Olivier van Noort

Olivier van Noort (* 1558 in Utrecht , † February 22, 1627 in Schoonhoven an der Lek ) was the first Dutchman to sail around the world.

biography

Olivier van Noort was born in Utrecht in 1558 (according to some sources 1559 ). In 1598 van Noort was commissioned by some Rotterdam and Amsterdam merchants to make a voyage of discovery to India in a south-westerly direction. The shipowners made the four ships Eendracht, Mauritius, Frederik Hendrik and De Hoop with a total of 248 crew available to him. He left Rotterdam on July 2nd , reached Tierra del Fuego in November 1598 , but only sailed in early 1600After many problems (for example, he deposed his Vice-Admiral, Jacob Claes, after a mutiny on an uninhabited island) through the Strait of Magellan , and continued his journey to Asia. He lost three ships on the way. One was sunk in a storm off the coast of Chile, and two others were sunk by Spanish ships near the Philippines . With his last ship, the Mauritius , van Noort succeeded in sinking the Spanish galleon San Diego in a battle near the Philippines. He returned to Rotterdam on August 26, 1601 with only 45 men left.

This trip is considered the fourth circumnavigation after the expeditions of Magellan , Drake and Cavendish .

Later he took part in other battles of the Eighty Years' War on the Dutch side .

Web links

• Victoria University of Wellington
• Olivier van Noort was de eerste Hollander, who had the aardkloot rond shown