ABSTRACT
The protagonist of my chapter is Teodor Anzelm Dzwonkowski (1764–1850), a Polish soldier who left a fascinating memoir of his travels to Southeast Asia on a Dutch warship. 1 Coming from a petty noble family, he graduated from Piarist schools in Łomża and Warsaw and then served two years in the Prussian army. Looking for better job opportunities and some adventure, he arrived in Amsterdam and enlisted in the Dutch navy, taking part in a journey that brought him to South Africa, India, Ceylon, and the Dutch East Indies. Having returned to Poland, he took part in the Kościuszko uprising of 1794, but after its failure and the last partition of Poland he chose a peaceful life, settled down and married, became a respected citizen of Kraków, and died as an Austrian subject.
