Cornelius Wessels, SJ was a Dutch

Dutch people

The Dutch people are an ethnic group native to the Netherlands. They share a common culture and speak the Dutch language. Dutch people and their descendants are found in migrant communities worldwide, notably in Suriname, Chile, Brazil, Canada, Australia, South Africa, New Zealand, and the United...

 Jesuit, known for his historical works on the early Catholic Missions

Catholic missions

As the church normally organizes itself along territorial lines, and because they had the human and material resources, religious orders—some even specializing in it—undertook most missionary work, especially in the early phases...

 in Central Asia

Central Asia

Central Asia is a core region of the Asian continent from the Caspian Sea in the west, China in the east, Afghanistan in the south, and Russia in the north...

, specially Tibet

Tibet

Tibet is a plateau region in Asia, north-east of the Himalayas. It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people as well as some other ethnic groups such as Monpas, Qiang, and Lhobas, and is now also inhabited by considerable numbers of Han and Hui people...

, and in the East Indies

East Indies

East Indies is a term used by Europeans from the 16th century onwards to identify what is now known as Indian subcontinent or South Asia, Southeastern Asia, and the islands of Oceania, including the Malay Archipelago and the Philippines...

.

His main work, Early Jesuit travellers in Central Asia, 1603-1721, first published in 1924, was notable for its thoroughness and the exhaustiveness of the documention referred to; and thus was seminal in the knowledge of the activities and travels of Bento de Góis, António de Andrade

António de Andrade

Father António de Andrade was a Jesuit priest and explorer from Portugal. He entered the Society of Jesus in 1596. From 1600 until his death in 1634 he was engaged in missionary activity in India...

, Francisco de Azevedo, Estêvão Cacella

Estêvão Cacella

Estêvão Cacella was a Portuguese Jesuit missionary.-Life:Cacella was born in Aviz in 1585, joined the Jesuits at the age of nineteen, and sailed for India in 1614 where he worked for some years in Kerala...

, Johann Grueber

Johann Grueber

Johann Grueber was an Austrian Jesuit missionary and astronomer in China, and noted explorer.-Life:...

, and Ippolito Desideri

Ippolito Desideri

Ippolito Desideri was an Italian Jesuit missionary in Tibet and the first European to have successfully studied and understood Tibetan language and culture.-Biography:...

. The book includes a comprehensive map of such travels by the Dutch cartographer C. Craandijk.

Works

• De geschiedenis der R.K.Missie in Amboina,1546-1605. Nijmegen, 1926
• Catalogus Patrum et Fratrum e Societate Iesu qui in Missione Moluccana ab a. 1546 ad a. 1677 adlaboraverunt, in Archivum Historicum Societatis Iesu, Rome
  Rome
  Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
  
  , Vol. I, 1932.

See also

• Christianity in Tibet
• Jesuit China missions
  Jesuit China missions
  The history of the missions of the Jesuits in China is part of the history of relations between China and the Western world. The missionary efforts and other work of the Society of Jesus, or Jesuits, between the 16th and 17th century played a significant role in continuing the transmission of...