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Jan Pieterszoon Coen -God's zealot for Trade. Jan Pieterszoon Coen an iron fisted VOC Governor General; the massacre of thousands of Bandenese and the wanton destruction of all the clove plantations. But looking looking for trough his history, there is reason that his pious and zealous devotion to the Dutch Reformed Church was cause for his ferocity. Jan Pieterszoon Coen was born on January 8th , 1587 in the Dtuch city of Hoorn. He was the son of Pieter Willemszoon Coen, a merchant in the salt trading business in San Lucar, a Spanish town in the Andalusian region. Jan was sent to Rome at the age of thirteen to work for a trade office administered by Justus Pescatore.During his stay of six or seven years in Rome he learnt the art of bookkeeping, multiple languages and was fascinated by numbers and mathematics.Upon completing his apprenticeship in 1607 he returned to his native city and joined the VOC chamber of Hoorn. He was appointed as a bookkeeper and left for Indonesia the very same year, under the command of Admiral Pieter Verhoeff.ow Admiral Verhoeff commanded a fleet of thirteen ships, and one of the  
|image = Jan Pietersz Coen by Jacob Waben.jpg
fleet’s missions was to begin the construction of a fort on the Banda  
|fullname = Jan Pieterszoon Coen
Islands. Upon arrival on the Banda Islands, Admiral Verhoeff and a party
|alias =
<nowiki> </nowiki>of approximately 50 soldiers set out on a diplomatic mission to obtain
|origin = Hoorn, Dutch Republic
permission from the natives to build the fort. The party was killed in an ambush set up by the Bandanese. This therefore was an experience that marked Jan Pieterszoon Coen, perhaps for life.  
|occupation = Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies (1618 - 1623; 1627 - 1629)
<nowiki> </nowiki>The Vice Admiral, Simon Hoen, retaliated by killing as many inhabitants as he could, setting their houses and lands on fire.     Afterwards he declared that Bandanaira, the Capital of the Banda Islands would from now on belong to the Dutch Republic and the VOC.   The Bandanese did not take this so tamely, however and a period of conflict and bloodshed continued for some time. Coen then returned to Amsterdam  in 1610, where he worked at the VOC head offcie as book keeper.He proved his worth during this short period of time, and was appointed accountant-general of all VOC offices in Indonesia and president of the head office in
|type of villain = Corrupt Official
Bantam. On May 12th, 1612 he set out for Java and the Moluccas as the
|goals =
commander of two ships. Upon his arrival at Bantam on the 9th of
|crimes = [[War crimes]]<br>Mass [[murder]]<br>Oppression<br>Tyranny<br>[[Arson]]
February 1613, the Dutch warehouse was set on fire, apparently by locals. Shortly thereafter, Coen discovered a local regent on the island of Jakarta ordered construction to be halted on the new fort. This regent was supposed to be obedient to the VOC. On 13th March, 1613 Pieterszoon Coen then arrived on the Island of Amboyna, where again he was met with animosity and complete mutiny from the defiant natives. All of these occurences strenghtened his belief that local inhabitants should be subjugated to the Dutch colonailists and ruled with an iron fist.
|hobby = |Image=Jan_Pieterszoon_Coen.jpg}}'''Jan Pieterszoon Coen''' (8 January 1587 – 21 September 1629) was an officer of the Dutch East India Company (VOC) in the early 17th century, holding two terms as Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies. He was the founder of Batavia, capital of the Dutch East Indies. Renowned for providing the impulse that set the VOC on the path to dominance in the East Indies, Coen was long considered a national hero in the Netherlands.
 
Coen was known for his strict governance and harsh criticism of people who did not share his views, especially towards subordinates, and was merciless towards his opponents. Consequently, since the independence of Indonesia he has been looked at in a much more critical light.
==Biography==
Coen was born in Hoorn on 8 January 1587, and was raised by his family in accordance with strict Calvinist principles. In 1601, he traveled to Rome, to study trade in the offices of the Fleming Joost de Visscher, where he learned the art of bookkeeping. Joining the Dutch East India Company (VOC), he made trading voyages to the East Indies in 1607 with the fleet of Pieter Willemsz Verhoeff. During the journey, Verhoeff and 50 of his men were killed during negotiations with the chiefs of the Banda Islands.
 
After his return to the republic in 1610, Coen submitted an important report on trade possibilities in Southeast Asia to the company's directors. As a result of this report, he was again sent overseas in 1612, with the rank of chief merchant.
 
On the second trip, he acquitted himself so well of his commission and notable by the success of his practice of commerce, that in October 1613, he was appointed as accountant-general of all VOC offices in the East Indies and president of the head offices in Bantam and Jakarta.
 
In 1614, he was made director-general, second in command. On 25 October 1617, the Heren XVII of the VOC appointed him as the fourth governor-general in the East Indies, of which he was informed on 30 April 1618. As a merchant and Calvinist, Coen was convinced of the necessity of strict enforcement of contracts entered into with Asian rulers. He, therefore, aided Indonesian princes against their indigenous rivals or against other European powers and was given commercial monopolies for the company in return. Thus the Dutch, at the price of heavy military and naval investment, slowly gained control of the area's rich spice trade.
 
Between 1614 and 1618, Coen secured a clove monopoly in the Moluccas and a nutmeg monopoly in 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 only to the VOC, at low prices.
 
In 1621, he led the Dutch conquest of the Banda Islands, using Japanese mercenaries. After encountering some fierce resistance, mostly by cannons that the natives had acquired from the English, they took the island of Lonthor by force. Many thousands of inhabitants were massacred and replaced by slave labor from other islands to make way for Dutch planters. Of the 15,000 inhabitants it is believed only about a thousand survived on the island. Eight hundred people were deported to Batavia.
 
Because of disputes at the head office in Bantam with natives, the Chinese, and the English, the VOC desired a better central headquarters. Coen thus directed more of the company's trade through Jakarta, where it had established a factory in 1610. However, not trusting the native ruler, he decided in 1618 to convert the Dutch warehouses into a fort. While away on an expedition, the English took control of the town. Coen managed to reconquer Jakarta in 1619, with fire destroying most of the town during the process. He rebuilt the city and fort, thus founding the new Dutch town over the ruins of its predecessor, which he forthwith proclaimed the capital of the Dutch East Indies. In 1621, the city was renamed Batavia. Coen preferred Nieuw Hoorn, after his hometown, but didn't get his way.
 
In 1622, Coen revisited Europe. On 1 February 1623, he handed his post to Pieter de Carpentier and returned to the Netherlands, where he was given a hero's welcome off the coast of Texel. He then 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 were 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 Eva Ment, and in 1627 departed incognito for the East Indies with his wife, their newborn child 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. 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, likely due to the cholera outbreak in Batavia during this siege.
 
In Imogiri, there is a persistent folklore that Coen's remains were stolen from his grave in Jakarta, and placed under the steps leading up to Sultan Agung's grave.
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