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François Valentyn
François Valentyn or Valentijn (17 April 1666 – 6 August 1727) was a Dutch Calvinist minister, naturalist and author whose ''Oud en Nieuw Oost-Indiën'' ("Old and New East-India") describes the history of the Dutch East India Company while also making notes on geography, ethnography, and natural history; half is about the Moluccas. The work is characterised by vanity, randomness, imbalance and the lack of systematics. Valentyn even used sources that he considered unreliable and some of his descriptions were considered far-fetched. Biography François Valentyn was born in 1666 in Dordrecht, Holland, where he lived most his life; however, he is known for his activities in Southeast Asia, notably in Ambon, Maluku, Ambon, in the Maluku Islands. Valentyn read theology and philosophy at the University of Leiden and the University of Utrecht before leaving for a career as a preacher in the Indies. Valentyn lived in the East Indies for 16 years, he was first employed by the Dutch ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sinhala Kingdom
The Sinhala kingdom or Sinhalese kingdom refers to the successive Sinhalese kingdoms that existed in what is today Sri Lanka. The Sinhalese kingdoms are kingdoms known by the city at which its administrative centre was located. These are in chronological order: the kingdoms of Tambapanni, Upatissa Nuwara, Anuradhapura, Polonnaruwa, Dambadeniya, Gampola, Kotte, Sitawaka and Kandy. History The Sinhala kingdom ceased to exist by 1815, following the British takeover. While the Sinhala kingdom is claimed to have existed from 543 BCE to 1815 CE, other political entities claimed to have co-existed in Sri Lanka spanning certain partial periods, including the Jaffna kingdom (which existed 1215–1624 CE), Vanni chieftaincies (which existed from the 12th century to 1803 CE) and the Portuguese and Dutch colonies (which existed 1597–1658 CE and 1640–1796 respectively). During these partial periods of time, these political entities were not part of the Sinhala kingdom, except ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
People From Dordrecht
The term "the people" refers to the public or common mass of people of a polity. As such it is a concept of human rights law, international law as well as constitutional law, particularly used for claims of popular sovereignty. In contrast, a people is any plurality of persons considered as a whole. Used in politics and law, the term "a people" refers to the collective or community of an ethnic group or nation. Concepts Legal Chapter One, Article One of the Charter of the United Nations states that "peoples" have the right to self-determination. Though the mere status as peoples and the right to self-determination, as for example in the case of Indigenous peoples (''peoples'', as in all groups of indigenous people, not merely all indigenous persons as in ''indigenous people''), does not automatically provide for independent sovereignty and therefore secession. Indeed, judge Ivor Jennings identified the inherent problems in the right of "peoples" to self-determination, as i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1727 Deaths
Events January–March * January 1 – (December 21, 1726 O.S.) Spain's ambassador to Great Britain demands that the British return Gibraltar after accusing Britain of violating the terms of the 1713 Peace of Utrecht, Treaty of Utrecht. Britain refuses and the Thirteenth Siege of Gibraltar begins on February 22. * January 6 – Martin Spanberg and two other members of the First Kamchatka expedition arrive in Okhotsk, after a journey from Saint Petersburg of almost two years. After the end of winter, the 63-member group, commanded by Vitus Bering, proceeds to the Kamchatka River, to prepare for exploration of the Arctic. * January 9 – The world-famous Charité Hospital is established in Berlin, to be used for research and to help the poor. Prussia's Frederick William I of Prussia, King Frederick William I had ordered the conversion of a 16-year old institution, originally built in anticipation of an epidemic of the bubonic plague. * January 12 – ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1666 Births
This is the first year to be designated as an ''Annus mirabilis'', in John Dryden's 1667 Annus Mirabilis (poem), poem so titled, celebrating Kingdom of England, England's failure to be beaten either by the Dutch or by fire. Events January–March * January 17 – The Chair of Saint Peter (''Cathedra Petri'', designed by Gian Lorenzo Bernini, Bernini) is set above the altar in St. Peter's Basilica in Rome. * January 27 – Mughal conquest of Chittagong: Mughal Empire, Mughal forces of Emperor Aurangzeb, in alliance with the Portuguese, under Shaista Khan and his son ''Buzurg'' Umed Khan, expel the Rakhine State, Arakans from the Bengal port city of Chittagong, renaming the city as Islamabad. * February 1 – The joint English and Scottish royal court returns to London as the Great Plague of London subsides. * March 11 – The tower of St. Peter's Church, Riga, collapses, burying eight people in the rubble. * March – The Tavernier Blue, precursor t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Facsimile
A facsimile (from Latin ''fac simile'', "to make alike") is a copy or reproduction of an old book, manuscript, map, art print, or other item of historical value that is as true to the original source as possible. It differs from other forms of reproduction by attempting to replicate the source as accurately as possible in scale, color, condition, and other material qualities. For books and manuscripts, this also entails a complete copy of all pages; hence, an incomplete copy is a "partial facsimile". Facsimiles are sometimes used by scholars to research a source that they do not have access to otherwise, and by museums and archives for media preservation and conservation. Many are sold commercially, often accompanied by a volume of commentary. The term " fax" is a shortened form of "facsimile", though most faxes are not reproductions of the quality expected in a true facsimile. Facsimiles in the age of mechanical reproduction Advances in the art of facsimile are closely relate ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Hague
