SPIELBERGEN, Georg van (speel'-bare-gen), Dutch navigator, born in Muyden in 1557; died in Amsterdam in 1621. He had acquired reputation as a pilot, and commanded in 1601 an expedition to explore the coast of Africa and the Indies, and in 1614 he was given charge of a fleet of seven vessels, with orders to reach the Indies by the Strait of Magellan. Sailing from Texel, 8 August, 1614, he ravaged the coast of Brazil, and, after several engagements with the Portuguese, he wintered upon the Patagonian coast. On 7 March, 1615, he sighted the Cape of the Virgins, but was driven back by winds and currents, and entered the Strait of Magellan, 1 April, and the Pacific on 6 May, after the loss of a vessel. After touching at Chiloe, he landed on the island of Santa Maria, where he destroyed the Spanish establishments. fie attacked Valparaiso, put to flight a Spanish fleet of six vessels near Callao on 17 July, and entered that port on 21 July, but went to the island of San Lorenzo for repairs. After trying to burn the city of Paita in December, he sailed for the Asiatic coast. He visited the Ladrone archipelago, and, after being defeated in the Philippine islands by Admiral Ronquillo, he arrived in Batavia, where he seized the vessel of Schouten and Lemaire (q. v.). returning safely to Texel in August, 1618. The journal of the voyage of Spielbergen by Jabob Cornelissen Maiz, secretary of the admiral, was published under the title "Speculum orientalis, oecidentalisque Indiae navigationis, quarum una Georgii a Spielbergen, altera Jacobi Lemaire, auspiciis directa est, annis 1614 usque 1618" (Leyden, 1619; French translation, Amsterdam, 1621; German translation, Frankfort, 1625). It is reprinted in Samuel Purchas's " Pilgrims," and epitomized in James Burney's "Discoveries in the South Sea" (London, 1803-'17).