Hendrik Jacob Wikar
Henrik Jakob Wikar or Hendrik Jakob Wikar (b. 28 October 1752 Kokkola, Finland (at that time Sweden)) was a Finnish explorer who travelled in Southern Africa and wrote his journal describing the life of the khoisan people.
Wikar's father was Jakob Johan Wikar, a land surveyor and a deputy of the Riksdag of the Estates,[1] and his mother was Margareta Carlborg, his father's second wife.[2]
Wikar came from Ostrobothnia and studied in The Royal Academy of Turku in 1769. In 1773 he was employed in Holland by Dutch East India Company. He worked as a clerk in Cape Town in the company's hospital. He did not manage well and he left in 1775[1] to the north of the Colony where he stayed in four years. From 1778 to July 1779 he wrote his journal there. He was sentence in 1779[1] as a runagate but the journal saved him and he was pardoned autumn 1779, probably for the reason the journal included some important notes for the Company. He described the rituals and customs of the khoisan people, and numerous scientists used his records.[3]
The Journal
- Wikar, Hendrik Jacob. 1779. Berigt aan den weleedelen gestrengen Heer Mr Joachim van Plattenbergh van’t geene my ondergeteekende ontmoetis wat ik gehoord ende gezien hebbe zeedert dat ik langs de Groote rivier op ende needer gesworven hebbe. Den Haag: Plettenberg-Sammlung, Hollandsche Reichsarchiv. Published for the first time in 1916 in Reizen in Zuid-Afrika in de hollandse tijd, v. 2, ed. E.C. Godée-Molsbergen (publ. by Martinus Nijhoff); new ed. 1935, Van Riebeek Society, Cape Town. Peripherals: L.F. Maingard, "Hendrik Jacob Wikar: his editors, translators and commentators", Bantu studies, v. 10 (1936) p. 31-40.
- Engl. transl: The journal of Hendrik Jacob Wikar (1779) : with an English translation by A. W. van der Horst and the journals of Jacobus Coetsé Jansz: (1760) and Willem van Reenen (1791) with an English translation by Dr. E. E. Mossop. / Edited, with an introduction and footnotes, by Dr. E. E. Mossop. Cape Town, : The Van Riebeeck Society, 1935.
References
- 1 2 3 Namibialainen keittokirja, accessed 13.9.2011 (Finnish)
- ↑ Ylioppilasmatrikkeli, accessed 13.9.2011 (Finnish)
- ↑ Anu Liikanen, Sanit ja khoikhoit varhaisten tutkimusmatkailijoiden kuvauksissa ('The Sans and ths Khoikhois in the accounts by early explorers'), pro gradu, accessed 13.9.2011 (Finnish)
External links
- Harri Sivonen, "Hendrik Jacob Wikar" in Historiallinen aikakauskirja 1/1982 (Finnish)
- Online collection of Finnish biographies (Finnish)