Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography/Westerman, Hans

WESTERMAN, Hans (ves-ter-mon), Alsatian explorer, b. in Hagenau in 1660; d. in Paris in 1721. He studied law in Strasburg and Paris, but early showed a strong desire for travel and visited western Europe, serving as volunteer against the Turks for a few months, and, after publishing a narrative of his travels in Paris, sailed for Manila as supercargo. He afterward visited the East Indies, where, to avoid difficulties with the Spanish and Portuguese authorities, he became a Franciscan friar and received minor orders. Thus enabled to visit South America, he sailed from Manila for Acapulco, going afterward to Mexico and Vera Cruz, made an exploration of the pyramids of Tezcoco, and visited the mines of Pachuca and San Agustin de las Cuevas. He visited Cuba, Porto Rico, Santo Domingo, and several of the Lesser Antilles, returning to Paris in 1708. Besides works that describe his travels in Europe and Asia, he wrote “De Manille à Vera-Cruz, à travers le royaume de la Nouvelle Espagne” (1710); “Essai sur les pyramides de Tezcoco et les mines méxicaines” (1710); and “Voyage aux Indes Occidentals” (1715).