Nicolaas Witsen (Dutch. Nicolaes Witsen; May 8, 1641 - August 10, 1717) - Dutch politician, businessman, cartographer, burgomaster of Amsterdam from 1682 to 1706.
Nikolaas Witsen came from the wealthy Amsterdam merchant family of Witsen, many of whom held various elective positions in the management of the city. and whose representatives were previously involved in trade with Russia. His father Cornelis Witsen (1605-1669) retired from trading; he was an educated man, a lawyer with a degree, a member of the municipality, the head of the East India Company. As a member of the Admiralty, in 1656 he was sent on a diplomatic mission to England to negotiate with Cromwell on the laws of navigation. He was elected burgomaster several times; in the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam there is a commemorative medal in his honor: on one side - a bust of Cornelis, on the back - his coat of arms with the motto "Candide et Cordate" (Sincerely and prudently).
Of the five children of Cornelis Witsen, Nikolaas became the most famous. In 1656, at the age of fifteen, he accompanied his father on a diplomatic trip to England, where for several weeks he was a guest of the English Lord Protector Oliver Cromwell. After returning from England, he studied mathematics, astronomy and philosophy at the famous Athenaeum school in Amsterdam, was engaged in poetry, as well as engraving, which he later used in his scientific research and in shipbuilding
In 1663-1664 the young man studied at Leiden University, where he defended his dissertation in law and received a doctorate in law.
In January 1663, he began his studies at Leiden University, where he studied jurisprudence, but with greater pleasure, as Witsen himself writes in his autobiography, he attended lectures on philosophy; at the university, Nikolaas made friends with the professor of Arabic literature Golius, from whom he received a lot of information about the Eastern countries and peoples. On July 11, 1664, Witsen defended his dissertation in jurisprudence and received a doctorate in law.
The study was supposed to end with a journey, and Nikolaas was included in the retinue of the Dutch ambassador Jacob Boreil, with whom from September 1664 to August 1665 he made a trip to Muscovy.
Witsen saw Russia from Pskov to Moscow. The journey, undertaken, as he himself wrote in his diary, "to satisfy his curiosity," made an indelible impression on 23-year-old Nikolaas and largely determined the direction of Witsen's further research. The curious Dutchman developed a steady scientific interest in the countries of northeastern Europe and Asia.
Promotional video:
The main task of this embassy was to obtain recognition from the Russian tsar of the new title of the States General - "High Mighty Lords"; the Russians, however, adhered to the old title - "Honorary Regents". The question of the title was the most important in the instructions of the ambassador: for the young republic, which was recognized as sovereign only in 1648, the title of its government was very important as recognition of the place for which it claimed. In addition, Boreil had to sort out a large number of complaints from the Dutch about the oppression and offenses inflicted on them in Muscovy: it was about the restoration of Reformed churches in Moscow, permission for the Dutch to live in the city and hire Russian personnel. Finally, he was to discuss a number of issues of trade policy, in particular, about Russia's attitude to the trade rivalry between England and Holland. Despite,that in some issues Boreil achieved success, the issue of the title was never resolved: the Dutch managed to insist on its recognition only in 1670.
While in the embassy, Witsen systematically kept a diary, made notes, sketches of views of Moscow, Novgorod, Pskov and many notable buildings. As part of the embassy, he was a "nobleman by position" time for their meetings and conversations. He was interested in everything: the nature of the power of the Moscow tsar, the military system and judicial order, the economy and culture of the country, church holidays, wedding ceremonies and various everyday scenes; he also describes the terrible day of March 17, 1665, when 120 people were executed or subjected to various punishments on the streets of Moscow. His diary is replete with many place names and interesting ethnographic material. Witsen pays special attention to issues of church worship and monastic life. His records are a reliable historical source: the facts reported by him are reliable, he gives an accurate chronology, carefully describes the features of life, manners and customs not only of Russians, but also of other peoples whom he met during the trip. On the whole, Journey to Muscovy gives a vivid, vivid, though not always impartial, picture of Russia at that time, seen through the eyes of a foreigner; the notes are characterized by acute observation, freshness of mind, humor, youthful spontaneity and frankness.seen through the eyes of a foreigner; the notes are characterized by acute observation, freshness of mind, humor, youthful spontaneity and frankness.seen through the eyes of a foreigner; the notes are characterized by acute observation, freshness of mind, humor, youthful spontaneity and frankness.
