Olfert Dapper

Olfert Dapper (1635/1636? in Amsterdam - 1689 in Amsterdam) was a Dutch physician, writer and expert on Africa.

In 1658, he registered at the University of Utrecht and two years later received a kind of medical degree. In fact, his medical activities were a relatively minor part of his activities - there is little evidence for his early life. After his studies he went to live and write in Amsterdam.

Dapper wrote on the history of Amsterdam, but also on that of African and Asian countries. His books became well-known in his own time. Translations appeared in English, French and German. In Paris a museum devoted to him still exists, visited by writer Willem Frederik Hermans, who wrote a book on it under the title "Het Evangelie van O. Dapper Dapper" (1973).

Dapper never went to the exotic destinations about which he wrote. In Amsterdam, he has been honored with a street, Dapperstraat.