Johann von der Behr
Johann von der Behr (* around 1615 in Leipzig ; † around 1692) was a German globetrotter and is considered an important contemporary witness for the history of German seafaring.
Life
Very little is known about the life of von der Behrs. He originally worked as a notary in Leipzig and moved to Hamburg in 1642. From there he traveled to France and in 1644 via Middelburg in the Netherlands as a cadet to Batavia , capital of the Dutch East Indies colony . He was only one of many Germans who were looking for work in the Netherlands and with the East India Company . According to conservative estimates by historians, around 200,000 to 300,000 Germans were serving the company on ships and in Asia at that time. Originally von der Behr wanted to travel to Paris because he was addicted to travel . But a fellow traveler persuaded him at a stopover,
- because of the more the Croesian treasures, and to gain some part from them ,
to go to the East Indies. Furthermore, he told of golden mountains in glowing colors, so that von der Behr decided to travel to Southeast Asia.
From Batavia he drove under Johan Maetsuycker to Goa , on to Ceylon, today's Sri Lanka , and to Persia . In 1650 he came back to the Netherlands. He wrote down his travel impressions in his diary, or diary of a nine-year journey , which appeared in 1668. This work was reprinted several times until 1683. Johann von der Behr died around 1692.
Works
- Diarium, or day book / about that / So time of a nine-year journey on water and land / mostly in the service of the united geoctroyrten Dutch East Indian Company, especially in the same countries daily and reported from the year 1668.
literature
- Loewenberg, Julius: Behr, Johann von der . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 2, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1875, p. 285.
- Gabriele Schwarz: Behr, Johann von der. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 2, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1955, ISBN 3-428-00183-4 , p. 10 ( digitized version ).
- Albrecht Sauer: Johann von der Behr and Heinrich Brarens: two witnesses of German maritime history in Deutsche Schiffahrt , No. 1, 2002.
- Edition of the travelogue in travelogues by German officials and soldiers in the service of the Dutch West and East Indian Companies 1602-1797. Volume 4. Nijhoff Haag 1930
- Cord Eberspächer: adventurer or guest worker? German servants in the Dutch overseas companies of the 17th and 18th centuries. In: German and Dutch , the article is available on the Internet as a PDF
Web links
- Literature by and about Johann von der Behr in the catalog of the German National Library
- Publications by and about Johann von der Behr in VD 17 .
Remarks
- ↑ quoted from Cord Eberspächer, p. 431
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Behr, Johann von der |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German world traveler |
| DATE OF BIRTH | around 1615 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Leipzig |
| DATE OF DEATH | around 1692 |