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Nicolaas Witsen
Nicolaes Witsen (; 8 May 1641 – 10 August 1717) was a Dutch statesman who was mayor of Amsterdam thirteen times, between 1682 and 1706. In 1693, he became administrator of the Dutch East India Company (VOC). In 1689, he was extraordinary-ambassador to the English court and became Fellow of the Royal Society. In his free time, he was cartographer, maritime writer, and an authority on shipbuilding. His books on the subject are important sources on Dutch shipbuilding in the 17th century. Furthermore, he was an expert on Russian affairs. He was the first to describe Siberia, the Far East and Central Asia in his study ''Noord en Oost Tartarye'' orth and East Tartary Early life Nicolaes Witsen was born in Amsterdam As a member of the Witsen family. His father, Cornelis Jan Witsen, was burgomaster, head bailiff and administrator of the Dutch West India Company. In 1656, Nicolaes went with his father to England, where he was introduced to Oliver Cromwell's children. In March 1662, ...
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Peter Schenk The Elder
Petrus Schenck, or Pieter, or Peter Schenk the Elder (baptized: 26 December 1660 – between 12 August and 17 November 1711) was a German engraver and cartographer active in Amsterdam and Leipzig.Pieter Schenk (I)
in the RKD


Life

The engraver and map publisher Peter Schenk was born in 1660 in Elberfeld. He moved to Amsterdam in 1675 and became a student of Gerard Valck specializing in mezzotint. Valck was married to Maria Bloteling, the sister of the Amsterdam engraver Abraham Bloteling. In 1687, Schenk married Gerard's sister Agatha Valck. In 1694, together with Valck, he bought some of the copperplates of the artdealer and cartographer Johannes Janssonius. Along with Valck and Bloteling, he produced prints for the London market, though it is not known if he ever went there with them.< ...
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Jacob Boreel
Jacob Boreel (1 April 1630, in Amsterdam – 21 August 1697, in Velsen) was a dutch ambassador in France, sheriff and burgomaster of Amsterdam in 1696. He Held the titles knight and Vrijheer of Duinbeek, Westhoven, Sint Aecht und Meerestein. Life Jacob Boreel was a scion of the Boreel family. His parents were the Dutch Diplomat and English peer Willem Boreel and Jacoba Carel (1607–1657). Between 1664 and 1665 he travelled through Russia with his friend Nicolaes Witsen. In 1679, he became the ambassador in Paris. He is remembered in Velsen as the owner of the ''buitenplaats'' called Beeckestijn, who financed improvements to the house and gardens to the design that has been kept up until today. In 1690, as a sheriff he was involved in a case with Romeyn de Hooghe. On the day before the mayors were appointed, the house of Boreel on 507 Herengracht was attacked by the mob. All the furniture, mirrors and expensive porcelain were destroyed, taken home, or thrown into the cana ...
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Anatomist
Anatomy () is the branch of morphology concerned with the study of the internal structure of organisms and their parts. Anatomy is a branch of natural science that deals with the structural organization of living things. It is an old science, having its beginnings in prehistoric times. Anatomy is inherently tied to developmental biology, embryology, comparative anatomy, evolutionary biology, and phylogeny, as these are the processes by which anatomy is generated, both over immediate and long-term timescales. Anatomy and physiology, which study the structure and function of organisms and their parts respectively, make a natural pair of related disciplines, and are often studied together. Human anatomy is one of the essential basic sciences that are applied in medicine, and is often studied alongside physiology. Anatomy is a complex and dynamic field that is constantly evolving as discoveries are made. In recent years, there has been a significant increase in the use of ...
