Encyclopedia of Exploration: Addenda & Corrigenda

Part 1: From the earliest times to the year 1800

1. Major corrections and additions made by the author

S104: SILVA, Pedro Malaver de

[The following text should completely replace the existing article:]

Spanish conquistador (died 1576). A native of Jerez de Badajoz, in Extremadura, he migrated to South America and by the 1550s had made his fortune in the neighbourhood of Chachapoyas, in northern Peru. In 1566, under the instructions of MARTIN DE POVEDA, he set out on an expedition to the north in search of ‘El Dorado’, embarking on a journey which would become one of the most remarkable in the history of exploration. (Several recent texts have credited the leadership of this expedition to Martín de Poveda, but the few early sources make no suggestion that he accompanied it). With a band of local followers, which included his nephew GARCIA GONZALEZ DE SILVA (the future conquistador of Venezuela, see the article for Diego de Losada) and a Captain SOLETO, Malaver de Silva crossed the cordillera, descending to the east by the rivers Utoubamba and Marañon. Beset by hunger and disease, the expedition arrived in the plains of the Omaguas, where local Indians reported that if the Spanish continued to the north they would find people who worked in gold. The expedition made its way through the forests bordering the eastern flank of the Andes until it eventually reached San Juan de los Llanos, the outpost established some years earlier by the Welser expeditions near the Río Ariari (Colombia). From there the party ascended the cordillera to Santa Fé de Bogotá (= Bogotá), after travelling a distance of about 900 miles and for the first time having reached Colombia from Peru by a lowland route.

After attempting unsuccessfully to organize an expedition from Bogotá to colonize the plains to the east of the cordillera, Malaver de Silva and his nephew made their way northwards through Nueva Granada and in 1567 sailed for Spain to solicit the approval of the king. On 15.5.68, through the mediation of Don Diego de Córdoba, a royal cedilla was despatched from Aranjuez granting Malaver de Silva rights to the territory of the Omeguas, Omaguas and Quinacos, with the title of Alguacil Mayor Perpetuo de la Chancillería and other rights and privileges for himself and his successors. The new territory would be given the name of Nueva Extremadura, and would this time be approached from the Venezuelan coast. An oversubscribed colonizing expedition was quickly assembled with 600 soldiers (a hundred of whom brought their wives and children), 300 slaves, 200 horses, 500 cows, 1000 sheep and 200 pigs and goats. It was accompanied by De Silva’s nephew Garcia González and a number of priests, including FRANCISCO PEREZ, PEDRO CORREDOR, ABREGO DE SANCTI SPIRITUS, and Padres DE LA TORRE and CASTIBLANCO. The expedition sailed from Sanlucar de Barrameda on 19.3.69, and at the end of May, after an horrific passage, reached the island of Margarita where 150 of the colonists refused to go any further. The remainder proceeded with Malaver de Silva and his nephew to Nueva Valencia del Rey, from where they launched campaigns into the interior around the modern site of Caracas. Of the original colonists, few survived, and Malaver de Silva met his death in 1576 at the hands of the Caribs somewhere in Guiana.

(For the campaigns around Caracas, and the fortunes of Garcia González de Silva, see the article for DIEGO DE LOSADA.)

Simón, Pedro, Noticias historiales de las conquistas de tierra firme en las Indias Occidentales (Cuenca 1627; ed. by Manuel José Forero, Bogotá 1953, 9 vols).
Von Hagen, Victor W., The Golden Man, the quest for El Dorado (Farnborough, Hants 1974).

[The article P148 (Martín de Poveda) should be deleted. Careful reading of the Spanish text of Pedro Simón suggests that the expedition described, although commissioned by Poveda, was led by Pedro Malaver de Silva, the subject of the above article.

From the same source (Pedro Simón) we also glean a little more information about Garcia González de Silva, who is mentioned in the article for Diego de Losada, the conquistador of Venezuela and founder of Caracas:]

L151: LOSADA, Diego de

[The following note should be added to the article for Losada as a final paragraph:]

GARCIA GONZALEZ DE SILVA (c.1546-1625) was born in Merida (Venezuela) and in his youth had accompanied his uncle, PEDRO MALAVER DE SILVA (q.v.), in his campaigns in South America. He had been with his uncle on the remarkable trek from Chachapoyas in Peru to Bogotá in Nueva Granada (= Colombia), had accompanied him on his return to Spain in 1568, and found his way back to Venezuela in 1569 as a member of his uncle’s disastrous colonizing expedition. After the campaigns in the interior he settled in Caracas, where he was granted a number of civil and military positions, including Contador General de la Real Hacienda, Procurador General and Alcade Ordinario. In 1595 he defeated the English pirate AMYAS PRESTON (q.v.), and carried out improvements to the cathedral in Caracas. He acquired the rank of Maestre de Campo in 1609, and was Capitán General of the valley of Nirgua. He died in 1625.

Add to references:

Simón, Pedro, Noticias historiales de las conquistas de tierra firme en las Indias Occidentales (Cuenca 1627; ed. by Manuel José Forero, Bogotá 1953, 9 vols).

The above work of Pedro Simón may also be cited as a secondary source for the expeditions of Diego de Ordaz 1530; Jorge de Espira 1534; Alonso de Herrera 1535; Nicolas Federman 1536; Antonio Sedeño  1536; Sebastian de Belalcazar 1536; Geronimo de Ortal 1537; Hernan Pérez de Quesada 1541; Philip von Hutten 1541; Pedro de Ursua 1559; Pedro de Serpa 1569; Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada  1536, 1569; and Domingo Vera  1596.

