Johannes Fåhraeus, Amsterdams koopman en vertegenwoordiger van de Zweedse natuurwetenschapper Carl Peter Thunberg | Amsterdam University Press Journals Online
2004
Volume 55 Number 2023
  • ISSN: 2589-4617
  • E-ISSN: 2667-2081

Abstract

Abstract

The development of science in the seventeenth and eighteenth century is marked by exchange of ideas and research results on an international scale. This led to an extensive exchange of letters and – in the case of natural history – of materials such as (dried) plants, seeds and minerals. Logistical support by all kinds of go-betweens was essential in this process. This is where merchants could be useful. A collection of thirty-nine letters from the Sweden-born Amsterdam merchant Johannes Fåhraeus to the Swedish botanist Carl Peter Thunberg shows that Fåhraeus operated as Thunbergs representative in Amsterdam for fifteen years. Due to his international commercial contacts he could offer Thunberg financial services, arrange shipping services of letters and parcels to and from Sweden, and provide political and economic information. This role of go-between implied a real bond of trust. Together with other members of the Swedish community in Amsterdam, Fåhraeus played an important facilitating role for the development of modern science.

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