International Museum Day is celebrated on 18 May every year and the theme for this year is “Museums and contested histories: Saying the unspeakable in Museums”
In the context of International Museum Day 2017, the Mauritius Museums Council has put on display an exhibition commemorating 450 years birth anniversary of Pieter Both
“Pieter Both
Premier gouverneur général des Indes orientales néerlandaises et son naufrage à l’île Maurice en 1615″
at the National History Museum, Mahebourg. The Exhibition will remain open to visitors untill the end of October 2017.
This Exhibition relates the life of Pieter Both .
Pieter Both born at Amersfoort in Holland in 1567 was the first Governor – General of the Dutch East Indies from 1610 to 1614.
On Christmas day of 1614, he set sail from Bantam and unfortunately, it was the cyclonic season when he reached Mauritius on 6 March 1615. He was caught in the terrific storm and perished during the shipwreck on board the Banda that sunk off the coast of Medine.