H126: HURTADO, Francisco

[Further information about José de Moraleda y Montero (mentioned in passing in this article) has been researched by the author. The following paragraphs can therefore be added to the article:]

Don JOSE DE MORALEDA Y MONTERO (1750-1810) was born in Pasajes (Guipúzcoa). After completing his primary education, he enrolled as a pupil at the school of pilots in Cádiz, the most important of the three schools of its type in Spain. In 1768, in order to gain the practical experience needed for his training, he embarked in the ship "Buen Consejo" under Captain Don JUAN DE CACENS, in which he sailed to the East Indies, calling at Acheh, Malacca, Batavia, Manila and Fayal, and returning to Cádiz in 1770. In 1772 he graduated from the school as a qualified pilot first-class of the Royal Navy. Later that year he embarked in a frigate of 40-canon, the "Nuestra Señora de Monserrat", which formed part of a squadron destined for the Pacific. With it he left Cádiz on 19.11.72, arrived at the bay of Concepción, in Chile, on 27.4.73, and continued his journey on 6.6.73, entering on the 26.6.73 the port of Callao, which was his ultimate destination. For the next thirteen years he served on the South America station, taking excursions along the coast and into the nearer waters of the Pacific. In 1786 Moraleda began an important survey of the southern Chilean archipelago, which continued until 1793, and for which he is best remembered. After about thirty-four years in America, he obtained in 1797 permission to return to Spain, where it is thought that he intended to pass the rest of his days. However, in 1801 he was ordered to return to Peru with other naval officials to correct the charts of the coast of America. Moralada occupied himself in hydrographic work in the Gulf of Panama and on the neighbouring coasts. He served in the role of director of the maritime school of the viceroyalty of Peru, and revised many of the maps of the adjacent provinces. In 1810, at nearly seventy years of age and still dedicated to the teaching of pilots, Moraleda died in humble circumstances at Callao.

Moraleda y Montero, José de, Diario de Navegacion, que con el fabor, de dios, ide S.S. Madre Espera azer Joseph Moraleda pilotin del numero de la Real Armada en el Nauio de S.M. Nombrado el Buen-Consexo, de la Mando de el Capitan de Esta Clas. Don Juan de Cazens, que haze Biage desde esta Bahia de Cadiz, âla de Manilla, en las yslas Philipinas, en conserba de dos Fragatas; vna de el rey nom Brada S. Antonio, ?otra, eletada por S.M. Nombrada la Sanluqveña, las que debe conboiar hasta Canaras. Año, de. 1768 (MS at some time in the possession of Derek McDonell, Hordern House, Sydney).

[In response to various requests, the present author attempted to carry out further research into the voyage of the mysterious Nicolas de Frondat. The following, which largely concerns Joseph Nicolas Delisle, might be added to the article for De Frondat]

F83: FRONDAT, Nicolas de

Joseph Nicolas Delisle, younger brother of Guillaume Delisle, went to St Petersburg in 1725 at the request of Empress Catherine - one of her many attempts to introduce French culture into Russia. Delisle stayed there for nearly 22 years, during which he helped plan the second Bering expedition. It was also during this period that he composed the first manuscript map showing Frondat's voyage: "Carte dressée en 1731 pour servir a la recherche des Terres et des Mers situées au Nord de la Mer du Sud" (now part of the collection of the Service Historique de la Marine, Paris). This means that he must have had Frondat's journal with him in St Petersburg in 1731.

When JN Delisle returned to Paris in 1747 it is known that he brought with him a considerable collection of documents which he eventually sold to Louis XV. In 1750 JN Delisle read a memoir before the Académie des Sciences in which he attempted to link Bering's discoveries with several other accounts of the Northwest coast of America, some of them apocryphal. When the memoir was published in 1752 it was accompanied by a map by Philippe Buache which continued to show Frondat's voyage, along with those of Bering and Chirikov. In addition it showed the alleged discoveries of De Fonte and others. Buache followed this in 1753 with an atlas of thirteen charts, into which he introduced even more fabulous voyages, including the Chinese Fou-Sang, who supposedly reached the northwest coast of America in the fifth century.

It is known that JN Delisle went to considerable lengths to collect together every account of a Pacific voyage he could find. Since most of his work was done in St Petersburg, it seems reasonable to assume that manuscript journals of early French voyages were there with him. Were some left there, or did he bring them all back? I don't know how so much of the French material used by Dahlgren arrived at Stockholm, but there has traditionally been a strong flow of information between the two cities. Somebody will know this, but I don't have the sources which would allow me to follow it up.

It is interesting that above all other French voyagers, Delisle had a particular passion for Frondat, probably because longitudinal measurements were undertaken. But has anybody since heard of Frondat, or know anything about him? I put this question some time ago to Admiral François Bellec. He had not heard of him, nor was he able to find Frondat's name anywhere in French maritime literature.

 [The following missing traveller was brought to the author’s attention by Milton Osborne, historian of South-East Asia. The text below should be inserted as a new article].

CHOU TA-KUAN

1296 1297 Cambodia

(= Zhou/Zho Daguan) 13th-century Chinese traveller; a native of Zhejiang. In 1296 Chou Ta-kuan accompanied as a junior member an embassy sent by the Mongol emperor, Timur Khan, to extract homage from the Khmer kingdoms on China’s southern border. He sailed along the coast of what was Kampuchea Krom (now Vietnam), but instead of continuing towards Indonesia headed inland along the Mekong River into the country of Chenla (= Cambodia). Chinese traders made frequent visits to Cambodia to buy bees, honey, and bees’ wax, the last of which was especially prized by candle makers for its purity. Hence the Chinese name Chen-la, meaning ‘pure wax’. Leaving the river, Chou entered the Great Lake, Tonle Sap, disembarking on its northeastern bank not far from Angkor, the Cambodian capital. He remained in Angkor from August 1296 until July 1297, then returned to China, bringing with him the earliest first-hand description of the city.

Chou was an observant and perceptive traveller, and provides a comprehensive picture of life in Cambodia - from the geography and wildlife to an analysis of the country’s complex society, customs and commerce. Although the kingdom was by that time in decline, Chou described the king, Indravarman III (ruled 1295-1308/09), as a supremely powerful figure, occupying a large ornate wooden palace, surrounded by thousands of slaves, concubines, officials and advisers. He presided over numerous festivals, dances, firework displays and pageants held in the plaza at the gates of the royal palace. Chou’s Chinese text, written some time before 1312, was translated into French twice during the nineteenth century, but the best edition, upon which most of the later translations are based, is that of Paul Pelliot, published in 1902.

