Royal Dutch Geographical Society
Encyclopedia
The Royal Dutch Geographical Society, or Koninklijk
Koninklijk
Koninklijk or Koninklijke is an honorary title given to certain companies and non-profit organizations in Belgium and the Netherlands, by the King or Queen in the respective country. It was first introduced by Louis Bonaparte in 1807, the King of the Netherlands at that time, who awarded the title...

 Nederlands Aardrijkskundig Genootschap
(KNAG) in Dutch
Dutch language
Dutch is a West Germanic language and the native language of the majority of the population of the Netherlands, Belgium, and Suriname, the three member states of the Dutch Language Union. Most speakers live in the European Union, where it is a first language for about 23 million and a second...

, is an organization of geographers
Geography
Geography is the science that studies the lands, features, inhabitants, and phenomena of Earth. A literal translation would be "to describe or write about the Earth". The first person to use the word "geography" was Eratosthenes...

 and those interested in geography in The Netherlands. It has about 4000 members and sponsors lectures on geography. It publishes a scientific magazine, Tijdschrift voor economische en sociale geografie (Journal of Economic & Social Geography) and Nederlandse Geografische Studies or NGS (Dutch Geographical Studies). It also has a large collection of about 135,000 maps and 4500 atlases which have been housed at a library at the University of Amsterdam since 1880.

History

The organization was founded in 1873 after the founding of comparable organizations in France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

 in 1821 (Société de Géographie
Société de Géographie
The Société de Géographie , is the world's oldest geographical society. It was founded in 1821 . Since 1878, its headquarters has been at 184 Boulevard Saint-Germain, Paris. The entrance is marked by two gigantic caryatids representing Land and Sea...

) and the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 in 1830 ( Royal Geographical Society
Royal Geographical Society
The Royal Geographical Society is a British learned society founded in 1830 for the advancement of geographical sciences...

). Pieter Johannes Veth was the first chairman of the KNAG. It organized several expeditions to Surinam, islands in the Dutch Indies  archipelago
Archipelago
An archipelago , sometimes called an island group, is a chain or cluster of islands. The word archipelago is derived from the Greek ἄρχι- – arkhi- and πέλαγος – pélagos through the Italian arcipelago...

, South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...

 and even to visit the indigenous tribes in North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...

. Most expeditions consisted of scientists from different disciplines, a photographer and a naval officer. Sometimes a larger military contingent was necessary if the expedition was travelling to a more dangerous area.

The members of the organization were not just scientists. The political elite and the commercial elite (bankers, factory owners, ship owners and captains of merchant ships) were members. It had an economic agenda as well as a scientific mission.

As Dutch colonies became independent, the work of the KNAG focused less and less on economic issues, and became more and more concerned with scientific questions. The Dutch East Indies
Dutch East Indies
The Dutch East Indies was a Dutch colony that became modern Indonesia following World War II. It was formed from the nationalised colonies of the Dutch East India Company, which came under the administration of the Netherlands government in 1800....

 became independent in 1949 and Netherlands New Guinea
Netherlands New Guinea
Netherlands New Guinea refers to the West Papua region while it was an overseas territory of the Kingdom of the Netherlands from 1949 to 1962. Until 1949 it was a part of the Netherlands Indies. It was commonly known as Dutch New Guinea...

became independent in 1962. The last expedition of the KNAG was in 1959 to Netherlands New Guinea.

External links

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