Claudius Henricus de Goeje (4 May 1879 – 8 June 1955) was a Dutch
Navy officer and
cartographer, who took a special interest in the
Wayana
The Wayana (alternate names: Ajana, Uaiana, Alucuyana, Guaque, Ojana, Oyana, Orcocoyana, Pirixi, Urukuena, Waiano etc.) are a Carib-speaking people located in the southeastern part of the Guiana highlands, a region divided between Brazil, Suri ...
and
Tiriyó peoples he encountered on his expeditions to the interior of
Suriname. For his lifelong interest in the Amerindian peoples of the Surinamese interior, he was awarded an
endowed professorship
A financial endowment is a legal structure for managing, and in many cases indefinitely perpetuating, a pool of Financial instrument, financial, real estate, or other investments for a specific purpose according to Donor intent, the will of its fou ...
in the Linguistics and Anthropology of Suriname and Curaçao at
Leiden University in 1946. De Goeje retired in 1951 and died four years later, in 1955.
The
De Goeje Mountains in Suriname are named after Claudius de Goeje.
Biography
Claudius de Goeje was born in
Leiden
Leiden (; in English and archaic Dutch also Leyden) is a city and municipality in the province of South Holland, Netherlands. The municipality of Leiden has a population of 119,713, but the city forms one densely connected agglomeration wi ...
to Dutch
orientalist Michael Jan de Goeje
Michael Jan de Goeje (August 13, 1836 – May 17, 1909) was a Dutch orientalist focusing on Arabia and Islam.
Early life
Michael Jan de Goeje was born in Dronrijp, Friesland. He devoted himself at an early age to the study of oriental lan ...
and Wilhelmina Henriëtte Leembruggen. Claudius de Goeje did not excel in school and chose to pursue a career in the
Royal Netherlands Navy, where he could fulfil his dream of travelling the world. Until 1909, he worked as a lieutenant at the ''
Dienst der Hydrografie'' in the
Dutch East Indies. Between 1910 and 1924, De Goeje worked at the Maritime Transport Service in
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 ...
. Because of his talents in
cartography
Cartography (; from grc, χάρτης , "papyrus, sheet of paper, map"; and , "write") is the study and practice of making and using maps. Combining science, aesthetics and technique, cartography builds on the premise that reality (or an i ...
, De Goeje was allowed leave several times to be part of expeditions to the Surinamese interior under the auspices of the
Royal Netherlands Geographical Society
The Royal Dutch Geographical Society (Dutch:''Koninklijk Nederlandsch Aardrijkskundig Genootschap''; KNAG) is an organization of geographers and those interested in geography in The Netherlands. It has about 4000 members and sponsors lectures on ge ...
.
De Goeje was a cartographer during the Gonini expedition of 1903–1904 and the
Tapanahony expedition of 1904, which were led by
Alphons Franssen Herderschee. De Goeje subsequently led the
Tumuk Humak expedition of 1907. Thirty years later, after his retirement from the navy, De Goeje once more visited Suriname as part of the expedition of 1936 and 1937 to establish the Surinamese border with
Brazil
Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...
led by
Conrad Carel Käyser
Conrad may refer to:
People
* Conrad (name)
Places
United States
* Conrad, Illinois, an unincorporated community
* Conrad, Indiana, an unincorporated community
* Conrad, Iowa, a city
* Conrad, Montana, a city
* Conrad Glacier, Washingt ...
.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Goeje, Claudius Henricus de
1879 births
1955 deaths
Dutch anthropologists