Le Journal de Hendrik Hamel en Corée (1668) : Un savoir accidentel

Abstract

Surprisingly, it is thanks to a shipwreck that new knowledge about Korea, a country closed to Europeans, was constituted. Indeed, Hendrik Hamel, who ran aground on the coast of Cheju in 1653, where he remained a prisoner for thirteen years, wrote on the orders of the directors of his Company, a detailed administrative report on the specific geographical features of the country, its type of government, etc., following his escape in 1666. This report was revealed to the general public in 1668 in an incredible way, without Hamel being aware of the numerous interventions by the publishers of the time.

Keywords

• reception
• Korea
• shipwreck
• 17th century
• history of publishing