Everything about Jan Pieterszoon Coen totally explained
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.
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 your 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.
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'd 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.
Life
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).
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.
On
1 February 1623, he handed his post to
Pieter de 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.
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.
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.
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