page_title: Jacob Roggeveen
section_title: Explorations
hierarchical_section_title: Jacob Roggeveen / Explorations
caption_attribution_description: English: Map of Jacob Roggeveen's voyage in 1722
context_page_description: Jacob Roggeveen was a Dutch explorer who was sent to find Terra Australis, but instead found Easter Island. Jacob Roggeveen also found Bora Bora and Maupiti of the Society Islands, as well as Samoa. He planned the expedition along with his brother Jan Roggeveen, who stayed in the Netherlands.
context_section_description: On 1 August 1721 he headed an expedition sponsored by the Dutch West India Company, the rivals of the VOC, to seek Terra Australis and to open a western trade route to the "Spice islands". His fleet consisted of three ships, the Arend, the Thienhoven, and Afrikaansche Galey and had 223 men on crew.
  Roggeveen first sailed down to the Falkland Islands (which he renamed "Belgia Australis"), passed through the Strait of Le Maire, and continued south to beyond 60 degrees south to enter the Pacific Ocean. He made landfall near Valdivia, Chile. He visited the Juan Fernández Islands, where he spent 24 February to 17 March. The expedition later arrived at Easter Island (Rapa Nui) on Easter Sunday, 5 April 1722  (whereupon he reported seeing 2,000-3,000 inhabitants).  Roggeveen charted the location of six islands in the Tuamotu Archipelago, two islands in the Society Islands, and four islands in Samoa, losing his flagship, Afrikaansche Galey at Takapoto atoll. At Makatea, he opened fire on a crowded beach in retaliation for a violent encounter with the inhabitants, and in return the Makateans ambushed a shore party, killing ten of his crewmen. The remaining two vessels sailed past New Guinea to reach Batavia in 1722, where he was arrested for violating the monopoly of the VOC and had his ships confiscated. After a lengthy lawsuit in the Netherlands, the VOC was later forced to compensate him for his losses and to pay his crew.
  After his return, Roggeveen published part 4 of De val van 's werelds afgod.
caption: Roggeveen's itinerary
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