Pelliot, Paul (trans.), Zhou Daguan [Chou Ta-kuan]: Mémoires sur les coutumes du Cambodge (Paris 1902; ed. & trans. into English by Michael Smithies, with additional text on the temple of Angkor Wat by Louis Finot (written 1929, updated by Jacques Dumarçay), The Siam Society, Bangkok 1987, 1992; trans. by J. Gilman D’Arcy Paul, Social Science Association Press, Bangkok 1967; trans. by Robert Philpotts as Reporting Angkor: Chou Ta-Kuan in Cambodia 1296-97, 1996; German trans. as Sitten in Kambodscha. Über das Leben in Angkor im 13. Jahrhundert, Angkor Verlag; [there are earlier French trans. of 1819 and 1879]).

[The following missing traveller was suggested for inclusion by Brian Marshall of the University of Auckland Library. The author is most grateful to Mr Marshall for providing the following notes.]

SAUNDERS, Daniel

1791 1792 Oman

United States seaman (1772-1825). Born in Salem, Massachusetts, he went to sea while a teenager. In May 1791 Saunders sailed for the Cape of Good Hope as second mate on the Grand Sachem, and proceeded to Mauritius, where he quit the ship and took a position as able seaman on the Boston ship Commerce, under the command of Captain JOHN LEACH. In Madras, India, SAMUEL JOHNSON took command of the ship, and proceeded to sail her to Bombay. A combination of bad weather and poor navigation resulted in the Commerce being grounded on a reef off the Dhofar coast in Oman on 10.7.92. Twenty-seven of the crew - Saunders, another seven Europeans and nineteen 'blacks' - succeeded in getting ashore, and commenced a very arduous overland journey to Muscat. The journey took fifty-one days, and when the group arrived in Muscat, on 12.8.92, there were only eight survivors. Saunders wrote an account of the ordeal, which was printed at the command of the United States Congress. His book includes information on the manners and customs of the local Arabs, and was reprinted a number of times. It is both the first published account of an extended journey through part of Oman by Europeans, and the first American account of a first-hand experience in Arabia. Saunders returned to the United States in 1793, and continued life as a mariner. He died at Salem in 1825.

Saunders, Daniel, A Journal of the Travels and Sufferings of Daniel Saunders, Jun., a mariner on board the ship Commerce, of Boston, Samuel Johnson, commander, which was cast away near Cape Morebat, on the coast of Arabia, July 10, 1792 (Salem, Mass.1794; Leominster, Mass. 1797; New Haven, Conn. 1802; Hudson, N.Y. 1805; Salem, Mass. 1824; Exeter 1830).
Marshall, Brian, 'European travellers in Oman and southeast Arabia 1792-1950: a biobibliographical study', in New Arabian Studies, vol. 2, 1994.

2. Minor corrections and additions made by the author

A11 Adams, William: Adams' birthdate is given incorrectly as 1575. It should be 1564.

B3 Baffin, William: The date of Baffin's death is given as 23.1.23 in the second article for Baffin. It should be 23.1.22. The error is repeated in article W19.

B8 Balboa, Vasco Nunez de: Paragraph 4 should read as follows: In order to investigate native reports of a great ocean to the west, Balboa sailed from Santa Maria de Darien with 190 men, one ship and twelve canoes, and arrived at Careta on the narrowest part of the isthmus late in August 1513. From there on 1.9.13 he struck through the jungles of the isthmus...

C212 Covilhao, Pero da: The date of arrival of the Ethiopian ambassador Lucas Marcos at the court of Joao II is given as 1452. The date should be 1487 or 1488.

H38 Hawai'i Loa: The date 1700 should not appear in the heading.

P76 Phaulkon, Constantine: Add to bibliography:

Sioris, George A., Phaulkon, the Greek first counsellor at the Court of Siam: an appraisal (The Siam Society, Bangkok 1998).

S171 Steller, Georg Wilhelm: It is incorrectly stated that after the death of Bering, Steller took command of expedition marooned on Bering Island. In fact, this responsibility fell to Bering's second-in-command, Sven Waxell. However, Steller appears to have been largely responsible for the survival of the expedition and its successful return to Petropavlovsk.

3. Minor corrections and additions submitted by readers of the Encyclopedia

The author expresses his thanks to the following scholars for their additions and corrections.

Submitted by Milton Osborne (historian of South-East Asia):

The Chinese traveller Chou Ta-kuan (Zhou Daguan) should be included as a separate article (see above).

Submitted by Carl-Henrik Berg (Swedish historian):

The article B162: British Travellers of the 18th century, contains an error. Both Edward Daniel Clarke and John Stewart do have articles in the Dictionary of National Biography and should be the subjects of separate articles. (To be researched).

Submitted by Denis Sitters:

Article T31: David Thompson, has a slight error in its bibliography:

Nisbet, Jack, Sources of the river: tracking David Thompson across eastern North America should read:
Nisbet, Jack, Sources of the river: tracking David Thompson across western North America.

Submitted by Martin L. Greene (Seattle):

Article A100 (George Anson): The spelling of the author's name in the first reference should be Philips, not Phillips. The word 'last' in the title should be replaced by 'late'.

Article P82 (Constantine John Phipps): Standard title for Phipps usually found, and from which translations were made, is as follows:
Phipps, Constantine John, A voyage towards the North Pole undertaken by His Majesty's command, 1773. London 1774; Dublin, 1775; French trans. Paris, 1775; German trans., Bern 1777; reprinted Whitby, 1978.
The word 'Nordmee' in the Phipps German Bern 1795 listing should read 'Noordmeer'.
The Horsley reference should contain the word 'late', rather than 'last'.