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Oxford
Oxford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and non-metropolitan district in Oxfordshire, England, of which it is the county town. The city is home to the University of Oxford, the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, oldest university in the English-speaking world; it has buildings in every style of Architecture of England, English architecture since late History of Anglo-Saxon England, Anglo-Saxon. Oxford's industries include motor manufacturing, education, publishing, science, and information technologies. Founded in the 8th century, it was granted city status in 1542. The city is located at the confluence of the rivers Thames (locally known as the Isis) and River Cherwell, Cherwell. It had a population of in . It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. History The history of Oxford in England dates back to its original settlement in the History of Anglo-Saxon England, Saxon period. The name � ...
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Melchisédech Thévenot
Melchisédech or Melchisédec Thévenot (29 October 1692) was a French author, scientist, traveller, cartographer, orientalist, inventor, and diplomat. He was the inventor of the spirit level and is also famous for his popular posthumously published 1696 book ''The Art of Swimming'', one of the first books on the subject and widely read during the 18th century. Benjamin Franklin, an avid swimmer in his youth, is known to have read it. The book popularized the breaststroke (see History of swimming) ; he was inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame in 1990. He also influenced the founding of the Académie Royale des Sciences (the French Academy of Sciences). Life Thévenot came from a family of royal office holders (nobles of the robe), which partly explains his wealth. He was reputed to speak English, Greek, Latin, Hebrew, and several oriental languages, including Arabic and Turkish. Thévenot's baptismal name was Nicolas, Melchisédech being added as the second ...
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Cosimo III De' Medici
Cosimo III de' Medici (14 August 1642 – 31 October 1723) was Grand Duchy of Tuscany, Grand Duke of Tuscany from 1670 until his death in 1723, the sixth and penultimate from the House of Medici. He reigned from 1670 to 1723, and was the elder son of Grand Duke Ferdinando II. Cosimo's 53-year-long reign, the longest in Tuscan history, was marked by a series of laws that regulated prostitution and May celebrations. His reign also witnessed Tuscany's deterioration to previously unknown economic lows. Cosimo III married Marguerite Louise d'Orléans, a cousin of Louis XIV. The marriage was solemnized by proxy in the King's Chapel at the Louvre, on 17 April 1661. It proved to be a very difficult marriage. Marguerite eventually abandoned Tuscany for the Saint-Pierre de Montmartre, Convent of Montmartre. Together, they had three children: Ferdinando de' Medici, Grand Prince of Tuscany, Ferdinando in 1663, Anna Maria Luisa, Electress Palatine, in 1667, and Gian Gastone de' Medici, ...
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Leiden University
Leiden University (abbreviated as ''LEI''; ) is a Public university, public research university in Leiden, Netherlands. Established in 1575 by William the Silent, William, Prince of Orange as a Protestantism, Protestant institution, it holds the distinction of being the oldest university in the Netherlands of today. During the Dutch Golden Age scholars from around Europe were attracted to the Dutch Republic for its climate of intellectual tolerance. Individuals such as René Descartes, Rembrandt, Christiaan Huygens, Hugo Grotius, Benedictus Spinoza, and later Baron d'Holbach were active in Leiden and environs. The university has seven academic faculties and over fifty subject departments, housing more than forty national and international research institutes. Its historical primary campus consists of several buildings spread over Leiden, while a second campus located in The Hague houses a liberal arts college (Leiden University College The Hague) and several of its faculties. It i ...
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Saint Nicholas
Saint Nicholas of Myra (traditionally 15 March 270 – 6 December 343), also known as Nicholas of Bari, was an early Christian bishop of Greeks, Greek descent from the maritime city of Patara (Lycia), Patara in Anatolia (in modern-day Antalya Province, Turkey) during the time of the Roman Empire. Because of the many miracles attributed to his intercession, he is also known as Nicholas the Wonderworker. Saint Nicholas is the patron saint of sailors, merchants, archers, repentant thieves, children, brewers, pawnbrokers, toymakers, unmarried people, and students in various cities and countries around Europe. His reputation evolved among the pious, as was common for early Christian saints, and his legendary habit of secret gift-giving gave rise to the folklore of Santa Claus ("Saint Nick") through Sinterklaas. Little is known about the historical Saint Nicholas. The earliest accounts of his life were written centuries after his death and probably contain legendary elaborations. H ...
