Page 7 - EXPOTIME!Sept2017
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Engelbert Kaempfer - medical doctor,
botanist and traveller
Engelbert Kaempfer was born in Lemgo, Germany, on
September 16, 1651 as one of the sons of Johannes Kem-
per, a pastor, and his wife Christine Drepper. He visited
schools in Hameln, Lüneburg, Lübeck, Gdansk and To-
ruń. Later, he studied at the universities of Krakow and
Königsberg (today a Russian exclave in Poland) languag-
es, nature studies and medical science. In 1681, Kaemp-
fer traveled to Uppsala. He became the secretary to the
Swedish embassy, and was sent through Russia to Persia.
There, he started to work as a medical doctor for the
Dutch East India Company (VOC) in 1684.
A traveller to India, Java and Siam, he started working
as a doctor on the island of Dejima, where the VOC held Arnoldus Montanus: Dejima around from Gedenkwaerdige
their outpost in Japan, in 1690. The two trips he made Gesantschappen der Oost-Indische Maetschappy in't Ver-
for the embassy were the highlights of his two-year stay eenigde Nederland, aen de Kaisaren van Japan. Engrav-
in Japan. On October 31, 1692, Kaempfer left Dejima to ing, 1669. Printed at Jacob van Meurs.
Source: Wikimedia Commons, permission by W. Michel)
go to Batavia and Amsterdam. He enrolled at the Univer-
sity of Leiden and finished his dissertation there. Later-
on, he returned to Lemgo.
Amanohashidate, Tango Kiredo: The picture shows the famous sandbank of 3 km with its gnarled pine trees at the Japa-
nese Sea. On the following pages, we display a selection of leafs from the album in alphabetical order.
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EXPOTIME!, issue August/September 2017
