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 (; ), was a Dutch Empire, Dutch colony with territory mostly comprising the modern state of Indonesia, which Proclamation of Indonesian Independence, declared independence on 17 Au ...

East Indies

Brouwer is thought to first have sailed to the

for the

Dutch East India Company The United East India Company ( ; VOC ), commonly known as the Dutch East India Company, was a chartered company, chartered trading company and one of the first joint-stock companies in the world. Established on 20 March 1602 by the States Ge ...

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 Roari ...

, a route from

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

Java Java is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea (a part of Pacific Ocean) to the north. With a population of 156.9 million people (including Madura) in mid 2024, proje ...

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 westerlies, westerly winds that occur in the Southern Hemisphere, generally between the latitudes of 40th parallel south, 40° and 50th parallel south, 50° south. The strong eastward air currents are caused by ...

– 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, officially the Republic of Mauritius, is an island country in the Indian Ocean, about off the southeastern coast of East Africa, east of Madagascar. It includes the main island (also called Mauritius), as well as Rodrigues, Ag ...

and

Ceylon Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...

. 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'' emeritu ...

temporarily as

opperhoofd is a Dutch word (plural ) that literally translates to "upper-head", meaning "supreme headman". The Danish cognate , which is a calque derived from a Danish pronunciation of the Dutch or Low German word, is also treated here. The standard Ge ...

Dejima or Deshima, in the 17th century also called , was an artificial island off Nagasaki, Japan, that served as a trading post for the Portuguese (1570–1639) and subsequently the Dutch (1641–1858). For 220 years, it was the central con ...

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, officially the Kingdom of Thailand and historically known as Siam (the official name until 1939), is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. With a population of almost 66 million, it spa ...

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 city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

to solve trade disagreements between the

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

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 (, ) represented Dutch rule in the Dutch East Indies between 1610 and Dutch recognition of the independence of Indonesia in 1949. Occupied by Japanese forces between 1942 and 1945, followed by the ...

, 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 Van Diemen was born in Culemborg (now in the Netherlands, then in a county in the Holy Roman Empire) ...

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 the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is bounded by the cont ...

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 () was a Dutch chartered company that was founded in 1621 and went defunct in 1792. Among its founders were Reynier Pauw, Willem Usselincx (1567–1647), and Jessé de Forest (1576–1624). On 3 June 1621, it was gra ...

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 ...

. The fleet sailed from

Dutch Brazil Dutch Brazil (; ), also known as New 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 Americas. The main cities of the colony were the c ...

where

John Maurice of Nassau John Maurice of Nassau ( ; ; ; ; 17 June 1604 – 20 December 1679), called "the Brazilian" for his fruitful period as governor of Dutch Brazil, was Count and (from 1664) Prince of Nassau-Siegen. He served as ''Herrenmeister'' (equivalent to Gra ...

provided them with supplies. While rounding

Cape Horn Cape Horn (, ) 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 is Águila Islet), Cape Horn marks the nor ...

, the expedition established that

Isla de los Estados Isla de los Estados is an Argentine island that lies off the eastern extremity of Tierra del Fuego, from which it is separated by the Le Maire Strait. The island is part of the Argentine province of Tierra del Fuego, and of the department an ...

was not part of the unknown

southern land (Latin language, Latin for ) was a hypothetical continent first posited in Classical antiquity, antiquity and which appeared on maps between the 15th and 18th centuries. Its existence was not based on any survey or direct observation, but r ...

. After making landfall on

Chiloé Island Chiloé Island (, , ), 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 Chile, in the Los L ...

, 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 Ensenada de Guapilacuy (Blight of Guapilacuy) is a broad bay on the eastern shore of Lacuy Peninsula in northern Chiloé Island. It was formerly known as Puerto Inglés (English Port) after the English pirate George Shelvocke, who stayed in the bay ...

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 Governors-general of the Dutch East Indies Maritime history of the Dutch East India Company Sailors on ships of the Dutch East India Company