The Hague ( ) is the capital city of the South Holland province of the Netherlands. With a population of over half a million, it is the third-largest city in the Netherlands. Situated on the west coast facing the North Sea, The Hague is the country's administrative centre and its seat of government, and has been described as the country's ''de facto'' capital since the time of the Dutch Republic, while Amsterdam is the official capital of the Netherlands. The Hague is the core municipality of the COROP, Greater The Hague urban area containing over 800,000 residents, and is also part of the Rotterdam–The Hague metropolitan area, which, with a population of approximately 2.6 million, is the largest metropolitan area of the Netherlands. The city is also part of the Randstad region, one of the largest conurbations in Europe. The Hague is the seat of the Cabinet of the Netherlands, Cabinet, the States General of the Netherlands, States General, the Supreme Court of the Neth ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Molluscs
Mollusca is a phylum of protostome, protostomic invertebrate animals, whose members are known as molluscs or mollusks (). Around 76,000 extant taxon, extant species of molluscs are recognized, making it the second-largest animal phylum after Arthropoda. The number of additional fossil species is estimated between 60,000 and 100,000, and the proportion of undescribed species is very high. Many taxa remain poorly studied. Molluscs are the largest marine biology, marine phylum, comprising about 23% of all the named marine organisms. They are highly diverse, not just in size and anatomical structure, but also in behaviour and habitat, as numerous groups are freshwater mollusc, freshwater and even terrestrial molluscs, terrestrial species. The phylum is typically divided into 7 or 8 taxonomy (biology), taxonomic class (biology), classes, of which two are entirely extinct. Cephalopod molluscs, such as squid, cuttlefish, and octopuses, are among the most neurobiology, neurologi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Old Batavia
Kota Tua Jakarta ( Indonesian for "Jakarta Old Town"), officially known as Kota Tua, is a neighborhood comprising the original downtown area of Jakarta, Indonesia. It is also known as (Dutch for "Old Batavia"), ("Lower City", contrasting it with Weltevreden, ("Upper City")), or Kota Lama (Indonesian for "Old Town"). The site contains Dutch-style structures mostly dated from 17th century, when the port city served as the Asian headquarters of VOC during the heyday of spice trade. It spans 1.3 square kilometres within North Jakarta and West Jakarta (Kelurahan Pinangsia, Taman Sari and Kelurahan Roa Malaka, Tambora). The largely Chinese downtown area of Glodok is a part of Kota Tua. History Kota Tua is a remainder of Old Batavia, the first walled settlement of the Dutch in Jakarta area. It was an inner walled city with its own Castle. The area gained importance during the 17th-19th century when it was established as the ''de facto'' capital of the Dutch East Indies. This i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Merman
A merman (: mermen; also merlad or merboy in youth), the male counterpart of the mythical female mermaid, is a legendary creature which is human from the waist up and fish-like from the waist down, but may assume normal human shape. Sometimes mermen are described as hideous and other times as handsome. Antiquity Perhaps the first recorded merman was the Assyrian-Babylonian sea-god Ea (Babylonian god), Ea (called Enki by the Sumerians), linked to the figure known to the Greeks as Oannes (mythology), Oannes. However, while some popular writers have equated Oannes of the Greek period to the god Ea (and to Dagon), Oannes was rather one of the ''apkallu'' servants to Ea. The ''apkallu'' have been described as "fish-men" in cuneiform texts, and if Berossus is to be believed, Oannes was indeed a being possessed of a fish head and man's head beneath, and both a fish tail and manlike legs. But Berossus was writing much later during the era of Greek rule, engaging in the "construction" o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Spice Trade
The spice trade involved historical civilizations in Asia, Northeast Africa and Europe. Spices, such as cinnamon, cassia, cardamom, ginger, pepper, nutmeg, star anise, clove, and turmeric, were known and used in antiquity and traded in the Eastern World. These spices found their way into the Near East before the beginning of the Christian era, with fantastic tales hiding their true sources. The maritime aspect of the trade was dominated by the Austronesian peoples in Southeast Asia, namely the ancient Indonesian sailors who established routes from Southeast Asia to Sri Lanka and India (and later China) by 1500 BC. These goods were then transported by land toward the Mediterranean and the Greco-Roman world via the incense route and the Roman–India routes by Indian and Persian traders.Fage 1975: 164 The Austronesian maritime trade lanes later expanded into the Middle East and eastern Africa by the 1st millennium AD, resulting in the Austronesian colonization of Madagas ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hydrographer
Hydrography is the branch of applied sciences which deals with the measurement and description of the physical features of oceans, seas, coastal areas, lakes and rivers, as well as with the prediction of their change over time, for the primary purpose of safety of navigation and in support of all other marine activities, including economic development, security and defense, scientific research, and environmental protection. History The origins of hydrography lay in the making of charts to aid navigation, by individual mariners as they navigated into new waters. These were usually the private property, even closely held secrets, of individuals who used them for commercial or military advantage. As transoceanic trade and exploration increased, hydrographic surveys started to be carried out as an exercise in their own right, and the commissioning of surveys was increasingly done by governments and special hydrographic offices. National organizations, particularly navies, realized ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
