| A Traveler in Siam in the Year 1655: Extracts from the Journal of Gijsbert Heeck Contributor(s): Heeck, Gijsbert (Author), Terwiel, Barend Jan (Translator) |
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ISBN: 9749511352 ISBN-13: 9789749511350 Publisher: University of Washington Press OUR PRICE: $35.15 Product Type: Paperback Published: May 2008 Annotation: Gijsbert Heeck (1619-1669) was a medicinal specialist with the Dutch East India Company (VOC). His journal, written more than 350 years ago, is based on the daily notes he made during his third trip to the East. This volume carries the selections from his journal that deal with Siam, accompanied by the original Dutch text. BAREND J. TERWIEL's books includeThailand's Political History: From the Fall of Ayutthaya until Recent Times.RENE HOOGENRAAD, a specialist in VOC texts about Siam, transcribed the text from the handwritten Dutch manuscript. |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - History | Asia - Southeast Asia |
| Dewey: 959.302 |
| Physical Information: 0.41" H x 6.04" W x 8.99" (0.40 lbs) 168 pages |
| Themes: - Cultural Region - Southeast Asian |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: Gijsbert Heeck (1619-1669) was a medicinal specialist with the Dutch East India Company (VOC). His journal is based on the daily notes he made during his third trip to the East. This volume carries the selections from his journal that deal with Siam, accompanied by the original Dutch text. Heeck reveals how Siamese authorities reacted to a violent confrontation between the Dutch and the Portuguese. He gives a detailed description of the Dutch lodge in Ayutthaya, and also bits of information on the relationships of local Dutch men with indigenous women. His record of villages along the Chao Phraya River specializing in the making of coffins, preparing and selling firewood, painting, and producing earthenware, signal the existence of a complex economy in this part of Siam. Compared with the other seventeenth-century descriptions primarily of the landscape, Heeck's journals provide more information on population, scenery, traffic, trade, and religious establishments than all the others combined. He also provides a unique early perspective on local social arrangements and political intrigue, and on interactions between the Dutch and the locals. |