Jan Pieterszoon Coen

Jan Pieterszoon Coen (8 January 1587 – 21 September 1629) was an officer of Dutch East India Company (VOC) in the early seventeenth century, holding two terms as its Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies. Image File history File links Download high resolution version (820x2282, 223 KB)Jan Pieterszoon Coen, 17th century portrait by unknown artist. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (820x2282, 223 KB)Jan Pieterszoon Coen, 17th century portrait by unknown artist. ... January 8 is the 8th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1587 was a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar or a common year starting on Sunday of the Julian calendar. ... September 21 is the 264th day of the year (265th in leap years). ... Events March 4 - Massachusetts Bay Colony is granted a Royal charter. ... Dutch colonial possessions, with the Dutch East India Company possessions marked in a paler green, surrounding the Indian Ocean plus Saint Helena in the mid-Atlantic. ... The Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies represented the Dutch rule in the Dutch East Indies between 1610 and the recognition of the independence of Indonesia in 1945. ...

He was long considered a national hero in the Netherlands, for providing the impulse that started the VOC on the path to dominance in Indonesia through his aggressive policies. A quote of his from 1618 is well known, "Despair not, spare you enemies not, for God is with us" ("Dispereert niet, ontziet uw vijanden niet, want God is met ons" in Dutch). However in the 20th century he was looked at in a more critical light, as his acts of cruelty and violence approaching genocide were re-examined. Events March 8 - Johannes Kepler discovers the third law of planetary motion (he soon rejects the idea after some initial calculations were made but on May 15 confirms the discovery). ...

Coen was unpopular with many in his time on account of strict governance and a habit of harsh criticism, at times directed even at the 17 Lords of the VOC (for which he was reprimanded). He was strict with his subordinates and merciless with his opponents. His willingness to use violence to obtain his ends was too much for many, even for such a relatively violent period of history. When Saartje Specx, a girl who he had been entrusted to care for, was found in a garden in the arms of a soldier, Pieter Cortenhoeff, Coen showed only small mercy in having her whipped instead of drowned immediately in a vat as he first intended. Cortenhoeff was beheaded. Saartje Specx ( 1617 – 1636) was the daughter of Jacques Specx, governor of the North Quarter of the VOCs Asian trading empire, and a Japanese concubine. ...

Coen was born at Hoorn on 8 January 1587 and in 1601 travelled to Rome to study trade in the offices of Justus Pescatore. Joining the Dutch East India Company (VOC), he made trading voyages to Indonesia in 1607 and 1612. On the second trip, he commanded two ships and in October 1613 was appointed accountant-general of all VOC offices in Indonesia and president of the head office in Bantam and of Batavia (now Jakarta). In 1614, he was made director-general, the second highest function. On 25 October 1617 the 17 Lords of VOC appointed him their fourth governor-general in the East Indies (of which he was informed on 30 April 1618). Hoorn is a municipality and a city in the Netherlands, in the province of North Holland. ... January 8 is the 8th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1587 was a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar or a common year starting on Sunday of the Julian calendar. ... Events February 8 - Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex, rebels against Elizabeth I of England - revolt is quickly crushed February 25 - Robert Devereux beheaded Jesuit Matteo Ricci arrives in China Bad harvest in Russia due to rainy summer Dutch troops drive Portuguese from Málaga Battle of Kinsale, Ireland Births... City motto: Senatus Populusque Romanus – SPQR (The Senate and the People of Rome) Founded 21 April 753 BC mythical, 1st millennium BC Region Latium Mayor Walter Veltroni (Left-Wing Democrats) Area  - City Proper  1285 km² Population  - City (2004)  - Metropolitan  - Density (city proper) 2. ... Events January 20 - Tidal wave swept along the Bristol Channel, killing 2000 people. ... Events January 20 - Mathias becomes Holy Roman Emperor. ... Events January - Galileo observes Neptune, but mistakes it for a star and so is not credited with its discovery. ... The city of Bantam near the western end of Java was a strategically important site and formerly a major trading city, with a secure harbor on the Malacca Strait through which all ocean-going traffic passed, at the mouth of a river (Cibantam River) that provided a navigable passage for... Motto: Jaya Raya (Indonesian): Prosper and Great Founded 22 June 1527 Governor Sutiyoso Area 661. ... Events April 5 - In Virginia, Native American Pocahontas marries English colonist John Rolfe. ... October 25 is the 298th day of the year (299th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 67 days remaining. ... Events Change of emperor of the Ottoman Empire from Ahmed I (1603-1617) to Mustafa I (1617-1623). ... April 30 is the 120th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (121st in leap years), with 245 days remaining, as the last day in April. ... Events March 8 - Johannes Kepler discovers the third law of planetary motion (he soon rejects the idea after some initial calculations were made but on May 15 confirms the discovery). ...