Moscow (1665) Nicolaes Witsen (1641-1717) Embassy in Muscovy 1664-1665.
Novgorod (1665) Nicolaes Witsen (1641-1717) Embassy to Muscovy 1664-1665.
January 8-11. Torzhok
The town is inhabited by a voivode, a clerk and scribes, there are 1 or 2 chapels, nothing more special; almost all churches are wooden. There is a tower of a strange structure [this is a church], which I have sketched; there is also a nunnery.
Wooden monastery in Torzhok. Houten mannenklooster te Torsock. Penseeltekening naar een schets van Nicolaes Witsen gemaakt op diens reis naar Moskou in 1664-1665.
Curiosity led me to the merchant's house, where I was invited to dinner. The hostess greeted me with a goblet of beer, scooping it up from a large ladle, and the rest of the goblets were poured back into the ladle, which was very unappetizing. The table was covered with a dirty tablecloth by the owner and his son, although these are important people who had servants and servants in abundance. For each of us, a pile of thick slices of bread of all sorts and a wooden spoon were placed. The first course was candied plums and cucumbers, the second was chicken in a tub, the third was a piece of pork with vinegar sauce, which they ate with spoons. Fourth - some kind of strange liquid, which is also eaten with spoons. Fifth - meat pate with onions, garlic, etc. As we sat down, we were left to sit. They were very simple with their servants. There were two more Russian guests besides us; oh, how ugly they eat!They don't pray, they only get baptized; sit worse than our most uncouth peasant. During dinner, the owner's son came and greeted us with a handshake and bow; the harder they hit the hands, the more serious it is. This one brought each of us a glass of vodka and continued to stand, bowing to the ground, until they were emptied. Then the owner called his wife, who also bowed to each of us and brought a cup of vodka, after which she immediately left without saying a word. At the first exit, the hostess said: "I invite you to the bread and salt." She was dressed richly: the hat was embroidered with gold and pearls. They brought us home in the merchant's sleigh, and the next day I also treated them.means more serious. This one brought each of us a glass of vodka and continued to stand, bowing to the ground, until they were emptied. Then the owner called his wife, who also bowed to each of us and brought a cup of vodka, after which she immediately left without saying a word. At the first exit, the hostess said: "I invite you to the bread and salt." She was dressed richly: the hat was embroidered with gold and pearls. They brought us home in the merchant's sleigh, and the next day I also treated them.means more serious. This one brought each of us a glass of vodka and continued to stand, bowing to the ground, until they were emptied. Then the owner called his wife, who also bowed to each of us and brought a cup of vodka, after which she immediately left without saying a word. At the first exit, the hostess said: "I invite you to the bread and salt." She was dressed richly: the hat was embroidered with gold and pearls. They brought us home in the merchant's sleigh, and the next day I also treated them. They brought us home in the merchant's sleigh, and the next day I also treated them. They brought us home in the merchant's sleigh, and the next day I also treated them.
Torzhok. Nicolaes Witsen (1641-1717) Embassy to Muscovy 1664-1665.
In 1666-1667, Witsen made a trip to France and Italy; in Paris he met the French scientist M. Thévenot, whom he told about his trip to Muscovy and promised to send a copy of his notes, which he did in 1668. After Witsen's death, his notes were long considered lost, and it was not until 1886 in the Netherlands that it became known that copies of Nikolaas Witsen's diary and notes were kept in Paris. Only 300 years after the diary and notes were written, in 1966-1967, a book was published in The Hague: Nicolaas Witsen. Moscovische Reyse, 1664-1665. 's-Gravenhage, 1966-1967.
