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=                           Hendrick_Hamel                           =
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                            Introduction
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Hendrick Hamel (1630 - after 1692) was a Dutch sailor. He provided the
first Western account of Korea.

Little is known of Hamel's early life and life after his journey to
Korea. He was born in the Netherlands in 1630, and sailed to the Dutch
East Indies (now Indonesia) in 1650.

In 1653, while sailing to Japan, Hamel and his crew were shipwrecked
off Jeju Island, then part of the state on Joseon. Because of Joseon's
isolationist policies, they were refused permission to leave the
country. Hamel ended up spending thirteen years in Joseon, until he
escaped to a Dutch trading mission to Dejima island, Japan in 1666.
There, he wrote the earliest first-hand account of a Westerner in
Korea, "Hamel's Journal and a Description of the Kingdom of Korea,
1653-1666" which was subsequently published in the Netherlands in
1668.

In recent years, Hamel has become a symbol of cultural and economic
exchange between the Netherlands and South Korea. A number of
monuments exist to him in both countries.


                       Early life and career
======================================================================
Hendrick Hamel was born in 1630 in Gorinchem, Netherlands. Little is
known of his early life. In 1650, he sailed to the Dutch East Indies
where he found work as a bookkeeper with the Dutch East India Company
(VOC).


Jeju
======
On 17 August 1653, while sailing to Japan on the ship  ('The
Sparrowhawk'), Hamel and thirty-five other crewmates survived a deadly
shipwreck on the island Gapado, which itself was off the coast of
Quelpart, Joseon (now Jeju, South Korea). Four days later, Hamel and
his crew were taken to Jeju City. After meeting with the travelers,
the local prefect Yi Wonjin sent an announcement to King Hyojong of
Joseon that described the situation and requested advice on how to
deal with the Dutchmen. In October, the local government brought Jan
Janse Weltevree, a Dutchman who himself had become shipwrecked on
Korea 27 years prior, to converse with Hamel and his crew. With the
help of Weltevree, the Dutchmen formed a positive relationship with Yi
Wonjin.

Several months into their stay on Jeju, Yi Wonjin was replaced by a
new prefect, who was cruel to Hamel and his crew. Soon after the new
prefect replaced Yi Wonjin, he received a response to Yi Wonjin's
announcement that had been sent to the Joseon court months earlier.
Although the announcement dismissed any chance of the crew's release,
it declared that the Korean government had "a moral obligation to ease
their existence," It also called for the castaways to be sent to
Seoul.


Seoul
=======
In June 1655, after spending nearly a year on Jeju, Hamel and the
others were taken to Seoul, the capital of Joseon. Once Hamel and his
crew arrived, they were taken before king Hyojong. With the help of
Weltevree, they begged the king to release them so they could return
home to their wives and children. The king denied their request,
citing official policy. The king then asked the Dutchmen to entertain
him with song and dance from their home country.

As was the customary treatment of foreigners at the time, the
government forbade Hamel and his crew from leaving the country.
However, they were given freedom to live within Korean society. During
their two years in Seoul, Hamel and his crew served in the king's
guard. They lived in a complex administered by Korean landlords and,
in addition to their duties in the king's guard, performed domestic
chores for their landlords. Outside of these duties, Hamel and his
crew were permitted to live relatively normal lives.

In 1656, two of Hamel's crew caused a disturbance when they ambushed a
Manchu envoy on its way to Seoul and begged the Manchu officials to
help them escape. Because of this, and mounting pressure to dispose of
the Dutchmen, in 1657, King Hyojong banished Hamel and his crew to a
military garrison in Jeolla Province on the Southwest corner of the
peninsula.


Jeolla Province
=================
Hamel and his crew spent seven years in Jeolla, where they acquired
"houses, households and gardens, all nicely set up after the customs
of the country." Much of their well-being and comfort depended on the
attitude of the commandant in charge. Some commandants were crueler
than others, burdening Hamel and his crew with extra duties. At one
point, Hamel and his crew resorted to begging, a vocation they
actually found rewarding since, as foreigners, they had no trouble
drawing a large crowd. At least one of these men founded the
Byeongyeong Nam clan.


                          Escape to Japan
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Because of a local famine from 1659 to 1663, Korean officials at the
garrison decided to divide the burden of hosting the Dutchmen between
three different areas. Of the twenty-two Dutchmen still alive, five
went to Suncheon, five went to Namwon, and twelve, including Hamel,
went to the headquarters of the Left Provincial Naval District, near
modern-day Yeosu.