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Icon
An icon () is a religious work of art, most commonly a painting, in the cultures of the Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, Catholic Church, Catholic, and Lutheranism, Lutheran churches. The most common subjects include Jesus, Mary, mother of Jesus, Mary, saints, and angels. Although especially associated with portrait-style images concentrating on one or two main figures, the term also covers most of the religious images in a variety of artistic media produced by Eastern Christianity, including narrative scenes, usually from the Bible or the lives of saints. Icons are most commonly painted on wood panels with egg tempera, but they may also be cast in metal or carved in stone or embroidered on cloth or done in mosaic or fresco work or printed on paper or metal, etc. Comparable images from Western Christianity may be classified as "icons", although "iconic" may also be used to describe the static style of a devotional image. In the Greek language, the term for icon painting uses ...
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Patriarch Nikon
Nikon (, ), born Nikita Minin (; 7 May 1605 – 17 August 1681) was the seventh Patriarch of Moscow and all Rus' of the Russian Orthodox Church, serving officially from 1652 to 1666. He was renowned for his eloquence, energy, piety and close ties to Tsar Alexis of Russia. Nikon introduced many reforms, including liturgical reforms that were unpopular among conservatives. These divisions eventually led to a lasting schism known as '' Raskol'' (schism) in the Russian Orthodox Church. For many years, he was a dominant political figure, often equaling or even overshadowing the Tsar. In December 1667, Nikon was tried by a synod of church officials, deprived of all his sacerdotal functions, and reduced to the status of a simple monk. Early life Son of a Mordvin peasant farmer named Mina, he was born on 7 May 1605 in the village of , 90 versts (96 km or 60 miles) from Nizhny Novgorod. His mother died soon after he was born, and his father remarried. His stepmother mistreated ...
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Alexis Of Russia
Alexei Mikhailovich (, ; – ), also known as Alexis, was Tsar of all Russia from 1645 until his death in 1676. He was the second Russian tsar from the House of Romanov. He was the first tsar to sign laws on his own authority and his council passed the ''Sobornoye Ulozheniye'' of 1649, which strengthened the bonds between autocracy and the lower nobility. In religious matters, he sided closely with Patriarch Nikon of Moscow, Patriarch Nikon during the Schism of the Russian Church, schism in the Russian Orthodox Church which saw unpopular liturgical reforms. While finding success in foreign affairs, his reign saw several wars with Russo-Persian War (1651–1653), Iran, Russo-Polish War (1654–1667), Poland (from whom left-bank Ukraine and Smolensk Voivodeship, Smolensk were annexed) and Russo-Swedish War (1656–1658), Sweden, as well as internal instabilities such as the Salt Riot in Moscow and the Cossack revolt of Stenka Razin in southern Russia. At the time of his death, R ...
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Czar
Tsar (; also spelled ''czar'', ''tzar'', or ''csar''; ; ; sr-Cyrl-Latn, цар, car) is a title historically used by Slavic monarchs. The term is derived from the Latin word '' caesar'', which was intended to mean ''emperor'' in the European medieval sense of the term—a ruler with the same rank as a Roman emperor, holding it by the approval of another emperor or a supreme ecclesiastical official—but was usually considered by Western Europeans to be equivalent to "king". Tsar and its variants were the official titles in the First Bulgarian Empire (681–1018), Second Bulgarian Empire (1185–1396), the Kingdom of Bulgaria (1908–1946), the Serbian Empire (1346–1371), and the Tsardom of Russia (1547–1721). The first ruler to adopt the title ''tsar'' was Simeon I of Bulgaria. Simeon II, the last tsar of Bulgaria, is the last person to have held this title. Meaning in Slavic languages The title tsar is derived from the Latin title for the Roman emperors, ''caesar' ...
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