François Valentijn

François Valentijn ( born April 17, 1666 Dordrecht; † August 6, 1727 in The Hague ) was a preacher ( pastor ) of the Dutch East India Company in the Moluccas and author. He published between 1724-1726, a description of the Dutch possessions and many regions in Asia ( " Oud en Nieuw Oost- India " ), which remained unsurpassed despite various weaknesses in its scope and the wealth of information until the 19th century.

Life

Valentijn was born the son of a rector of the Latin school in Dordrecht. He studied theology and philosophy in Leiden and Utrecht, and in 1684, ie at the age of 19 years, as a preacher set by the East India Company. In 1685 he moved to Batavia. In the colony at the Cape of Good Hope he got to know Simon van der Stel in Batavia, among others, John Camphuys.

From 1686 to 1694 he was a minister in the Moluccas, mainly in Ambon. Here, he befriended a native of Hanau botanist Georg Eberhard Rumpf. He also began to distribute Bibles in the Malay language, but was then treated against his will to Batavia. The relationship with the other pastors there was not without conflict, which is why he returned in 1695 with his wife and children to Dordrecht. In 1705 he broke again to India to record the distribution of Bibles again. Until 1707 he worked on Java, after which he lived until 1712 again on Ambon. Because of disputes with Adriaan van der Stel, the Governor of Ambon, and the Governor General of the Company Abraham van Riebeeck in 1713 he entschlagen his office and returned to the Netherlands.

Work

Between 1724 and 1726 appeared Valentijns Oud en Nieuw Oost great work - India. Even the title attests to the claim of the author:

In five volumes with 5144 pages and more than 1050 illustrations, he gives a detailed overview of the history of the Dutch East India Company, its possessions and all Asian regions in which the Company conducted its business. The maritime character of the Dutch trade, according to this islands and coastal areas are in the foreground. On the respective local description is an overview of flora, fauna, the residents, law, religion and the political constitution. The book gives detailed information on military, political and commercial position of the Dutch in Asia.

Valentijn consumed not only by his own considerable experience and observations. He had access to unpublished documents of the East India Company and to the extensive manuscripts of the fuselage. More information came from Willem Adriaan van der Stel. He also evaluated the publications of Willem Schouten en Nicolaas de Graaff.

In principle, the East India Company tried to prevent publications former staff to their possessions and trade. But it was not always in enforcing stringent, and Valentijns times there was the spice trade as well as in terms of sea routes and geography hardly secrets so that Valentijn was lucky enough to experience during the lifetime of the pressure.