''Batavia's Graveyard: The True Story of the Mad Heretic Who Led History's Bloodiest Mutiny'' is a book released in 2001 by Welsh author
Mike Dash
Mike Dash is a Welsh writer, historian, and researcher. He has written books and articles about dramatic episodes in history.
Biography
Dash was born in London. He attended Peterhouse, a college at the University of Cambridge particularly noted ...
about 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 ...
ship , shipwrecked in 1629 on a small atoll of the
Houtman Abrolhos
The Houtman Abrolhos (often called the Abrolhos Islands) is a chain of 122 islands and associated coral reefs, in the Indian Ocean off the west coast of Australia, about west of Geraldton, Western Australia. It is the southernmost true coral ...
, off the western shore of Australia.
Description
The book retells the story of one of the largest mutinies in history, led by one of the ship's officers,
Jeronimus Cornelisz
Jeronimus Cornelisz (c. 1598 – 2 October 1629) was a Dutch apothecary and Dutch East India Company merchant who sailed aboard the merchant ship which foundered near the Australian mainland.
Cornelisz then led one of the bloodiest mutinies i ...
, who oversaw the massacre of at least 110 people. The book explores the background of the period in history, and many of the people involved in the
Dutch Republic
The United Provinces of the Netherlands, also known as the (Seven) United Provinces, officially as the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands (Dutch: ''Republiek der Zeven Verenigde Nederlanden''), and commonly referred to in historiography ...
. It casts a light on the tortuous trip from the Dutch Republic to 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, which ...
, and provides a detailed account of events after the captain and some of the crew's departure for
Batavia
Batavia may refer to:
Historical places
* Batavia (region), a land inhabited by the Batavian people during the Roman Empire, today part of the Netherlands
* Batavia, Dutch East Indies, present-day Jakarta, the former capital of the Dutch East In ...
in an open boat.
The final chapter highlights the survivors' fates and the rediscovery of the wreck.
See also
*
List of works about the Dutch East India Company
A ''list'' is any set of items in a row. List or lists may also refer to:
People
* List (surname)
Organizations
* List College, an undergraduate division of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America
* SC Germania List, German rugby unio ...
References
1629 in Australia
2002 non-fiction books
Batavia (1628 ship)
History books about the Dutch Empire
Houtman Abrolhos
Weidenfeld & Nicolson books
Works about the Dutch East India Company
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