On account of disputes at the head office in Bantam with Chinese, Banten and the English, the VOC desired a better central headquarters. Coen thus directed more of the company's trade through Batavia, where it had established a factory in 1610. However not trusting the native ruler, he captured and destroyed much of the city, deciding in 1618 to build a fort.

He also set about establishing a monopoly over the trade in nutmeg and mace which could be obtained only from the Banda Islands. The inhabitants of Banda had been selling the spices to the English, despite contracts with the VOC which obliged them to sell at low prices. In 1621, he led an armed expedition to Banda, taking the island of Lonthor by force. Most of the inhabitants were killed or exiled to other islands. Species About 100 species, including: Myristica argentea Myristica fragrans Myristica malabarica The nutmegs Myristica are a genus of evergreen trees indigenous to tropical southeast Asia and Australasia. ... Species About 100 species, including: Myristica argentea Myristica fragrans Myristica malabarica The nutmegs Myristica are a genus of evergreen trees indigenous to tropical southeast Asia and Australasia. ... Banda Besar island seen from Fort Belgica The Banda Islands (Kepulauan Banda in Bahasa Indonesia) are a group of ten small volcanic islands in the Banda Sea, about 140km south of Seram island and about 2000km east of Java, and are part of the Indonesian province of Maluku. ... Events February 9 - Gregory XV is elected pope. ...

On 1 February 1623, he handed his post to Pieter Carpentier and returned to the Netherlands, where he became head of the VOC chamber in Hoorn and worked on establishing new policies. During his absence from the East Indies, difficulties with the English where exacerbated by the Amboyna Massacre. On 3 October 1624 he was reappointed governor-general in the East Indies, but his departure was hindered by the English. In 1625, he married and in 1627 departed incognito for the East Indies with his wife and her brother and sister, starting work on 30 September 1627. After his arrival, the English abandoned Batavia and established their headquarters in Bantam. February 1 is the 32nd day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... Events August 6 - Pope Urban VIII is elected to the Papacy. ... Pieter de Carpentier was born in Antwerp in 1586 or 1588. ... Hoorn is a municipality and a city in the Netherlands, in the province of North Holland. ... The Amboyna Massacre occurred because of the intense rivalry between the East India Companies of England and Holland in the spice trade. ... October 3 is the 276th day of the year (277th in Leap years). ... Events January 24 - Alfonso Mendez, appointed by Pope Gregory XV as Prelate of Ethiopia, arrives at Massawa from Goa. ... Events March 27 - Prince Charles Stuart becomes King Charles I of England, Scotland and Ireland. ... Events A Dutch ship makes the first recorded sighting of the coast of South Australia. ... September 30 is the 273rd day of the year (274th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar, with 92 days remaining. ... Events A Dutch ship makes the first recorded sighting of the coast of South Australia. ...

Twice during Coen's term in office, Sultan Agung of Mataram besieged Batavia, in 1628 and 1629. However, Agung's military was poorly armed and had inadequate provisions of food, and was never able to capture the city. Mataram was the last major independent Javanese empire on Java before the island was colonized by the Dutch. ... Events March 1 - writs were issued in February 1628 by Charles I of England that every county in England (not just seaport towns) pay ship tax by this date. ... Events March 4 - Massachusetts Bay Colony is granted a Royal charter. ...

During Agung's second siege Coen suddenly died on 21 September 1629. There is folklore at Agung's graveyard at Imogiri, in central Java, that parts of Coen's remains were secreted away from their Batavia resting place, and placed under the stairway to Agung's grave, as all pilgrims to the grave would walk over them. September 21 is the 264th day of the year (265th in leap years). ... Events March 4 - Massachusetts Bay Colony is granted a Royal charter. ... Imogiri (also Imagiri) is a royal graveyard complex in Yogyakarta, south-central Java, Indonesia, as well as a modern village located near the graveyard in Bantul regency. ...

References

• Jan Pieterszoon Coen; 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica
• Critici van Jan Pieterszoon Coen; Ewald Vanvugt; 1996 (in Dutch)
• Jan Pieterszoon Coen; De VOCsite. (in Dutch)