Borchart, Samuel

Samuel Borchart (1599-1667) was a renowned Huguenot pastor and biblical scholar who produced his two-volume Geographia Sacra seu Phaleg et Canaan (Caen. 1646), which was a very influential work during the 17^th century. Among his assertions was that the ancient Spanish province of Dertossa was named after Tarshish, as its name was a corruption of Tartessa meaning ‘Little’ Tartessos.

Borchart along with his pupil Pierre Daniel Huet also claimed that the Phoenicians had settled in America, an idea that has been revived from time to time up to the present day. Borchart and Huet also promoted the idea that the Atlantis story was reflected in the patriarchal history recorded in the Bible. Lewis Spence accuses^[259.33] Borchart and Huet as well as Vossius of ‘ingenious misreadings’ of scripture to support their contention.