The first European account of Korea was written by a sailor chasing his back pay. Hendrick Hamel spent 13 years stuck in Korea and wrote his report to claim wages from the Dutch East India Company.

1653 · 1666 · apart: 13 years

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The event

• Hendrick Hamel shipwrecked in Korea1653 · Jeju Island. In 1653 a Dutch ship was wrecked off Jeju. Korea let no foreigners leave, so the survivors lived there for 13 years until Hamel and others escaped by boat to Japan. His journal became the first European account of Korea — written partly to claim back pay for those years.

17th century

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