Witsen's subsequent career was very successful. This extraordinary man became one of the managers of the East India Trading Company, thirteen times the townspeople elected him burgomaster of Amsterdam, 11 times was appointed treasurer of the city, was a member of the Dutch parliament, traveled with diplomatic missions to England He was a wealthy, but modest man and not only did not buy he himself titles like other rich men, but also refused the title of baronet, which was bestowed on him by the English king.
Nikolaas Witsen, burgomaster of Amsterdam (1682 - 1706) (1680-1700).
All his life he stubbornly and persistently collected information about the peoples and lands of Russia and neighboring Asian countries. Although Witsen himself never visited Russia again, he received a variety of information from various correspondents (whose names were usually not disclosed), showing, according to biographers, "almost agent tenacity." He received information from Russia and China, Turkey and Egypt. Everything he later wrote about Siberia and Central Asia was obtained second-hand. Over the course of several decades, Witsen collected an extensive archive of historical and geographical information, which allowed him to create very reliable geographical works about the so-called "Tartaria", as the distant eastern lands of Asia were then called.
Summarizing the accumulated evidence, Witsen compiled a detailed scientific map of Tartary, where he first showed Russian possessions in Asia. For publication, the drawing was engraved on a copper board measuring 127 x 116 cm. At the top of the engraving was the title: “Nieuwe Lantkaarte van het Noorder en Ooster deel van Asia en Europa, Strekkende van Nova Zemla tot China… door Nicolaas Witsen. Anno 1687 . The full name of the map is “New geographical map of the northern and eastern parts of Asia and Europe, stretching from Novaya Zemlya to China. After careful research for more than twenty years, it was drawn, described and studied by Nikolaas Witsen in 1687”. Judging by the date in the title of the map, by this year it was completely engraved, and prints could be made from the board. However, Witsen was in no hurry to replicate his card. In 1691in a letter to the Royal Society of London, he stressed that his new map was not for sale. Therefore, among researchers there is no consensus about the year of publication of this drawing.
The cards of this edition are very rare. In Russia, such a copy is available in the collection of the Russian National Library in St. Petersburg. L. S. Bagrov pointed to the existence of a second typographic version of the same drawing, in which the date "Anno 1687" is moved to the cloud drawn on the right. It is not known in what year the new plaque was engraved and reprinted from it.
In Europe, Witsen's drawing was regarded as "the discovery of a new world," and the president of the Royal Society of Science, Robert Southwell, wrote in this regard that it would be easier to make a "geographical description of the bottom of the sea."
After the completion of the 1687 map, Witsen undoubtedly received new materials from Russia. LS Bagrov believed that among them, obviously, there was also a new Russian map of Siberia, a copy of which the Dutchman gave to Isbrandt Ides, who went to China with the Russian embassy in early 1692. For this reason, Witsen was in no hurry to replicate his 1687 map and began to recycle it.
Map of Tartary by the Dutchman Nikolai Witsen, 1705. National Library of Portugal. 60 x 51 cm Publisher: Carolo Allard.
Following the first prints of the New Geographical Map of Northern and Eastern Asia and Europe, in 1692 Witsen's book Noord en Oost Tartarye (Northern and Eastern Tartary) was published in Amsterdam. The work of the Dutch researcher was a collection of the information that formed the basis of the previously created drawing, because the collective name "Tartaria" was called by the European cartographers huge territories from the Volga and the Urals to China and Japan and from Tibet through all of mountainous Asia to the Arctic Ocean. Today Witsen's book, printed in 1692, is an exceptional bibliographic rarity. According to LS Bagrov, “the entire circulation of the first edition is almost completely lost - probably, he perished together with the ship on which he was transported; only two copies have come down to us - the complete one is kept in St. Petersburg, and the incomplete one in Amsterdam."
