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Janszoon, Willem

(Encyclopedia)Janszoon, Willem vĭˈləm yänˈsōn [key] fl. late 16th–early 17th cent., Dutch navigator and colonial governor; his name also appears was Jansz or Janssen. Janszoon served (1603–11, 1612–16, ...

Kieft, Willem

(Encyclopedia)Kieft, Willem vĭlˈəm kēft [key], 1597–1647, Dutch director-general of New Netherland. Arriving in New Amsterdam in 1638 to succeed Wouter Van Twiller, Kieft immediately assumed absolute control....

Heda, Willem Claasz

(Encyclopedia)Heda, Willem Claasz vĭlˈəm kläs hāˈdä [key], 1594–c.1678, Dutch still-life painter. His excellent studies of tables laden with food, called ontbijt [breakfast piece] still life, are seen in m...

Botha, Pieter Willem

(Encyclopedia)Botha, Pieter Willem pēˈtər vĭlˈəm bōˈtə [key], 1916–2006, South African political leader. An Afrikaner and a member of the right-wing National party, he first entered parliament in 1948. B...

Willem-Alexander

(Encyclopedia)Willem-Alexander, 1967–, king of the Netherlands, eldest son of Queen Beatrix. He served (1985–87) in the navy and graduated (1993)from Leiden Univ.; he has been a member of the International Olym...

Mesdag, Hendrik Willem

(Encyclopedia)Mesdag, Hendrik Willem hĕnˈdrĭk vĭlˈəm mĕsˈdäkh [key], 1831–1915, Dutch marine painter. He gave up banking at 35 to study painting. He later lived at The Hague and was known as a painter an...

Blaeu, Willem Janszoon

(Encyclopedia)Blaeu, Willem Janszoon vĭˈləm yänˈsōn blou [key], 1571–1638, Dutch cartographer and printer. He studied astronomy and instrument making under the Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe. The printing es...

Schouten, Willem Cornelis

(Encyclopedia)Schouten, Willem Cornelis vĭlˈəm kôrnāˈlĭs skhouˈtən [key], 1567?–1625, Dutch navigator. In 1615 he sailed from Texel island, Holland, in command of an expedition whose objective was to eva...

van Loon, Hendrik Willem

(Encyclopedia)van Loon, Hendrik Willem văn lōn [key], 1882–1944, American author and journalist, b. Rotterdam, Netherlands. He emigrated to the United States in 1903 and studied at Harvard and Cornell (B.A., 19...

Visser't Hooft, Willem Adolph

(Encyclopedia)Visser't Hooft, Willem Adolph vĭlˈəm äˈdôlf vĭsˈĕrt hōft [key], 1900–1985, Dutch clergyman, a leader of the Protestant ecumenical movement, b. Haarlem, Netherlands, and educated at Univ. o...