Olfert Dapper

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Dutch physician and writer

title: "Olfert Dapper" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1636-births", "1689-deaths", "17th-century-dutch-historians", "17th-century-dutch-physicians", "17th-century-geographers", "dutch-anthropologists", "writers-from-amsterdam"] description: "Dutch physician and writer" topic_path: "people/1630s" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olfert_Dapper" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Dutch physician and writer ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox writer"]

FieldValue
nameOlfert Dapper
imageOlfert Dapper portrait.jpg
birth_dateJanuary 1636
birth_placeAmsterdam, Dutch Republic
death_date
death_placeAmsterdam, Dutch Republic
occupationGeographer, writer
nationalityDutch
subjectHistory, geography
::

| name = Olfert Dapper | image = Olfert Dapper portrait.jpg | image_size = | alt = | caption = | pseudonym = | birth_name = | birth_date = January 1636 | birth_place = Amsterdam, Dutch Republic | death_date = | death_place = Amsterdam, Dutch Republic | occupation = Geographer, writer | nationality = Dutch | period = | subject = History, geography | movement = | influences = | influenced =

Olfert Dapper (January 1636 – 29 December 1689) was a Dutch physician and writer who wrote books about world history and geography although he never travelled outside the Netherlands.

Biography

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d3/Plan_Corfou_1688.jpg" caption="Illustration of the city and castle of [[Corfu]], from Dapper's book ''Description of [[Morea]]'' (1688)"] ::

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/49/Court_of_Loango.png" caption="Description of Africa]]'' (1668)"] ::

Olfert Dapper was born in January 1636 in the Jordaan in Amsterdam. On 6 January 1636, he was baptized in the Lutheran church in Amsterdam.{{cite web | title = Olfert Dapper | publisher = Musée Dapper | url = http://www.dapper.com.fr/en/foundation-olfert.php | access-date = 2008-05-22 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080215213008/http://dapper.com.fr/en/foundation-olfert.php | archive-date = 2008-02-15 | url-status = dead

In 1663 wrote a book on the history of Amsterdam. His Description of Africa (1668) is a key text for African studies. His book "is one of the most authoritative 17th-century accounts on Africa published in Dutch. Translations appeared in English, French, and German. Dapper never travelled outside the Netherlands but used reports by Jesuit missionaries and Dutch explorers. Within a few years, he published about China, India, Persia, Georgia and Arabia. His books became well-known in his own time. The fine plates include views of Algiers, Benin, Cairo, Cape Town, Valletta, Marrakesh, St. Helena, Tangier, Tripoli and Tunis, as well as animals and plants.

Dapper was buried on 29 December 1689 in Amsterdam.

Influence

Dapper's book Description of Africa is an important text for Africanists.

In Amsterdam, the street Dapperstraat was named after him. The Dutch writer Willem Frederik Hermans wrote a book on him with the title Het Evangelie van O. Dapper Dapper (1973).

In Paris, the Musée Dapper named for him opened in 1986. Peter S. Beagle dedicated The Last Unicorn to Dapper for his reports of unicorns in Maine and in 2012 wrote a fictional account of Dapper's travels.

Bibliography

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bd/Dapper_Asia_1681_Title.jpg" caption="Illustration of people riding an [[elephant]], from the 1681 German edition of the Dapper's ''Description of [[Asia]]'' (1680)"] ::

  • Historische beschryving der Stadt Amsterdam : waer in de voornaemste geschiedenissen ... hier ter stede voor-gevallen zijn, verhandelt, en ... in meer als tzeventigh kopere platen ... vertoont worden (1663)
  • Naukeurige beschrijvinge der Afrikaensche Eylanden (1668)
  • Gedenkwaerdig bedryf der Nederlandsche Oost-Indische Maetschappye, op de kuste en in het Keizerrijk van Taising of Sina: behelzende het 2e gezandschap aen den Onder-Koning Singlamong ... Vervolgt met een verhael van het voorgevallen des jaers 1663 en 1664 op de kuste van Sina ... en het 3e gezandschap aan Konchy, Tartarsche Keizer van Sina en Oost Tartarye ... beneffens een beschryving van geheel Sina (1670)
  • Asia, of naukeurige beschryving van het rijk des Grooten Mogols, en een groot gedeelte van Indiën: ... beneffens een volkome beschryving van geheel Persie, Georgie, Mengrelie en andere gebuur-gewesten ... verciert doorgaens met verscheide afbeeldingen in kooper gesneden (1672)
  • Naukeurige beschrijving van gantsch Syrie, en Palestyn of Heilige lant; ... beneffens de landen van Perea of Over-Jordaen, Galilea, byzonder Palestyn, Judea en Idumea: ... verrijkt met lantkaerten en afbeeldingen der voornaemste steden, en gedenkwaerdighste gebouwen (1677)
  • Naukeurige beschryving van Asie : behelsende de gewesten Mesopotamie, Babylonie, Assyrie, Anatolie of Klein Asie : beneffens eene volkome beschrijving van gansch ... Arabie (1680)
  • Naukeurige beschrijving van Morea, eertijts Peloponnesus; en de eilanden, gelegen onder de kusten van Morea, en binnen en buiten de Golf van Venetien; waer onder de voornaemte Korfu, Gefalonia, Sant Maura, Zanten, en andere in grooten getale (1688)
  • Naukeurige beschryving der Eilanden, in de Archipel der Middelantsche Zee, en omtrent dezelve, gelegen: waer onder de voornaemste Cyprus, Rhodus, Kandien, Samos, Scio, Negroponte (1688)

References

References

  1. "DAPPER, Olfert (1636-89). ''Umbständliche und Eigentliche Beschreibung von Africa.'' Translated into German by F. von Zesen. Amsterdam: Jacob van Meurs, 1670-1671.".
  2. "The Foundation". [[Musée Dapper]].
  3. "The Last Unicorn Dedication Page".
  4. Beagle, Peter S.. (March 2012). "Olfert Dapper's Day".
  5. "Rijksmuseum Research Library".
  6. Heritage, Atlas of Mutual. "Atlas of Mutual Heritage".
  7. (March 2018)
  8. [https://archive.today/20120530112322/http://library.rijksmuseum.nl/rrl/search.pl?item=10054810 item 10054810], Rijksmuseum Research Library
  9. [https://archive.today/20120530112323/http://library.rijksmuseum.nl/rrl/search.pl?item=10012664 item 10012664], Rijksmuseum Research Library
  10. (March 2018)
  11. (March 2018)
  12. (March 2018)
  13. [https://archive.today/20120530112323/http://library.rijksmuseum.nl/rrl/search.pl?item=10102270 item 10102270], Rijksmuseum Research Library.

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1636-births1689-deaths17th-century-dutch-historians17th-century-dutch-physicians17th-century-geographersdutch-anthropologistswriters-from-amsterdam