Wouter Schouten[edit]

Wouter Schouten (Haarlem, 2 September 1638 - October 1704) was a Dutch surgeon who travelled to the East Indies with the Dutch United East India Company (VOC). Schouten published his Oost-Indische Voyagie (East-Indian Journey) in 1676.

Biography[edit]

At the age of fourteen, Schouten was apprenticed to a surgeon. After receiving the title of under-surgeon, he joined the VOC (the Dutch United East India Company) on the 6th of March 1658. He decided to join this corporation because he liked travelling and in order to gain more practical medical and surgical experience. Another reason, according to himself, was he wanted to see ‘God’s work in world’s nature’^[1]. On the 16th of April of the same year, Schouten embarked on the ship called Nieuwpoort for his journey via Cape the Good Hope in Africa to Batavia (now: Jakarta) in the East Indies^[2]. After half a year, the ship arrived and Schouten settled in the Castle of Batavia. Later, after having been promoted to chief surgeon, he travelled to Japara and the Moluccas Islands. He had to stay at Ambon, where he was a witness of the so-called ‘hongi’ campaigns by which the locals were punished by the destruction of their houses, boats and plantations, for trading illegally with the Portuguese.

After his first VOC contract of three year, Schouten lived in Arrakan where the Company traded rice and slaves. In the second three years of Schouten’s employment, Schouten met the preacher Philippus Baldaeus, a writer of travel accounts.

Schouten then became a crew member on a ship to Bengal and made two trips to Hooghly. Back in Batavia he requested to return to Holland. This, because on his last trip he had to deal with a drunken shipper, violent storms and hunger. Around Christmas (1664) he left Batavia. On his way to Texel Schouten experienced an eventful journey home on the ship the Rijzende Zon. The English navy awaited the precious return-fleet of sixty vessels under the command of Pieter de Bitter. A rendez-vous with warships commanded by Michiel de Ruyter failed north of Scotland. The return-fleet therefore escaped to Bergen in Norway, where fifty other ships were already waiting. On August 12, 1665 the Battle of Vågen between the English and Dutch fleets followed^[3]. Schouten took care of many wounded men. The British lost the battle.

When he was settled again in Haarlem, Schouten opened a busy surgical practice. After Adriana van Masschel, Schouten’s first wife, died in 1679, he remarried a year later with Maria Wendel^[2]. From 1692 onwards, Schouten was head of the guild of surgeons in Haarlem, where he spent the rest of his working life.

Books[edit]

In 1676, Jacob van Meurs and Johannes van Someren published Schouten’s Oost-Indische Voyagie both in Dutch and in German. Later, it got republished multiple times in Dutch, German and French over a time span of about a century^[4]. The book was later used by influential authors such as François Valentijn as a valuable source of information^[5]. The book contains mainly descriptions about his encounters with the East Indians during his journey^[1]. The book consists of three parts, each divided into twelve chapters. Next to this, Schouten has also written poems related to each one of these chapters^[1]. The book Verhandeling der tegennatuurlijke Gezwellen was published after his dead. Schouten dedicated this work to his cousin and fellow surgeon Frederik Ruysch^[2].

Schouten, Wouter, Oost-Indische voyagie; vervattende veel voorname voorvallen en ongemeene vreemde geschiedenissen, bloedige zee- en landtgevechten tegen de Portugeesen en Makassaren Jacob Meurs, Amsterdam (1676) Full book on Google Books

Schouten, Wouter, Het gewonde hoofd of Korte verhandeling van de opper-hoofts-wonden en bekkeneels-breuken, van de wonden des aangesigts en van de wonden des hals (1694) Full book on Google Books (republication: 1861, Amsterdam)

Schouten, Wouter, Verhandeling van de tegennatuurlyke gezwellen: in haare verscheidene soorten, oorzaken, teekenen, voorseggingen en genesingen vertoont, en op omwrikbare gronden van reden en ondervinding, door vijftigjaarige konstoeffening en veel opmerkelijke gevallen bevestigt. Ten diensten voor leergierige jonge heelmeesters (1727) (postuhumously) Full book on Google Books

^ ^a ^b ^c van Haeften & Plekenpol (2012). Wouter Schouten, Dichter en VOC-Chirurgijn. 36 gedichten bij de Oost-Indische Voyagie. Zutphen: Uitgeversmaatschappij Walburg Pers.
^ ^a ^b ^c Baumann, E.D. (1921). "Schouten, Wouter". Nieuw Nederlandsch Biografisch Woordenboek. 5.
^ Banga, J (1868). Geschiedenis van de geneeskunde en van hare beoefenaren in Nederland: voor en na de stichting der hoogeschool te Leiden tot aan den dood van Boerhaave. Leeuwarden: Eekhoff. pp. 704–709.
^ "Bibliopolis".
^ Friedrich, Brendecke & Ehrenpreis (2015). Transformations of Knowledge in Dutch Expansion. Berlin/Boston: Walter de Gruyter. pp. 209–229.

[:0-1] van Haeften & Plekenpol (2012). Wouter Schouten, Dichter en VOC-Chirurgijn. 36 gedichten bij de Oost-Indische Voyagie. Zutphen: Uitgeversmaatschappij Walburg Pers.

[:1-2] Baumann, E.D. (1921). "Schouten, Wouter". Nieuw Nederlandsch Biografisch Woordenboek. 5.

[3] Banga, J (1868). Geschiedenis van de geneeskunde en van hare beoefenaren in Nederland: voor en na de stichting der hoogeschool te Leiden tot aan den dood van Boerhaave. Leeuwarden: Eekhoff. pp. 704–709.

[4] "Bibliopolis".

[5] Friedrich, Brendecke & Ehrenpreis (2015). Transformations of Knowledge in Dutch Expansion. Berlin/Boston: Walter de Gruyter. pp. 209–229.

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