Hendrik Hamel
Hendrik Hamel (* 1630 in Gorinchem ; † February 12, 1692 in Gorinchem) was a Dutch navigator who, after a shipwreck, was the first European to report on the Kingdom of Korea of the Joseon Dynasty .
Life
In 1653, Hendrik Hamel was accountant for the Dutch East India Company (VOC) on the ship De Sperwer (The Sparrowhawk ), which was shipwrecked on the island of Jejudo on the way to Japan with a crew of 64 .
The 36 survivors were arrested by the local governor and taken to the mainland to the capital Hanseong by order of the king , where they lived for the next three years. They were forbidden to leave the country, but they were assigned various tasks that allowed them to get to know the country and its people. A Dutchman named Jan Weltevree, who had also been stranded many years earlier, initially served as an interpreter. After three years in Seoul, the prisoners were distributed to several cities in the south of the country because of an incident, where they spent the next ten years, until eight of the sixteen last survivors, including Hamel, managed to escape by boat to Nagasaki in Japan in 1666 .
When he returned home, Hendrik Hamel wrote a report on the shipwreck of the sparrow , which was published in 1668. His description of the Kingdom of Korea was read throughout Europe and remained the only source of information about the completely isolated country for two centuries. After his adventure, Hamel returned to Gorinchem in South Holland , where he died in 1692.
literature
- Hendrik Hamel: Verhaal van het vergaan van het jacht de Sperwer En van het wedervaren der Schipbreukelingen op het eiland Quelpaert en het vasteland van Korea . tredition, 2013. ISBN 978-3-849539757 (Dutch)
- Hendrik Hamel: Il naufragio dello Sparviero e la descrizione del regno di Corea (1653-1666) . Milan 2003 (Italian)
- Hendrik Hamel, William Elliot Griffis: Corea, Without and Within: Chapters On Corean History, Manners and Religion . Ulan Press, 2012 (English)
Web links
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Hamel, Hendrik |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Dutch navigator |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 1630 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Gorinchem |
| DATE OF DEATH | February 12, 1692 |
| Place of death | Gorinchem |