Hendrik Brouwer

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Hendrick Brouwer

Hendrik Brouwer or Enrique Brower (1581 - August 7, 1643) was a Dutch sea explorer and corsair, who sailed against Spain during the Dutch War of Independence, raiding the Spanish Main during the late 16th and early 17th centuries.

In 1600 he occupied the Spanish city of Castro, Chile for a brief time, shortly after fellow corsair Baltazar de Cordes held the city captive for two months the same year [1].

In 1611, Brouwer devised the Brouwer Route, a route from South Africa to Java that greatly reduced voyage duration by taking advantage of the strong westerly winds in the Roaring Forties.

From 1632 to 1636 he was governor-general of the Dutch East Indies.

In 1643, he left his charge as governor to personally lead attacks on the Viceroyalty of Peru. According to the plans they would first establish a base on the abandoned ruins of Valdivia, Chile. The fleet sailed from the Dutch occupied Brazil were John Maurice of Nassau was governor, he provided him with supplies and ships. Unfortunately Hendrik died before arriving at Valdivia, but Maurice of Nassau had foreseen that as Brouwer was an old man, and secretly by a letter appointed Elias Herckman as successor. Herckman occupied the ruins of Valdivia for less than one year before leaving.

[edit] External links & further reading

(Dutch) A short biograpy
Zaragoza, Justo and Dionisio de Alsedo y Herrera. Piraterías y agresiones de los ingleses y de otros pueblos de Europa en la América Española. Impr. de M. G. Hernández, 1883.