of Australia at that time , so that subsequent ships occasionally stranded on the offshore reefs of the nearby Australian west coast, such as the Batavia in 1629 . Brouwer is also considered to be the discoverer of the Roaring Forties mentioned .

In 1643 he set out on a trip to Chile to fight the Spaniards and look for gold. At that time the idea of Terra australis incognita , the large, undiscovered "southern continent" was still predominant. While driving through the Le Maire road , Brouwer discovered by chance that the Le Maire Staten Landt could neither be the said "southern continent", nor that the Staten Landt would be connected with New Zealand. He thus indirectly proved that New Zealand was in fact not part of the State of Landt . This fact led to the renaming of today's New Zealand in the following years .

Brouwer finally died during the expedition to Chile. An eyewitness account of the trip has survived, the German soldier Caspar Schmalkalden .

credentials

^ The Seynbrief, Sailing Toward Destiny , national library of australia.

personal data
SURNAME	Brouwer, Hendrik
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	Dutch navigator and governor-general of the Dutch East Indies
DATE OF BIRTH	around 1581
DATE OF DEATH	August 7, 1643

[1] The Seynbrief, Sailing Toward Destiny , national library of australia.