Gerrit van Wuysthoff (also Geraerd Wuesthoff; lived in the 17th century) was a

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

merchant and served 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 ...

. According to sources, he was the first European to visit what is now Laos, one year before Jesuit

missionary A missionary is a member of a religious group which is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Thomas Hale 'On Being a Mi ...

Giovanni Maria Leria.

Biography: the first Westerner in Laos

In 1641, Wuysthoff undertook an exploration trip from the then capital of Cambodia, Longvek, to

Vientiane Vientiane ( , ; lo, ວຽງຈັນ, ''Viangchan'', ) is the capital and largest city of Laos. Vientiane is divided administratively into 9 cities with a total area of only approx. 3,920 square kilometres and is located on the banks of ...

in northern Laos on behalf of the Cambodian trading post of the East India Company. His companions were a barber who also worked as a field clerk, an interpreter, two porters and a group of Laotian merchants. The journey began during the rainy

monsoon A monsoon () is traditionally a seasonal reversing wind accompanied by corresponding changes in precipitation but is now used to describe seasonal changes in atmospheric circulation and precipitation associated with annual latitudinal osci ...

season on July 20, 1641, with a collection of goods and gifts to the King of

Lan Xang existed as a unified kingdom from 1353 to 1707. For three and a half centuries, Lan Xang was one of the largest kingdoms in Southeast Asia. The meaning of the kingdom's name alludes to the power of the kingship and formidable war machine of the ea ...

Sourigna Vongsa Souligna Vongsa (ສຸຣິຍະວົງສາທັມມິກຣາດ ) was the king of Lan Xang whose reign is considered the golden age of Laos. He ascended to the throne in 1637. King of Lan Xang In 1637, Sourigna Vongsa ascended th ...

, who resided in

. A total of 30 people went up the

Mekong The Mekong or Mekong River is a trans-boundary river in East Asia and Southeast Asia. It is the world's twelfth longest river and the third longest in Asia. Its estimated length is , and it drains an area of , discharging of water annual ...

in 12 boats. Wuysthoff's trip was determined by two reasons: first the Dutch East India Company wanted to find out how profitable the trade with Lan Xang could be and second, they wanted to find out to what extent the Mekong was suitable as a trade route into the inland of Southeast Asia. The Dutch were interested in rubber lacquer for the production of sealing wax, benzoin for the production of incense, and animal skins. Wuysthoff was surprised by the Laotian monk's sexual indulgence, and their refusal to beg alms which set them apart from the orthodox ''

sanghas Sankhvast ( fa, سنخواست, also Romanized as Sankhvāst; also known as Sanghas, Sangkhuast, Sankhāş, and Sankhāst) is a city and capital of Jolgeh Sankhvast District, in Jajrom County, North Khorasan Province, Iran Iran, off ...

'', suggesting a still very limited Buddhist textuality among the Lao aristocrats, not to mention the commoners. The exploration had contact with Laotian merchants in

Ayutthaya Ayutthaya, Ayudhya, or Ayuthia may refer to: * Ayutthaya Kingdom, a Thai kingdom that existed from 1350 to 1767 ** Ayutthaya Historical Park, the ruins of the old capital city of the Ayutthaya Kingdom * Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya province (locally ...

and Cambodia, but the company wanted to eliminate competition from Arabia and India by trading directly with Lan Xang. Therefore, Wuysthoff should convince the Laotian king to trade with the company and to grant it a monopoly on certain goods.{{Cite book, last=Stuart-Fox, first=Martin, url=https://books.google.com/books?id=seglAAAAQBAJ&dq=Gerrit+van+Wuysthoff&pg=PA286, title=Historical Dictionary of Laos, date=2008-02-06, publisher=Scarecrow Press, isbn=978-0-8108-6411-5, language=en, page=360 Wuysthoff was received with great honors, and relations with the Dutch East India Company became very profitable. He was not however able to set up a trading post in Vientiane, the journeys were simply too long and inconvenient. The boats had to be unloaded and carried at the numerous waterfalls.

Posterity: the travel guide to Laos

Van Wuysthoff wrote a

travel diary The genre of travel literature encompasses outdoor literature, guide books, nature writing, and travel memoirs. One early travel memoirist in Western literature was Pausanias, a Greek geographer of the 2nd century CE. In the early modern period ...

published in 1669 that was translated into French and used as a

travel guide A guide book or travel guide is "a book of information about a place designed for the use of visitors or tourists". It will usually include information about sights, accommodation, restaurants, transportation, and activities. Maps of varying det ...

for centuries.

References

Bibliography

* Jean-Claude Lejosne: ''Le journal de voyage de Gerrit van Wuysthoff et de ses assistants au Laos (1641–1642)''. 2d. édition revue et complétée. CDI du Laos, Paris 1993, ISBN 2-906652-03-2. History of Laos 17th century in Cambodia 17th-century Dutch people Dutch merchants