Article B96 (Joseph Billings): some bibliographies (e.g. Appleton's Encyclopaedia) state that Billings was born in Turnham Green, London (not Lincolnshire). His date of birth might be April 1759, and his date of death is quoted by several sources (without authority) as 1806. In the conclusion of his 1802 text, Gavriil Sarychev states: "...the chief of the expedition, Captain Joseph Billings, retired on a pension as commodore, in the year 1797, and now resides in Moscow."

Article S50 (Gavriil Andreyevich Sarychev). The following biographical information may be added:
Sarychev (1763-1831) continued his important Russian naval career. He was promoted to Admiral, became a member of the Board of Admiralty, and rose to head of the Navy Ministry in 1829-30. The maps published in 1826 under his direction as Hydrographer-General are still considered as careful and accurate renderings of the North Pacific and Russian America.

Submitted by Neal Coulter:

Article H38 (Hawai'i Loa): should not carry the date 1700 in the heading; it is far too late.

Submitted by Elaine McShane (Brampton, Ontario):

Article H49: Louis Hé should actually read Louis Hébert.

Submitted by Andre Engels:

Article B8 (Vasco Nuñez de Balboa): The dates given for Balboa's arrival on the isthmus of Panama do not track correctly. The offending sentences should read: Balboa sailed from Santa Maria de Darien with 190 men, one ship and twelve canoes, and arrived on the isthmus late in August 1513. On 1.9.13 he struck through the jungles...

Submitted by Larrie D. Ferreiro (Associate Director for Naval Architecture, Office of Naval Research International Field Office, London):

The article B143 (Pierre Bouguer) has some minor errors:

1. Bouguer returned to Nantes, not Brest, aboard the 180-ton corsair Triton captained by Pierre Fouré.

2. Error in bibliography: The word [and] should be removed from the reference De la mâture des vaisseaux... and the date given as 1728. An additional publication by Bouguer should be added:

Bouguer, Pierre, De la manoeuvre des vaisseaux (Paris 1757).

Submitted by Admiral François Bellec:

The author is indebted to Admiral Bellec for the following notes which should be read in association with article C166: Compagnie des Indes.

The first French ship bound for China was l’Amphitrite, which brought back the first pieces of China to Port-Louis near Lorient (Brittany) on October 1700. The following ships made voyages from Saint-Malo in the period concerned: Président de Grénédan, Captain Jean de Launay; and the Comte de la Bédoyère, Captain Pierre Perrée du Coudray (sailed 22.10.1701 for Chile, and returned at the end of August 1703). A fleet set sail on 25.8.1703 under the command of Aulnais Bécard, Alain Porée and de Nermont Trublé, for the Spanish possessions in America via Cape Horn. In all, seventeen ships sailed for the Pacific ocean between August 1705 and August 1706 and another 200 during the following fifteen years. A voyage to the Indies was made by La Rigaudière Froger 1706-1707, and in 1707 by Jean Fouquet, de la Herperie Morel, and de Langerie Forgeais, who sailed from Saint-Malo for Chile and Peru. Another is recorded for Michel de Chabert in 1707-1709.

According to the Swedish historian Mr Dalhgreen, curator of the Maritime Museum Stockholm at the begining of the 19th century, eleven French ships circled the world between January 1711 and August 1719 for trading purposes. Seven of them set out from Saint-Malo bound for Canton (Guangzhou) by Cape Horn, and returned via Cape of Good Hope. The following vessels are recorded as having completed circumnavigations:

Le Grand Dauphin, Captain Sébastien Dufresne des Saudrais, 1711-1713. Dufresne died in Canton but the ship was returned under Michel Collet du Portail, the second in command.
La Grande Reine d’Espagne, Captain Joseph Brunet, 1711-1714, and again between 3.9.1714 and 23.11.1718.
La Petite Reine d’Espagne, 1711-1714.
Martial, Captain La Ville-Collet 1713.
Marquis de Maillebois, Captain Godin, then La Perche, 17.8.1714 to 14.7.1718.
Pontchartrain, Captain de la Villebagué, 27.6.1714 to 16.8.1719
Comtesse de Pontchartrain, Captain Forgeais, 1.3.1714 to 22.11.1717, sailing from east to west.
Guy Le Gentil de la Barbinais, born in Saint-Malo on 16.1.1692 , wrote Nouveau Voyage Autour du Monde, after his voyage on Le Vainqueur (formerly the Poisson-Volant) from 8.8.1714 to 29.7.1718.

Supplementary bibliography:
Avril, Gilles, Marins de Saint-Malo (Paris 1999).
Maurel, Charles, Malouins autour du monde (Paris 1986).

Submitted by Ernesto Avila:

L142 Lofling, Pehr: Mr Avila has kindly informed the author that Pehr Lofling died at the mission of San Antonio del Caroní, beside the Caroní river in Guayana. He also remarks that the full title of F. Pelayo López's biography of Lofling should read: Pehr Löfling y la expedición de límites del Orinoco, 1754-1761. Mr Avila also notes that the expedition of José de Itturiaga was intended to settle the boundary dispute between Portuguese and Spanish possessions in South America, not between Venezuela and Colombia which at that time were both Spanish colonies.

4. Corrections and additions based on notes submitted by Andre Engels

Andre Engels, who maintains the Discovery discussion group on the Internet, has subjected the Encyclopedia to a most thorough analysis and has recommended the inclusion of much of the following material. The author is indebted to Mr Engels for his extremely valuable comments and additions, most of which are particularly relevant to early Dutch voyages. The following additions have been composed by the author, based largely on notes furnished by Mr Engels.

Suggested additional articles

MATTHIJSEN, Matthias

1661 Guiana, South America

17th-century Dutch navigator and trader. Matthijsen had previously traded in Spanish service along the coast of Guiana and northern Brazil, his reputation gaining him the nickname ‘El Gran Piloto’. In 1661 he offered his services to the Dutch colony at Essequibo, and with the governor of the colony, GROENEWEGEN, set out on an expedition to the southeast to determine whether a certain mine would be exploitable on a commercial basis. However, friction between the Carib members of the party and the local Manoas prevented the success of the mission, forcing the expedition to turn back before reaching its destination.

