Jan Pieterszoon Coen
Dutch colonial administrator Jan Pieterszoon Coen (1587 – 1629) was a pivotal figure in the early Dutch East Indies, serving two terms as governor-general.
As the founder of Batavia, the Dutch capital in the East Indies, he provided the impulse that set the VOC on the path to dominating the archipelago's trade until the end of the Second World War.
Coen established a chain of fortified posts across the archipelago, displaced the Portuguese and prevented the English from establishing a foothold in the islands.
While he never realised his dream of a Dutch maritime empire stretching from Japan to India, his energetic administration established Dutch rule in the East Indies.
Coen's violent methods to secure a monopoly on the nutmeg, mace and clove trade and sustain artificially high profits for the VOC's Dutch investors and the infamous 1621 Banda Massacre tarnished his .reputation elsewhere.
Still, for many years Coen remained a national hero in the Netherlands.
