Jacob Roggeveen
{{Short description|Dutch explorer of the Pacific Ocean (1659–1729)}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Jacob Roggeveen
| caption =
| birth_name =
| birth_date = {{birth date|1659|02|01|df=y}}
| birth_place = Middelburg
| death_date = {{death date and age|1729|01|31|1659|02|01|df=y}}
| death_place = Middelburg
| death_cause =
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| nationality = Dutch
| other_names = Roggewein, Commodore
| known_for =
| education = University of Harderwijk
| employer = Dutch West India Company
| occupation =
| title =
| spouse = Marija Margaerita Vincentius, Anna Adriana Clement
| children =
| parents = Arend Roggeveen, Maria Storm
| relatives =
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}}
Jacob Roggeveen (1 February 1659 – 31 January 1729) was a Dutch explorer who was sent to find Terra Australis and Davis Land,{{cite book |last1=P. Paine |first1=Lincoln |title=Ships of Discovery and Exploration |date=2000 |publisher=Houghton Mifflin Harcourt |isbn=9780547561639 |page=30 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FKHnKRLZxggC&pg=PT30 |access-date=15 September 2021}} but instead found Easter Island (called so because he landed there on Easter Sunday). Jacob Roggeveen also found Bora Bora and Maupiti of the Society Islands, as well as Samoa. He planned the expedition along with his brother Jan Roggeveen, who stayed in the Netherlands.{{cite web |url=http://libweb5.princeton.edu/visual_materials/maps/websites/pacific/roggeveen/roggeveen.html |title=Jacob Roggeveen |publisher=Libweb5.princeton.edu |access-date=18 October 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161007040140/http://libweb5.princeton.edu/visual_materials/maps/websites/pacific/roggeveen/roggeveen.html |archive-date=7 October 2016 |url-status=dead }}
Early career
His father, Arend Roggeveen, was a mathematician with much knowledge of astronomy, geography, rhetorics, philosophy, and the theory of navigation as well. He occupied himself with study of the mythical Terra Australis, and even got a patent for an exploratory excursion, but it was to be his son who, at the age of 62, eventually equipped three ships and made the expedition.
He became notary of Middelburg (the capital of the province of Zeeland, where he was born). On 12 August 1690, he graduated as a doctor of the law at the University of Harderwijk. About this time he married Marija Margaerita Vincentius. She died around 3 to 4 years later in October 1694. In 1706, he joined the Dutch East Indies Company (VOC), and between 1707 and 1714 worked as a Raadsheer van Justitie ("Council Lord of Justice") at Batavia, Dutch East Indies (now Jakarta). He married Anna Adriana Clement there, but she died soon afterward. In 1714, he returned to Middelburg by himself.
He became involved in religious controversies, supporting the liberal preacher Pontiaan van Hattem by publishing his leaflet De val van 's werelds afgod (The fall of the world's idol). The first part appeared in 1718 in Middelburg, and was subsequently confiscated by the city council and burned. Roggeveen fled from Middelburg to nearby Flushing. Thereafter he established himself in the small town of Arnemuiden, and published parts 2 and 3 of the series, again raising a controversy.
Explorations
On 1 August 1721 he headed an expedition sponsored by the Dutch West India Company, the rivals of the VOC, to seek Terra Australis and to open a western trade route to the "Spice islands" in the East Indies.Quanchi, Historical Dictionary of the Discovery and Exploration of the Pacific Islands, page 217 His fleet consisted of three ships, the Arend, the Thienhoven, and Afrikaansche Galey and had 223 men on crew.
File:Samoa $1 1972 Jacob Roggeveen.jpg
Roggeveen first sailed down to the Falkland Islands (which he renamed "Belgia Australis"), passed through the Strait of Le Maire, and continued south to beyond 60 degrees south to enter the Pacific Ocean. He made landfall near Valdivia, Chile. He visited the Juan Fernández Islands, where he spent 24 February to 17 March. The expedition later arrived at Easter Island (Rapa Nui) on Easter Sunday, 5 April 1722{{cite web|url=http://www.chauvet-translation.com/easterisland.htm |title=Chauvet - Easter Island |publisher=Chauvet-translation.com |access-date=18 October 2012}} (whereupon he reported seeing 2,000–3,000 inhabitants). Roggeveen charted the location of six islands in the Tuamotu Archipelago, two islands in the Society Islands, and four islands in Samoa, losing his flagship, Afrikaansche Galey at Takapoto atoll.{{cite book|last1=Salmond|first1=Anne|title=Aphrodite's Island|date=2010|publisher=University of California Press|location=Berkeley|isbn=9780520261143|pages=[https://archive.org/details/aphroditesisland00salm/page/34 34]|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/aphroditesisland00salm/page/34}} At Makatea, he opened fire on a crowded beach in retaliation for a violent encounter with the inhabitants, and in return the Makateans ambushed a shore party, killing ten of his crewmen. The remaining two vessels sailed past New Guinea to reach Batavia in 1722, where he was arrested for violating the monopoly of the VOC and had his ships confiscated. After a lengthy lawsuit in the Netherlands, the VOC was later forced to compensate him for his losses and to pay his crew.
After his return, Roggeveen published part 4 of his work, De val van 's werelds afgod.
Notes
{{Reflist}}
References
- The Journal of Jacob Roggeveen, edited by Andrew Sharp, Oxford University Press, 1970
- Who's Who in Pacific Navigation, John Dunmore Melbourne University Press 1972
- {{cite book | last = Quanchi | first = Max| year = 2005 | title = Historical Dictionary of the Discovery and Exploration of the Pacific Islands | publisher = The Scarecrow Press | isbn = 0810853957}}
- Extract from the Official log of Jacob Roggeveen reproduced in {{citation|title=The voyage of Don Felipe Gonzalez to Easter Island in 1770-1|editor=Bolton Glanville Corney|year=1908|page=3|publisher=Hakluyt Society|url=https://archive.org/stream/voyagecaptaindo00unkngoog#page/n88/mode/2up|access-date=13 January 2013}}
External links
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20161007040140/http://libweb5.princeton.edu/visual_materials/maps/websites/pacific/roggeveen/roggeveen.html Libweb5.princeton.edu]
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Roggeveen, Jakob}}
Category:17th-century Dutch explorers
Category:18th-century Dutch explorers
Category:Dutch explorers of the Pacific
Category:Explorers of South America
Category:Sailors on ships of the Dutch West India Company