MAY, Jan Corneliszoon

1611 1612 Arctic Ocean, New England

Seventeenth century Dutch Arctic navigator. In 1611 May was sent out by ERNEST VAN DER WAL and PIETER AERTSZOON DE JONGE to search for a northeast passage to Asia, following a route to the east of Spitsbergen (= Svalbard) and to the north of Novaya Zemlya. The expedition left Texel on 28.3.11 with two ships, the Vos and Craen, with Van der Wal and De Jonge as supercargo, and on 14.4.11 rounded the North Cape. Three days later the ships were caught in the ice of the Barents Sea, and during the next few weeks a number of attempts were made to penetrate to the north and east. The expedition reached its furthest north, at a point due east of Spitsbergen, on 5.7.11, and on 6.8.11 arrived in Strait Koskin (= Matochkin Shar) in Novaya Zemlya, from where it was found impossible to proceed further.

Following secret instructions, May then crossed the Atlantic to Nova Scotia, landing on 29.10.11. Going ashore, De Jonge and five others were caught in a trap and massacred by native people. Following this incident, the expedition followed the coast of New England to beyond Cape Cod, carrying out some trade with the aborigines. The Craen remained on the coast and returned to the Netherlands on 6.7.12, but May, in the Vos, decided on 15.2.12 to return to the Barents Sea to make a second attempt on the northeast passage. However, when he arrived back at the North Cape he found that the winter had been particularly severe, and it was not until June 1612 that he was able to continue his mission. After proceeding northward along the coast of Novaya Zemlya, May made two final attempts to find open water, reaching 77ºN and 77º30’N between Spitsbergen and Novaya Zemlya, but was eventually defeated. He arrived back in the Netherlands on 3.10.12. Jan Corneliszoon May is named as the cousin, or possibly the uncle of Jan Jacobszoon May, after whom Jan Mayen Island was named (see Joris Carolus).

In 1613 the Vos was sent back to the Arctic for a second exploratory voyage, this time to investigate a northwest passage and to trade with the natives on the shores of the Hudson Strait. About this expedition, which was commanded by PIETER FRANSZOON, nothing is known other than an annotation on a world map of Willem Blaeu (1619) which shows the ship at the western end of the Hudson Strait.

Muller Fzn., S., De reis van Jan Cornelisz. May naar de IJszee en de Amerikanische kust (1611-1612) (Linschoten-Vereeniging, The Hague 1909).
The world map of Willem Blaeu is in the Maritiem Museum ‘Prins Hendrik’, Rotterdam.
Mollema, J.C., De Nederlandsche vlag op de wereldzeen. Driemaal is scheepsrecht (Amsterdam, n.d.).
Schilder, Günter, ‘Development and achievements of Dutch Northern and Arctic cartography in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries’, Arctic 37, 4, Dec. 1984.

OTTSEN, Hendrik

1598-1601 Argentina, Brazil, South America

16th-17th-century Dutch navigator. On 1.9.1598 Ottsen left the Netherlands aboard the Silveren Werelt (Spanished as Mundo del Plata) under CORNELIS VAN HEEMSKERCK (a brother of JACOB VAN HEEMSKERCK (q.v.)), accompanied by the Gouden Werelt, captained by LAURENS BICKER. By way of the Cape Verde Islands the two ships reached Guinea, where they were attacked by the Portuguese and then separated by a storm. The Silveren Werelt proceeded to the agreed rendezvous at Maldonado, at the mouth of the Rio de La Plata, and then to Buenos Aires, where permission to trade was granted. However, when Heemskerck attempted to trade directly with the population, rather than through the governing authorities, he was imprisoned with eight of his crew and sent to Santa Fe. Ottsen took command of the ship, returned to Maldonado and waited in vain for Bicker in the Gouden Werelt. A month later, when the second ship had failed to appear, Ottsen sailed north, but by then scurvy had taken most of the crew, and when the Silveren Werelt anchored off São Salvador only five were left alive. Ottsen and his men were taken and imprisoned by the Portuguese, and on 1.1.1600 witnessed an attack on the colony by the Dutch captain BROER JANSZ.

Ottsen eventually returned to the Netherlands in February 1601 and published an account of his experiences two years later. In the meantime, the Gouden Werelt had crossed the Atlantic but had made directly for São Vicente, where permission to trade had been granted. When the cargo had been unloaded the crew were set upon by the Portuguese, imprisoned and transported to São Salvador. Fortunately for the Dutch sailors, the vessel carrying them was boarded and taken en route by Broer Jansz, and the Dutch crewmen liberated.

Additional reference:
Straaten, Harald S. van der, Hollandse pioniers in Brazilië (Franeker 1988).

[The final paragraph in article G25 (Juan de Garay), which refers to Hendrik Ottsen, should be removed and its associated bibliography transferred to the article above].

POPOV, Petr

1711 Siberia, Arctic Ocean

Eighteenth century Russian explorer of Siberia. In 1711 Popov was sent from Anadyrsk to the Chukotskiy Peninsula to acquire information about the Chukchi and to convince them to submit to the payment of tribute. Popov returned with information about an island one day’s voyage by baydar from the peninsula, which the Chukchi knew as ‘the big land’. His information was obtained from a number of inhabitants of the island, some of whom had been taken captive by the Chukchi. Reports of the ‘big land’, which some have taken to be the coast of Alaska, were corroborated in 1718 by PETR TATARINOV, commandant of Anadyrsk, from Chukchi who had visited his post.

Arkheograficheskya Kommissiya, Pamyaniki sibirskoy istorii (St Petersburg 1882-85, 2 vols).
Fisher, Raymond H., ‘The early cartography of the Bering Strait region’, Arctic, 37, 4, Dec. 1984.
Grekov, V.I., Ocherki iz istorii russikh geograficheskikh issledovaniy v 1725-1765 gg. (Moscow 1960).

Suggested additions to existing articles

A131: Aubert, Thomas

In 1509 Aubert took the ship La Pensée to the coasts of Newfoundland and brought back the seven aborigines described in the Latin text of the printer Estienne.

