Nicolaas Witsen

The Nicolaas Witsen Project is aimed at an investigation of the minor peoples of Northeast Asia, their history, culture, language and (present day) way of life. It gets its inspiration from the book ‘Noord en Oost Tartarije ofte Bondig Ontwerp van eenige dier Landen en Volken’ by the Amsterdam mayor Nicolaas Witsen who traveled to Russia in 1664/65 and collected data on the physical appearance of the country, its fauna and flora and, in particular, on the peoples of Siberia and the Far East. After coming back to the Netherlands he showed an ongoing interest in Russia and continued the collection of data on the country and its peoples. They were published in 1692 in the first edition of ‘Noord en Oost Tartarije’, the following editions came out in 1705 and 1785, all in 17th century Dutch. In his book Witsen gives, for instance, the first lists of words in the Yakut language and in other Siberian languages, which provides interesting information for linguists.

Another Witsen's book, ‘Moskovische Reyse 1664-65’, the diary he wrote during his trip to Moscow, was annotated and published by Locher and De Buck in 1966, and its Russian translation, made by Wilhelmina Gerardovna Triesman, came out in Saint Petersburg in 1996. ‘Noord en Oost Tartarije’ was published in Russian by Pegasus in 2010.

An interdisciplinary team of specialists has been created which considers the various aspects of this project: history, ethnology, linguistics, geography, etc. We have established contacts with foreign institutions which are involved in the study of Siberia and the Far East, such as those in Russia (Saint Petersburg, Moscow, Yakutsk) and in Japan.

Research has to be done in (mainly Russian) archives in order to find out from where Witsen got his information. Much of the linguistic material has been investigated and compared to the present day language situation in Siberia. The minorities in the Asian part of Russia will be further studied by organising field work expeditions and the results of these investigations will also be published in separate articles and books. It is important to pay attention to the survival of their language, culture and oral traditions and to preserve as much material as possible by creating a data base of this cultural heritage. For this purpose modern techniques of Information Technology will be applied.

The Witsen Project is co-ordinated by the Isaac Massa Foundation, which was established in Groningen in 1991 with the aim to study the relationship between the Russian Federation and the Netherlands, in particular its historical aspects until 1917.