User:Lao Laxang/Gerritt van Wuysthoff

Dutch trader

Gerrit van Wuysthoff
 SGerrit van Wuysthoffailing from Phnom Penh to Vientiane in 1641

Less well known are the endeavours of an earlier explorer, a Dutch under-merchant Gerrit Van Wuysthoff, who was employed by the Cambodian office of the United Dutch East India Company (Voc). In 1641, two centuries before the French even took an interest in Southeast Asia, Van Wuysthoff travelled from Loveck (or Lauweck), the then-capital of Cambodia, to Vientiane in the Lan-Xang Kingdom in present day Laos. This makes Wuysthoff the first official European visitor to Laos.