La Morandière, Charles de, Histoire de la pêche française de la morue dans l’Amérique Septentrionale (Paris 1962).

B2: Baffin, William (history of Spitsbergen, Svalbard)

Dutch whaling voyages to the north began in 1612 with the expedition of WILLEM CORNELISZOON VAN MUYDEN. Although Van Muyden was familiar with the geography of the region, the Dutch had no experience in how they should catch the whales, and the voyage was a failure. However, in the following year they had greater success when they took on board some experienced Basque whalers. In 1614, in order to combat competition from English whalers, the Dutch organized themselves into the Noordsche Compagnie, which for the next few years held a monopoly on whaling and other trade from the Davis Strait to Novaya Zemlya.

In 1707 two whaleship captains, GILES and REP, at that time regarded as the leading authorities on Spitsbergen, circumnavigated much of the archipelago. Their findings were represented on the celebrated chart of the cartographer Gerard van Keulen, which showed the islands in much greater detail and to a larger scale than had previously been realised.

Wieder, F.C., The Dutch discovery and mapping of Spitsbergen (Amsterdam 1919).
Roeper, V.D. & Wildeman, G.J.D., Ontdekkingsreizen van Nederlanders (1590-1650) (Utrecht & Antwerp, n.d.).
Schilder, Günter, ‘Development and achievements of Dutch Northern and Arctic cartography in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries’, Arctic, 37, 4, Dec. 1984.

B57: Becerra, Diego

Add to bibliography:
Gardiner, C. Harvey, The constant captain: Gonzalo de Sandoval (Carbondale 1961).

B169: Brouwer, Hendrik

Additional information on Elias Herckmans (to be added as a final paragraph):

ELIAS HERCKMANS (1596-1644) had established a reputation as a writer and trader in Russia when in 1635 he went into the service of the Dutch West India Company (q.v.). In 1636 he was appointed governor of the provinces of Paraiba, Tamarica and Rio Grande in Brazil. He undertook an inland expedition lasting two and a half months, searching for the silver mines reported to lie in Capaboa. Within a few weeks thirteen soldiers and twenty Brasilians had died. With sickles and axes a route had to be cut through the jungle, then across marshes and mountains. Many were forced to turn back because of illness, but Herckmans refused to give up. The expedition continued in the direction of Capaboa, where the richest possible silver mines were said to be, but after an exhausting climb over a steep mountain range Herckmans noted that his goal was still many miles away. When his exhausted companions, plagued by thirst and hunger, refused to take another step, Herckmans, 'heavy with misfortune and light with money', was forced to turn back.

Worp, J.A., ‘Elias Herckmans’, Oud-Holland, 11, 1893.

B172: Brue, André

Expeditions of 1697-98: In 1697 Brue made preparations for an ascent of the Senegal, his intention being to visit the Siratik, or king of the Foulahs, whose territory lay 400 miles upriver. The ascent, which took him as far as Morfil Island, proceeded uneventfully, and after the necessary exchange of gifts Brue was received in friendship, both by the king’s envoys and by the king himself. Brue returned to St Louis, then in 1698 embarked on a second ascent of the river with the object of penetrating deeper into the interior and opening trade with the natives. He established Fort St Joseph de Galam near the confluence with the Faleme River and traded with the Bambouk region to the east. The fort became for several years the principal seat of French commerce on the upper Senegal. The falling waters of the Senegal, which threatened to cut off his return to the coast, forced Brue’s retreat to St Louis, but not before he had acquired considerable information about the interior, including somewhat conflicting accounts regarding the flow of the Niger. Although he was aware that gold mines lay in the interior, the natives, whose experience of earlier Portuguese incursions had made them suspicious of Europeans, prohibited white travellers from entering their territory. An advance party sent by Brue laden with gifts failed to obtain a right of passage, nor could Brue obtain from France the assistance he desired.

C1: Caamaño, Jacinto

[the following additional information for Francisco de Eliza should be added as a final paragraph:]

FRANCISCO DE ELIZA was sent in 1790 to establish a Spanish colony at Nootka Sound, on Vancouver Island. He departed on 2.3.90 with three ships, the Concepción, the San Carlos and Caamaño’s Princesa. Eliza arrived at Nootka in April 1790, and was joined in June by the Princesa and another ship, the Aranzazu. Storehouses and a number of other buildings were constructed, and the defences restored. In 1791 Eliza departed with two ships, the "Saturnina" and San Carlos to explore the northwest coast, with the intention of proceeding as far as Alaska. In the event, contrary winds prevented the northernmost coasts being visited, but Eliza investigated the Strait of Juan de Fuca, while another captain, JOSÉ MARIA NARVAEZ, explored Barkley Sound (= Nitinat). The expedition regrouped in the Strait of Juan de Fuca, where some of the tributary inlets were surveyed but Puget Sound was not identified. Shortage of supplies eventually forced the return of the ships to Nootka, where Eliza spent the following years.

Wilson, I.H., Noticias de Nutka (1970 [a translation of Moziño’s Noticias originally published in the Gazeta de Guatemala, 1804-5).
Jones, O.L., ‘Spanish occupation of Nootka Sound’ (thesis, University of Oklahoma 1960).
Kendrick, John, The men with wooden feet. The Spanish exploration of the Pacific Northwest (Toronto 1986).

C20: Caerden, Paulus van

Add to end of first paragraph:
In 1604 Van Caerden is reported to have sailed to Brasil where he captured a ship in the Bay of Todos los Santos.

C71: Castillo, Bernal Díaz del

Add to bibliography:
Cerwin, Herbert, Bernal Diaz: historian of the conquest (Norman 1963).

C202: Cossacks on the Taymyr Peninsula

In 1614 ISAAC MASSA (q.v.) wrote of one LUKA, had had successfully led an expedition from the Ob to the Yenisey. In 1686-87 a party under IVAN TOLSTOUKHOV sailed eastward along the coast of Taymyr. Tolstoukhov apparently died at the mouth of the Pyasina, where in 1738 FEDOR MININ (q.v.), while exploring for the Great Northern Expedition, found a cross marked with his name.

