Jan Huyghen Van Linschoten

Jan Huyghen van Linschoten (1563 – 8 February 1611) was a Dutch Protestant merchant, traveller and historian. An alternative spelling of his second name is Huijgen.

He is credited with publishing important information about Asian trade, such as the navigational routes that enabled the passage to the elusive East Indies to be opened to the English and the Dutch. This enabled the British East India Company and the Dutch East India Company to break the 16th century monopoly enjoyed by the Portuguese on trade with the East Indies.

Read more about Jan Huyghen Van Linschoten:  Origins, Early Life, Goa, Back in Holland, Linschoten Society, Linschoten Award, Editions

Famous quotes containing the word van:

    Don’t you hear his cannons roar?
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    Says the Shan Van Vocht.
    —Unknown. The Shan Van Vocht (l. 10–12)