Hendrik Jacob Wikar

rdf:langString Hendrik Jacob Wikar

rdf:langString Henrik Jakob Wikar or Hendrik Jakob Wikar (born 28 October 1752 Kokkola, Finland (at that time Sweden)) was a Finnish explorer who travelled in Southern Africa and wrote his journal describing the life of the Khoisan people. Wikar's father was Jakob Johan Wikar, a land surveyor and a deputy of the Riksdag of the Estates, and his mother was Margareta Carlborg, his father's second wife. Wikar came from Ostrobothnia and studied in The Royal Academy of Turku in 1769. In 1773 he was employed in Holland by Dutch East India Company. He worked as a clerk in Cape Town in the company's hospital. He had to leave in 1775 as he could not pay his gambling debts and was publicly insulted on the streets of Cape Town and left to explore the north of the Colony where he stayed for four years. From 1778 to July 1779 he wrote his journal there. He was convicted in 1779 as a runagate but his journal saved him: he was pardoned autumn 1779, probably because the journal included some important notes for the Company. He described the rituals and customs of the Khoisan people, and numerous scientists have used his records.