The second, significantly expanded edition of this scientific work; Witsen published in Amsterdam 13 years later, in 1705. The volume of the book has grown to almost a thousand pages. The purpose of the work, according to the author, was to fill the "lack of reliable messages." The material that Witsen received after 1687 was used to compile several maps that were attached to the second edition of his book. These included a new map of the Russian state. Forty years of fruitful correspondence and painstaking collection of various information about Tartary (from 1664 to 1705) allowed the Dutch scientist, surprisingly accurately for that time, to tell readers about distant regions of Asia, where he himself had never been. The 1705 edition of Northern and Eastern Tartary by Nikolaas Witsen is one of the earliest scientific works of the 18th century.where there is information on the history and geography of our region.
Artschillus Bagarationus. Koningh van Iberia en Melita & Nicolaes Davidszoon. Georgiaens Koningh.
Engraving depicting Tyumen of the 17th century from the book by N. K. Witsen “ Northern and Eastern Tartary ” edition of 1785 (1692).
Urban landscapes: (1) Kazan from the west. (2) Kazan on the north side.
Nicolaes Witsen (1641-1717) De Caspische Zee (1705).
Inhabitants of Ta (r) Tariya: A - Yakut, B - Kalmyk, C - Kyrgyz Ostyak, D - Daurian Tungus. (1670s-1710) N. Witsen's book Northern and Eastern Tartary.
Vreemde zeden: een Toengoese begraafplaats met daarop paarden offers. Strange customs: Tunguska cemetery with sacrificial horses.
Witsen's map of 1687 was not widely distributed: he himself limited its printing, probably hoping to clarify and supplement the drawing. Perhaps the large size of the map turned out to be inconvenient. In a reduced form, it became the basis for the depiction of Siberia and Central Asia in the drawings of Western European cartographers of the late 17th - first quarter of the 18th century. With the accumulation of geographical knowledge, numerous inaccuracies were discovered, the reliability of Witsen's map of 1687 ceased to satisfy researchers. Here is what Philip Johann Stralenberg, a Swedish prisoner who lived in Siberia from 1711 to 1723, wrote about this drawing:
“Take, for example, Mr. Witsen's large map, which some consider to be a real miracle, because it is very large, and praises it beyond measure. It is very expensive, which, obviously, should prove what a treasure it is for geographers. However … I myself became convinced, like many others who held this map in their hands while traveling in these parts, that there is not a single correct longitude or latitude on it; the whole territory … is depicted incorrectly, and very few names in Tartary or Siberia are indicated correctly, and many of them cannot be found at all ….
Stralenberg, of course, exaggerated the shortcomings of the map, especially in the part where it was about geographical names - many of the names indicated on it are identified. But he was right when he pointed out that the coordinates of the objects in Witsen's drawing were incorrect.
Unlike the map, Witsen's book remained in demand by readers longer. Although this work has not been translated into other languages, for the Dutch it has become an encyclopedic guide to Asiatic Russia and neighboring countries. During the 18th century, Witsen's work attracted the interest of educated Europeans, and in 1785 the second edition of the book was printed again in Amsterdam. Modern researchers know mainly this reprint, or publication of 1705.
In 1674 he married Catharina de Hochepied, daughter of a wealthy minister from Wallonia. The couple had six or four, children who died as children, and an adopted son Nicolaes Lambertsz Witsen (1682-1746), son of his deceased brother Lambert Cornelisz. Witsen was a millionaire, and by today's standards, probably a billionaire.
Nicolaas Verkolje Catharina Hochepied (1654-1728), hier in weduw. (1719).
In 1693, Witsen began to conduct his own trade with Russia.
However, most importantly, Witsen has gained fame as one of the most ardent patrons of the arts and sciences. Voltaire wrote about this, giving well-deserved praise to Witsen: “he studied natural history in the house of the burgomaster Witsen, a citizen famous both for his love for the fatherland and for the good use of his countless treasures, which he squandered as a direct Citizen of the whole world, sending knowledgeable people to collect everything that is rare in all parts of the world, no matter what it costs. He sent ships to his account to discover new lands."
