Jacobus Anthonie Meessen (5 December 1836 – 14 November 1885) was a Dutch photographer who took more than 250 portraits and landscapes in the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia) between 1864 and 1870. He worked as a carpenter in the Indies before returning to the Netherlands in the early 1860s. Moving back to the colony in 1864, he documented its land and people, working mainly in Java and Sumatra. He also photographed Bangka, Belitung, Borneo, and Nias. When Meessen returned to the Netherlands in 1870 he went into partnership with Abraham Vermeulen and began disseminating his photographs. In 1871 he gave King William III an elaborately decorated album with selected images, now kept at the Royal Library of the Netherlands. Other photographs were published by J. H. De Bussy in 1875 and exhibited in Paris and Amsterdam. Collections of his albumen prints, some of which were hand-tinted or annotated, are held in four institutions in the Netherlands.

Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacobus_Anthonie_Meessen

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1757:

Seven Years' War: Prussian troops under Frederick the Great defeated Austrian forces at the Battle of Leuthen. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Leuthen

1945:

Flight 19, a squadron of five U.S. naval TBF Avenger torpedo bombers, disappeared in the area now known as the Bermuda Triangle. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flight_19

1965:

The "glasnost meeting" took place in Moscow, becoming the first demonstration in the Soviet Union after World War II and marking the beginning of the civil rights movement in the country. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glasnost_meeting

2005:

The Civil Partnership Act came into force, granting civil partnerships in the United Kingdom rights and responsibilities identical to civil marriage. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_Partnership_Act_2004

_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

agribusiness: 1. (uncountable) Business (especially big business) connected to agriculture, either owning or operating large-scale farms, or catering to those who do. 2. (countable) A business or group of businesses engaged in agriculture, particularly if using modern farming techniques in the process. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/agribusiness

___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:

I always like to look on the optimistic side of life, but I am realistic enough to know that life is a complex matter.   --Walt Disney https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Walt_Disney