Johannes van Walbeeck
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| Johannes van Walbeeck | |
|---|---|
| fl. 1622-1638 | |
| Type: | Corsair |
| Place of birth: | Netherlands |
| Allegiance: | Netherlands |
| Years of service: | 1620s-1630s |
| Rank: | Admiral |
| Base of Operations: | Caribbean |
| Battles/wars: | Eighty Years' War |
Johan or Johannes van Walbeeck (fl. 1622-1638) was a 17th century Dutch admiral, corsair and privateer. He was the mathematicus of the three-year circumnavigation of the world led by Admiral Jacob l'Hermite and Vice Admiral John Hugo Schapenham and later published a record of this voyage shortly after the expedition's return in 1626. In 1629, he and Maarten Valck were sent to establish a Dutch base on the Chilean coast from which to explore Terra Australis. However, due to the colonial wars between the Dutch and Portugese, the expedition did not get past Brazil. [1]
In May 1634, he commanded an expedition to the Antilles for the Dutch West Indies Company. On July 29, he and Pierre Le Grande landed at Curacao and capture the island from Spain with little resistance. [2] He installed himself as the island's first governor while Peter Stuyvesant was appointed governor of the Netherland Antilles. During his three years as governor, the town of Willemstad was built around the natural harbor of St. Anna's Bay. A pentagonal fortification was also built in 1635, following standard Dutch military engineering practice. Although the island was considered unsuitable for colonization, Curacao became a major base for privateers to trade contraband within the next several years. [3]
In 1638, he and Le Grande were sent to Brazil while Jacob Pieters took over his position as governor although van Walbeeck remained political director of Curacao for the next several years. [4]
[edit] References
- ^ Eisler, William. The Furthest Shore: Images of Terra Australis from the Middle Ages to Captain Cook. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1995. (pg. 97) ISBN 0-521-39268-3
- ^ Emmanuel, Suzanne A. History of the Jews of the Netherlands Antilles. Cincinnati: American Jewish Archives, 1970. (pg. 37)
- ^ University of Cape Town. Social Dynamics: A Journey of the Centre for African Studies University of Cape Town. Volume 17. Number 1. (June 1991): 44.
- ^ Van der Zee, Barbara. A Sweet and Alien Land: The Story of Dutch New York. New York: Viking Press, 1978. (pg. 150) ISBN 0-670-68628-X
[edit] Further reading
- Eisler, William Lawrence and Bernard Smith, ed. Terra Australis: The Furthest Shore. Sydney: International Cultural Corporation of Australia, 1988.
- Goslinga, Cornelis Christiaan. A Short History of the Netherlands Antilles and Surinam. The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, 1979.
- Hartog, Johannes. History of the Netherlands Antilles. Aruba: DeWitt, 1968.
- Henige, David P. Colonial Governors from the Fifteenth Century to the Present. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1970.
- Hoebel, Edward Adamson, ed. The Netherlands East and West Indies. Inter-Allied Publications, 1945.
- Klooster, Wim. Illicit Riches: Dutch Trade in the Caribbean, 1648-1795. Leiden: KITLV Press, 1998.