Peter I first heard the name of Witsen in connection with his first scientific work - "Ancient and modern shipbuilding and navigation", which was published in two editions in Amsterdam. It is a huge treatise with numerous drawings and drawings, and to illustrate the ships of antiquity, Witsen used images of ships on ancient Roman medals and coins, a significant collection of which he collected. Witsen's scientific works and his practical activities on the supply of ships to Russia were highly appreciated by Peter. “How much my work and myself are appreciated,” wrote Witsen, “is evidenced by the tsar's letter, sealed with a large state seal and dated March 30, 7202 [1694 according to the new chronology]. It is written on parchment, in large letters, beautifully painted and decorated with gold with the image of coats of arms. " In the same 1694, the son of Lefort,arrived in Amsterdam, gave Witsen a portrait of the king, framed with diamonds. Witsen regularly corresponded with Peter I - four of his letters to the tsar have survived.
The Great Embassy of Peter I to Europe (1697-98). On the right is a portrait of Peter dressed as a sailor during his stay in the Dutch Saardam (Saandam). Engravings by Marcus. (circa 1699).
Witsen's even closer ties with Russia and Peter were established in 1697-1698, when the government of the Netherlands instructed Witsen to receive and accompany Peter I to Holland. Nikolaas Witsen was with Peter on all his trips to The Hague and Utrecht, together with him he participated in public receptions of ambassadors, in celebrations, gave advice on the selection of people for service in Russia. Since the tsar wanted to take lessons in navigation and navigation, to study the design of ships, the art of engraving, Witsen recommended teachers to him. On behalf of the city, Witsen presented the Tsar with a fully equipped ship, which Peter named "Amsterdam".
Witsen introduced Peter to scientific celebrities of that time - Peter examined the wonderful collections of ancient coins and pagan idols of Jacob de Wilde, the anatomical office of Professor Ruysch, where he practiced surgical operations and left his note and signature in the album for visitors.
Jan van Neck (circa 1635–1714) Anatomische les van Dr. Frederick Ruysch. (1683, Amsterdam Museum).
At Dr. Boerhaave's, the tsar worked on the corpses, forcing his Russian companions, who watched him with disgust, to tear the muscles of the corpse with their teeth. I visited a medicinal garden, “… there are many foreign trees in that garden… The ambassadors in that garden were treated to Nikolai Vitzen and the ambassadors' bailiffs. In food and drink with all contentment."
Visiting Witsen's house, Peter got acquainted with his archaeological museum, which contained the so-called Siberian antiquities found in caves and burial mounds of Russia. “If old age did not bother me,” Witsen wrote on June 15, 1714, “I would be able to clarify the stories about northern gold and silver. I myself have a lot of minerals obtained from Novaya Zemlya, from Nerchinsk, from Siberia, Norway, etc."
Petrus Schenk. Nicolaas Witsen (1674-1717) (1701).
Subsequently, the Russian autocrat exchanged letters and parcels with Witsen. In one of these parcels, samples of silver ore from the Kashtak deposit in the Tomsk district were sent to the Dutch burgomaster for experiments. Witsen's conclusion about the presence of silver in the samples obtained was the first reliable evidence of the presence of precious metal ores in the Upper Ob basin.
Peter had a cordial friendship with Witsen: during the Northern War (1700-1721), Witsen's petition largely contributed to the decision of the States General not to take part in the war on the side of Sweden; with Witsen's assistance, weapons were secretly exported from neutral Holland, despite the strict prohibition of her government, for Russia, and the Russian ambassador to The Hague, A. A. Matveyev, strongly warned his government not to offend Witsen by offering a monetary reward. Witsen's friendship with the Russian emperor turned out to be important for the history of all of Europe.
Nikolaas Witsen died on August 10 (21), 1717. There is information that Peter I, who was at that time in Holland for the second time, was present at the death of Witsen, after whose death he said that he had lost one of his best friends in Holland.
On lifetime editions and on the tombstone of Nikolaas Witsen, there is a saying of the ancient Roman poet Ovid "Labor omnia vincit (All is conquered by labor)".
