William Dampier
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William Dampier was an English pirate and explorer who traveled the world's oceans during the late 1600s and early 1700s, participating in raids on Spanish ships and settlements while also documenting the lands and peoples he encountered. His voyages and detailed written accounts contributed to European geographical knowledge and made him one of the first English circumnavigators, though his legacy remains complicated by his criminal activities.
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Person · Open Library
- Born
- 1652
- Died
- 1715
- Works
- 49
Top works
- Description of the most useful trees of the East Indies and other warm climates with the various modes of dressing and preparing the fruits for food and other uses
- A new voyage around the world
- Nieuwe reistogt rondom de wereld, waarin omstandiglyk beschreeven worden
- Dampier's Voyages
- A Continuation of a Voyage to New Holland
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Recent publications · Crossref
5 total works indexed
Article
William Dampier (1651 – March 1715) was an English explorer, pirate, privateer and naturalist who became the first Englishman to explore parts of what is today Australia, and the first person to circumnavigate the world three times. He has also been described as Australia's first natural historian, as well as one of the most important British explorers of the period between the 16th-century explorer Sir Francis Drake and the 18th-century explorer James Cook; he "bridged those two eras" with a mix of piratical derring-do of the former and scientific inquiry of the latter.
Dampier's expeditions were among the first to identify and name a number of plants, animals, foods and cooking techniques for a European audience, being among the first English writers to use words such as avocado, barbecue and chopsticks. In describing the preparation of avocados, he was the first European to describe the making of guacamole, named the breadfruit plant, and made frequent documentation of the taste of numerous foods foreign to the European palate at the time, such as flamingo and manatee.
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1651 births1715 deaths17th-century English explorers17th-century English male writers17th-century English sailors17th-century English writers17th-century pirates17th-century Royal Navy personnel18th-century English explorers18th-century English male writers18th-century English non-fiction writers18th-century pirates