Belov, M.I., Mangazeya (Leningrad 1969 [for Tolstoukhov]).
Armstrong, T., ‘In search of a sea route to Siberia, 1553-1619’, Arctic, 37, 4, Dec. 1984.
Massa, Isaac (q.v.), Itinerarium, oder Kurtze Beschreibunge der Wege und Wasserflüsse, so auss der Moscaw gegen Morgen und Mitternacht lauffen, in Siberien, Samojeden und Tingoesien führen … (Oppenheim 1614).

E5: East India Company (Dutch)

Add to bibliography:
Gaastra, Femme S., De geschiedenis van de V.O.C. (2nd edn, Zutphen 1991).

E30: Ericks, Bernard

Add to bibliography:
Brandt, Historie der vermaerde zee en koopstat Enkhuisen (1666).

G55: Goens, Rijcklof Volckertszoon van

Add to bibliography:
Aalbers, J., Rijcklof van Goens, commissaris en veldoverste der Oost-Indische Compagnie, en zijn arbeidsveld, 1653/54 en 1657/59 (Groningen 1916).

H12: Hamel, Hendrik

Add to bibliography:
Hove, H.J. van, Hollanders in Korea (Utrecht 1989).

H79: Heyn, Piet

Add to bibliography:
Schultem, C.M., Nederlandse expansie in Latijns-Amerika. Brazile 1624-1654 (Bussum 1968).
Waetjen, Hermann, Das hollaendische Kolonialreich in Brasilien (The Hague & Gotha 1921).
Warnsinck, J.C.M., Christoffel Artichewsky, Pools Krijgoverste in dienst van de West-Indische Compagnie in Brazilie 1630-1639. Een proeve tot eerherstel (The Hague 1937).

H105: Houtman, Cornelis

Add to bibliography:
Mollema, J.C., De eerste schipvaart der Hollanders naar Oost-Indië (2nd edn, The Hague 1936).
Blonk, A., Cornelis de Houtman en het Begin Onzer Zeevaart op Indie (1565-1599) (Rijswijk 1838).

Add to H106:
Houtman, Fred. de, Kort Verhaal van 't gene wedervaren is Frederick de Houtman tot Atchin (1880).

H107: Houtman, Frederick

[Add at end of first paragraph:]

In 1603, Houtman returned to the East Indies, as head trader on the expedition of STEVEN VAN DER HAGEN (q.v.). After Van der Hagen had conquered the island of Ambon (=Amboinia), Houtman became the first Dutch governor of the island. He treturned to the Netherlands in 1612.

J19: Jogues, Isaac

The French guide named Bourdon with whom Jogues travelled in 1646 is probably JEAN BOURDON. In the spring of 1657 Bourdon, in the company of a secular priest named as Father DE SAINT SAVEUR, led an expedition by sea northwards along the coast of Labrador towards the Hudson Strait. The expedition reached a latitude of 55ºN before pack ice forced its retreat, and by which time two Frenchmen and two native American guides had been killed by Inuit.

Mary-Rousselière, Guy, ‘Exploration and evangelization of the Great Canadian North: Vikings, coureurs des bois, and missionaries’, Arctic, 37, 4, Dec. 1984 [mentions Bourdon’s expedition].

J21: Jol, Cornelis Corneliszoon

[Additional information on Dierick Ruyters, to be added as final paragraph:]

DIERICK RUYTERS (= Ruiters) had previously visited Brazil in 1617, landing at Sergipe, to the north of Bahia. In the following year he was imprisoned by the Portuguese at Rio de Janeiro and transported to Pernambuco, during which he visited Bahia de Todos os Santos and Salvador (Bahia). After two and a half years in Brazil he escaped, and once back in the Netherlands wrote an account of the country which proved an invaluable guide for the first expedition of the Dutch West India Company, and for the attack on Bahia by JACOB WILLEKENS (see Dutch West India Company) and PIET HEYN (q.v.). During the campaign, Ruyters led a ground-based attack on Salvador.

Ruiters, Dierick, Toortse der Zeevaert 1623 (The Hague 1913).

J22: Jol, Cornelis Corneliszoon

Add to bibliography:
Boogart, E. van den & Hoetink, H.R. & Whitehead, P.J.P., Johan Maurits van Nassau-Siegen 1604-1679: a humanist prince in Europe and Brazil (The Hague 1979).
Bouman, P.J., Johan Maurits van Nassau, de Braziliaan (Utrecht 1947).
Fabius, A.N.J., Johan Maurits de Braziliaan - een stoere Nassauer (Utracht 1915).
Glaser, Otto, Prinz Johann Morits van Nassau-Siegen und die niederlandischen Kolonien in Brasilien (Berlin 1938).

J24: Jolliet, Louis

On his expedition of 1679 to James Bay, Jolliet was accompanied by a priest named Father SILVY. In 1684 Silvy accompanied BERMEN DE LA MARTINIÈRE on a maritime expedition northwards along the coast of Labrador, in the course of which he encountered Inuit at a location to the north of Hamilton Inlet. He returned the following year, finding more Inuit near the Strait of Belle Isle. In 1686 Silvy accompanied the expedition of PIERRE DE TROYES (q.v.) to James Bay, and remained at Fort Albany until 1693.

Rochemonteix, P.C. de, Relation par lettres de l’Amérique Septentrionale (Paris 1904).
Mary-Rousselière, Guy, ‘Exploration and evangelization of the Great Canadian North: Vikings, coureurs des bois, and missionaries’, Arctic, 37, 4, Dec. 1984.