Situated on the water, Hamel and the group at the naval district
quickly recognized they were in an excellent position to escape. Down
to eight from the original twelve, the group slowly gathered supplies
and negotiated the purchase of a small fishing boat from a local
Korean. On 4 September 1666, an especially dark day with good tidal
conditions, the men left their compound, loaded their boat, and headed
out to sea. Four days later, Japanese boats found Hamel and his crew
near the Goto island chain.

Hamel and seven of his crewmates managed to escape to Japan where the
Dutch operated a small trade mission on an artificial island in the
Nagasaki harbor called Dejima. During the negotiations, per Hamel's
request, the Japanese inquired about the remaining crewmen in Korea.
Two years later, the Japanese secured their release as well.

During his time in Nagasaki (September 1666 to October 1667) Hamel
wrote his account of his time in Korea. From here, Hamel and his crew
left to Batavia (modern day Jakarta) in the Dutch East Indies in late
1667. Although his crew continued on to the Netherlands in 1668, Hamel
himself stayed in Batavia until 1670 trying, in vain, to secure
fourteen years of back salary from the Dutch East India Company. Once
his crew returned to the Netherlands, experts believe they had three
versions of Hamel's original manuscript published in 1668.


                             Later life
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According to Professor Henny Savenije, it is not known when Hamel
returned to the Netherlands. A handwritten document dated to around
1734 states that Hamel settled back in Gorinchem around 1670. He
eventually possibly went back to the Indies, and back to the
Netherlands by 1690. He was still a bachelor and unmarried by 1692.


                               Legacy
======================================================================
Hamel's book was translated into French in 1670, German in 1672, and
English in 1705. These editions were republished and retranslated
several times, especially during the 18th and 19th centuries. While
the text contained no examples of hangul, it does contain one of the
earliest Western accounts of Koreans using a script other than
Chinese.

Hamel's legacy has become a means of cultural and economic exchange
between the Netherlands and South Korea, and memorials to him exist in
both countries.


Memorials in the Netherlands
==============================
On 7 July 1930, a street in the Linge district of Gorinchem was named
"Hendrick Hamel Street" () in his honor. The street still bears his
name. Two similar statues exist of Hamel, one in Gorinchem and another
in Gangjin County, South Korea. On 4 June 2015, the Hendrick Hamel
Museum opened in Gorinchem. The museum was established via a 2009
agreement between the South Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the
Hamel Foundation. A Hamel-themed art exhibition was hosted in
Gorinchem in 2016, featuring pieces by Yang Soon-yeal.


Memorials in South Korea
==========================
There are several museums and monuments to Hamel in South Korea. A
museum exists in Gangjin, an exhibition hall shaped like a ship exists
on Jeju Island, and a . A 10-meter-tall "Hamel Lighthouse" also stands
in Yeosu, South Korea. On 30 December 1997, a  was designated as a
natural monument of South Korea.

In 2012, the Dutch Nationaal Archief donated a copy of Hamel's journal
to the Yeosu Hamel Museum.


Honors
========
The Association for Korean Studies in Europe offers a Hendrik Hamel
Prize for Korean Studies. Since 2003, the Dutch Business Council of
Korea has awarded a Hamel Trade Award to Dutch companies that do
business in South Korea. On 7 October 2015, the Dutch airline company
KLM dedicated a Hamel-themed Delft Blue house to a South Korean
businessman.


                         In popular culture
======================================================================
* The character Hendrik Hamel appears in Jack London's 1915 novel,
'The Star Rover' (released as 'The Jacket' in the United Kingdom); he
is a companion of the protagonist during an episode where they are
shipwrecked in 17th century Korea.
* The character William in the 2007 'manhwa' ' and its 2009 South
Korean television adaptation is based on Hamel. Parts of the show's
story and some of its other characters are also based on parts of
Hamel's journal.


                              See also
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* Gregorio Céspedes
* Jan Jansz Weltevree
* Hermit kingdom
* Dutch East Indies
* Dutch Formosa


Further reading
=================
# Corea, Without and Within, Hendrick Hamel's narrative of captivity
and travels in Corea, annotated, by William Elliot Griffis,
Philadelphia: Presbyterian Board of Publication, 1885.
# Coree-Korea 1653-1666 (Itineraria Asiatica: Korea), Hendrik Hamel,
Orchid Press, Thailand, ASIN 9748299481, 1981.


                           External links
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*
*
* [https://hendrickhamelmuseum.nl/ Hendrick Hamel Museum
(Netherlands)]
*  - YouTuber visits sites related to Hamel's journey (in Dutch,
English, and Korean)


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