Jan Janse de Weltevree (1595 – not known) was a Dutch sailor and probably the first Dutchman to visit

Korea Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and South Korea (Republic o ...

. His adventures were recorded in the report by

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 ...

accountant Hendrik Hamel. Hamel stayed in Korea from 1653 to 1666. Jan Jansz Weltevree De Rijp

Biography

Jan Janse de Weltevree was born around 1595, according to Hendrik Hamel in

De Rijp De Rijp is a village and former island in the Dutch province of North Holland. It is a part of the municipality of Alkmaar, and lies about 10 km northwest of Purmerend, between the Schermer and the Beemster polders. Before the poldering of ...

, though other sources speak of

Vlaardingen Vlaardingen () is a city in South Holland in the Netherlands. It is located on the north bank of the Nieuwe Maas river at the confluence with the Oude Maas. The municipality administers an area of , of which is land, with residents in . Geog ...

. He signed on the ship 'Hollandia' and went on March 17, 1626, to the Dutch East Indies. He arrived in 1627 from

Batavia, Dutch East Indies Batavia was the capital of the Dutch East Indies. The area corresponds to present-day Jakarta, Indonesia. Batavia can refer to the city proper or its suburbs and hinterland, the Ommelanden, which included the much-larger area of the Residen ...

on the ship 'Ouwerkerck'. On July 16, 1627, the 'Ouwerkerck' with its captain Jan Janse de Weltevree captured a Chinese junk and its 150-man crew bound for the port of Amoy, China. Seventy Chinese were brought aboard the Ouwerkerck. Jan Janse de Weltevree, Dirk Gijsbertsz from De Rijp, and Jan Pieterse Verbaest from Amsterdam, all from Holland, along with thirteen other Dutch crewmen went aboard the junk to sail the vessel to

Tainan Tainan (), officially Tainan City, is a special municipality in southern Taiwan facing the Taiwan Strait on its western coast. Tainan is the oldest city on the island and also commonly known as the "Capital City" for its over 200 years of his ...

, Formosa. The Ouwerkerck reached safe harbor after battling a fierce summer storm that swept the area. The storm-tossed Chinese junk carrying the hapless Dutch and Chinese ended up on the shores of an island off Korea's west coast, during the reign of the

Joseon Dynasty Joseon (; ; Middle Korean: 됴ᇢ〯션〮 Dyǒw syéon or 됴ᇢ〯션〯 Dyǒw syěon), officially the Great Joseon (; ), was the last dynastic kingdom of Korea, lasting just over 500 years. It was founded by Yi Seong-gye in July 1392 and r ...

. Although the details of what happened next are unclear, the Chinese, with a five-to-one advantage, overpowered the Dutch survivors, captured Jan Janse de Weltevree, Dirk Gijsbertsz and Jan Verbaest, and handed them over to the Korean Joseon authorities. The Joseon Dynasty of that time enforced an isolation policy so the captured privateers could not leave the country. Jan Janse de Weltevree took the name Park Yeon (박연, Park is a Korean surname.) and became an important government official. He married a Korean woman with whom he had two children. According to Jan Janse de Weltevree, the two other captives from the Ouwerkerck were killed in 1636 during a raid of the Manchu.Gari Ledyard "The Dutch Come to Korea", page 26. Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 70-177936 They would have fought in the Korean army. In 1653 the ship 'De Sperwer' was wrecked en route from Jakarta to

Nagasaki is the capital and the largest Cities of Japan, city of Nagasaki Prefecture on the island of Kyushu in Japan. It became the sole Nanban trade, port used for trade with the Portuguese and Dutch during the 16th through 19th centuries. The Hi ...

, with

Hendrick Hamel Hendrick Hamel (1630 – 1692) was a Westerner to provide a first hand account of Joseon Korea. After spending thirteen years there, he wrote "Hamel's Journal and a Description of the Kingdom of Korea, 1653-1666," which was subsequently publis ...

on board, and Jan Janse de Weltevree acted as a translator and adviser. This group of 36 Dutchmen stayed in Korea for 13 years, working as military advisors to the Joseon Army, until 8 of them escaped to Nagasaki in 1666. Hendrick Hamel authored the accounts of his stay in Korea, from which we hear about Jan Janse de Weltevree.

Legacy

Besides the Great Church in De Rijp is a statue of Jan Jansz. A replica of this was erected in 1991 in the capital,

Seoul Seoul (; ; ), officially known as the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea.Before 1972, Seoul was the ''de jure'' capital of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) as stated iArticle 103 of ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Weltevree, Jan Jansz. 1595 births Year of death unknown 17th-century Dutch explorers Dutch expatriates in Korea History of De Rijp Joseon people Korean people of Dutch descent Netherlands–South Korea relations People from Graft-De Rijp Sailors on ships of the Dutch East India Company Dutch East India Company people Dutch privateers

Biography

Legacy

See also

References