Hendrik Brouwer (; 1581 – 7 August 1643) was a Dutch explorer and governor of the

Dutch East Indies The Dutch East Indies, also known as the Netherlands East Indies ( nl, Nederlands(ch)-Indië; ), was a Dutch colony consisting of what is now Indonesia. It was formed from the nationalised trading posts of the Dutch East India Company, whic ...

East Indies

Brouwer is thought to first have sailed to the

for the

Dutch East India Company The United East India Company ( nl, Verenigde Oostindische Compagnie, the VOC) was a chartered company established on the 20th March 1602 by the States General of the Netherlands amalgamating existing companies into the first joint-stock ...

(VOC) in 1606. In 1610, he left again to the Indies, now as commander of three ships. On this trip he devised the

Brouwer Route The Brouwer Route was a 17th-century route used by ships sailing from the Cape of Good Hope to the Dutch East Indies, as the eastern leg of the Cape Route. The route took ships south from the Cape (which is at 34° latitude south) into the Roar ...

, a route from

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring coun ...

Java Java (; id, Jawa, ; jv, ꦗꦮ; su, ) is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea to the north. With a population of 151.6 million people, Java is the world's mo ...

that reduced voyage duration from a year to about six months by taking advantage of the strong westerly winds in the

Roaring Forties The Roaring Forties are strong westerly winds found in the Southern Hemisphere, generally between the latitudes of 40°S and 50°S. The strong west-to-east air currents are caused by the combination of air being displaced from the Equator ...

– latitudes between 40° and 50° south. Up to that point, the Dutch had followed a route copied from the Portuguese via the coast of Africa,

Mauritius Mauritius ( ; french: Maurice, link=no ; mfe, label= Mauritian Creole, Moris ), officially the Republic of Mauritius, is an island nation in the Indian Ocean about off the southeast coast of the African continent, east of Madagascar. It ...

and

Ceylon Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

. By 1617, the VOC required all their ships to take the Brouwer route. After his arrival in 1611 in the East Indies, he was sent to Japan to replace

Jacques Specx Jacques Specx (; 1585 – 22 July 1652) was a Dutch merchant, who founded the trade on Japan and Korea in 1609. Jacques Specx received the support of William Adams to obtain extensive trading rights from Tokugawa Ieyasu, the '' shōgun'' emerit ...

temporarily as

opperhoofd ''Opperhoofd'' is a Dutch word (plural ''opperhoofden'') that literally translates to "upper-head", meaning "supreme headman". The Danish equivalent ''overhoved'', which is derived from a Danish pronunciation of the Dutch or Low German word, is a ...

Dejima , in the 17th century also called Tsukishima ( 築島, "built island"), was an artificial island off Nagasaki, Japan that served as a trading post for the Portuguese (1570–1639) and subsequently the Dutch (1641–1854). For 220 years, i ...

from 28 August 1612 to 6 August 1614. During that time he made a visit to the Japanese court at Edo. In 1613, he made a trip to

Siam Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is bo ...

that laid the foundation for the Dutch trade with Siam. Early in 1632, he was part of a delegation sent to

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

to solve trade disagreements between the

Honourable East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and Southea ...

and Dutch East India companies. Afterwards he left for the Indies, and on 18 April of that same year he was appointed

Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies The governor-general of the Dutch East Indies ( nl, gouverneur-generaal van Nederlands Indië) represented Netherlands, Dutch rule in the Dutch East Indies between 1610 and Dutch recognition of the Proclamation of Indonesian Independence, indep ...

, again following Jacques Specx, a position which he held until 1 January 1636.

Anthony van Diemen Anthony van Diemen (also ''Antonie'', ''Antonio'', ''Anton'', ''Antonius'') (1593 – 19 April 1645) was a Dutch colonial governor. Early life He was born in Culemborg in the Netherlands, the son of Meeus Anthonisz van Diemen and Christina Ho ...

was his assistant during this entire period, and many of the Dutch explorations into the

Pacific The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the contine ...

carried out under Van Diemen's command were suggested in writing by Brouwer before he left.

Chile

In 1642, the VOC joined the

Dutch West India Company The Dutch West India Company ( nl, Geoctrooieerde Westindische Compagnie, ''WIC'' or ''GWC''; ; en, Chartered West India Company) was a chartered company of Dutch merchants as well as foreign investors. Among its founders was Willem Usselincx ...

in organizing an expedition to Chile to establish a base for trading gold at the abandoned ruins of

Valdivia Valdivia (; Mapuche: Ainil) is a city and commune in southern Chile, administered by the Municipality of Valdivia. The city is named after its founder Pedro de Valdivia and is located at the confluence of the Calle-Calle, Valdivia, and Cau-Ca ...

. The fleet sailed from

Dutch Brazil Dutch Brazil ( nl, Nederlands-Brazilië), also known as New Holland ( nl, Nieuw-Holland), was a colony of the Dutch Republic in the northeastern portion of modern-day Brazil, controlled from 1630 to 1654 during Dutch colonization of the Americ ...

where

John Maurice of Nassau John Maurice of Nassau ( Dutch: ''Johan Maurits van Nassau-Siegen''; German: ''Johann Moritz von Nassau-Siegen''; Portuguese: ''João Maurício de Nassau-Siegen''; 17 June 1604 – 20 December 1679), called "the Brazilian" for his fruitful period a ...

provided them with supplies. While rounding

Cape Horn Cape Horn ( es, Cabo de Hornos, ) is the southernmost headland of the Tierra del Fuego archipelago of southern Chile, and is located on the small Hornos Island. Although not the most southerly point of South America (which are the Diego Ramí ...

, the expedition established that

Isla de los Estados Isla de los Estados (English: Staten Island, from the Dutch ''Stateneiland'') is an Argentine island that lies off the eastern extremity of Tierra del Fuego, from which it is separated by the Le Maire Strait. It was named after the Netherlands ...

was not part of the unknown southern land. After making landfall on

Chiloé Island Chiloé Island ( es, Isla de Chiloé, , ) also known as Greater Island of Chiloé (''Isla Grande de Chiloé''), is the largest island of the Chiloé Archipelago off the west coast of Chile, in the Pacific Ocean. The island is located in southern ...

, Brouwer made a pact with native Huilliches to aid in establishing a resettlement at Valdivia. However, on 7 August 1643, at the age of 62, Hendrik died in Puerto Inglés before his arrival at Valdivia, and was succeeded by his vice-admiral, Elias Herckmans, who landed at the ruins on 24 August. The embalmed body of Brouwer was buried in Valdivia, by then renamed Brouwershaven, on September 16. Brouwershaven remained occupied by Herckmans and his men until 28 October. Having been told that the Dutch had plans to return to the location, the Spanish viceroy in Peru sent 1,000 men in 20 ships in 1644, to resettle Valdivia and fortify it. The viceroy also sent 2,000 men by land, who never made it. The Spanish soldiers in the new garrison disinterred and burned Brouwer's body.

Footnotes

External links

"Hendrik Brouwer"
– ''De VOC site'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Brouwer, Hendrik 1581 births 1643 deaths 17th-century Dutch colonial governors 17th-century Dutch explorers Dutch chiefs of factory in Japan Explorers of Argentina Explorers of Asia Explorers of Chile Explorers of South America Governors-General of the Dutch East Indies Maritime history of the Dutch East India Company Sailors on ships of the Dutch East India Company