K1: Kaempfer, Engelbert

Add to bibliography:
Beck, H., ‘Engelbert Kaempfer - der erste deutsche Japanklassiker’, Uebersee-Rundschau 17, 1965.
[Deutsche Gesselschaft fuer Natur- und Voelkerkunde Ostasiens], Engelbert Kaempfers Geschichte und Beschreibung von Japan. Beitraege und Kommentar (Berlin, Heidelberg & New York 1980).
Meier-Lemgo, K., Die Briefe Engelbert Kaempfers (Wiesbaden 1965).
Meier-Lemgo, K. (ed.), Die Reisetagebuecher Engelbert Kaempfers (Wiesbaden 1968).
Meier-Lemgo, K., Engelbert Kaempfer (1961-1716) eforscht das seltsame Asien (Stuttgart 1937, Hamburg 1960).

K7: Kelsey, Henry

Add to bibliography:
Whillan, J.W., First in the West. The story of Henry Kelsey, discoverer of the Canadian prairies (Edmonton 1955).

K11: Kerckoven, Melchior van den

[Alter spelling to Kerckove, and replace the opening sentence of the article with the following:]

16th-17th-century Dutch navigator and trader. Kerckove is first recorded in 1597 when he sailed from the Netherlands with four ships belonging to the traders Johan van der Veken and Daniel van der Meulen. After visiting the Canaries, he took two of the ships to Rio de Janeiro and then to Angola. There he was taken by the Portuguese, and his flagship commandeered by his Spanish and Portuguese crewmen. Kerckove was released shortly after, but relieved of cash totalling 50,000 ducats. In 1599 Kerckove commanded five pirate ships sent out by Balthasar de Moucheron which accompanied the fleet of 73 ships sent out by the States-General against the Spanish and Portuguese. The expedition left Texel on 25.5.99 under the command of Admiral VAN DER GOES, and Kerckove returned to Zealand on 6.3.1600. During the voyage he is also reported to have temporarily taken the island of São Thome, which he gave up only when his crew succumbed to an epidemic of malaria.

In 1609 Kerckove was appointed to undertake a voyage in search of a northeast passage...

Additional bibliography:
Straaten, Harald S. van der, Hollandse pioniers in Brazilië (Franeker 1988).
Mollema, J.C., De Nederlandsche vlag op de wereldzeen. Driemaal is scheepsrecht (Amsterdam, n.d.).

K13: Kerguelen, Yves-Joseph

Add to bibliography:
Brossard, Contre-Admiral de, Kerguelen, le decouvreur et ses iles (Paris 1970, 2 vols).
Dupouy, A., Le Breton Yves de Kerguelen (Paris 1929).

N37: Noort, Olivier van

Add to bibliography:
Barreveld, Dirk J., De route om de west. Olivier van Noort (Epe 2001).
Broek, J.O.M., A letter from Olivier van Noort, circumnavigator; pertaining to the first Dutch voyage around the world 1598-1601 (Minneapolis 1957).
Mollema, J.C., De reis om de wereld van Olivier van Noort (Amsterdam 1937).
Sluiter, Engel (ed.), ‘New light from Spanish archives on the voyage of Olivier van Noort: the vice-admiral ship, the Hendrick Frederick, on the west coast of the Americas’, Bijdragen voor Vaderlandsche Geschiedenis en Oudheidkunde, 1-2, 1937.

P39: Pelsaert, François

Add to bibliography:
Roeper, V.D. (ed.), De schipbreuk van de Batavia, 1629 (Linschoten-Vereeniging, Zutphen 1993).

Q5: Quast, Matthijs Hendrickszoon

Add to bibliography:
Verseput, J. (ed.), De reis van Mathijs Hendriksz. Quast en Abel Jansz. Tasman ter ontdekking van de Goud- en Zilvereilanden, 1639 (Linschoten-Vereeniging, The Hague 1954).

R63: Roggeveen, Jacob

Add to bibliography:
Behrens, Karel Frederik, Nader onderzoek, En bericht van zyne reyze naar de Zuid-landen gedaan, in dienst van de E: West-Indische Compagnie, in den Jare 1721... (Amsterdam 1732).
T.D.H., Kort en nauwkeurig verhaal van de Reize der drie schepn, in 't jaar 1721 door de Ed. Heeren Bewindhebberen van de WEst-Indische Compagnie in Holland uitgezonden, om eenige tot nog toe onbekende Landen, omtrent de Zuidzee gelegen, op te zoeken (Amsterdam 1727).
Meinicke, C., Jacob Roggeveens Erdumseglung 1721 und 1722, XI Jahresbericht des Vereins fur Erdkunde zu Dresden (Dresden 1874).

V60: Vlamingh, Willem Hesselszoon de

[Insert the following as a first paragraph:]

Little is known about Vlamingh’s early career, but he might be the same as the Willem Vlamingh, a navigator experienced in whaling, who in 1668 was sent to the Arctic by a consortium of Amsterdam merchants under Pieter de La Court to find a northeast passage (this was the last of such voyages, and finally brought to an end the succession of Dutch expeditions which had attempted to reach Asia by a northern sea route).

Jong, C. de, Geschiedenis van de oude Nederlandse walvisvaart, vol. 2 (Johannesburg 1978).
Overvoorde, J.C., ‘De Noord-oostelijke doorvaart naar China’, Bijdragen en mededelingen van het Historisch Genootschap, 47, 1926 [for Vlamingh’s Arctic expedition].
Braat, J., ‘Dutch activities in the North and in the Arctic during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries’, Arctic 37, 4, Dec. 1984 [for Vlamingh’s Arctic expedition].

Part 2: 1800-1850

Corrections and additions submitted by readers of the Encyclopedia

Submitted by Milton Osborne:

M32: McLeod, T.E.: McLeod's initials are incorrect and should read 'W.C.' for William Couperus McLeod. Apparently McLeod's report in the Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal was printed with the wrong initials. This led to confusion among later scholars, including the present author.
Mr Osborne also cites the following work:

Grabowsky, Volker & Turton, Andrew, The Gold and Silver Road of Trade and Friendship: The McLeod and Richardson Diplomatic Missions to the Tai States in 1837 (Silkworm Books, Chiang Mai 2003).

Part 3: 1850-1940. The Oceans, Islands and Polar Regions

Corrections and additions submitted by readers of the Encyclopedia

No corrections or additions have so far been received.