Johannes, Count van den Bosch (2 February 1780 – 28 January 1844) was a Dutch

officer An officer is a person who has a position of authority in a hierarchical organization. The term derives from Old French ''oficier'' "officer, official" (early 14c., Modern French ''officier''), from Medieval Latin ''officiarius'' "an officer," f ...

and politician. He was Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies (1830–1833), commander of the

Royal Netherlands East Indies Army The Royal Netherlands East Indies Army ( nl, Koninklijk Nederlands Indisch Leger; KNIL, ) was the military force maintained by the Kingdom of the Netherlands in its colony of the Dutch East Indies, in areas that are now part of Indonesia. Th ...

, Minister of Colonies, and

Minister of State Minister of State is a title borne by politicians in certain countries governed under a parliamentary system. In some countries a Minister of State is a Junior Minister of government, who is assigned to assist a specific Cabinet Minister. In ...

. He was an officer in the

Military William Order The Military William Order, or often named Military Order of William (Dutch: , abbreviation: MWO), is the oldest and highest honour of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It is named after St. William of Gellone (755–814), the first Prince of Oran ...

Biography

Johannes van den Bosch was born on 2 February 1780 in Herwijnen in the

Dutch Republic The United Provinces of the Netherlands, also known as the (Seven) United Provinces, officially as the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands (Dutch: ''Republiek der Zeven Verenigde Nederlanden''), and commonly referred to in historiography ...

(the present-day

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

), to the physician Johannes van den Bosch Sr. and his wife Adriana Poningh.J. graaf van den Bosch
''Parlement & Politiek''. Retrieved on 18 January 2015. Van den Bosch enrolled in the army of the Batavian Republic in 1797 and was, at his own request, sent to

Batavia Batavia may refer to: Historical places * Batavia (region), a land inhabited by the Batavian people during the Roman Empire, today part of the Netherlands * Batavia, Dutch East Indies, present-day Jakarta, the former capital of the Dutch East In ...

in the Dutch East Indies as a lieutenant a year later. At the time, the emphasis was put on asserting commercial interest, and Dutch control over the Indonesian archipelago was limited. As an adjutant, Van den Bosch remained close to the consecutive Governor-Generals, and was involved in the transformation from trade colonialism to territorial colonial expansion. In 1808, he had a conflict with the new Governor-General, Herman Willem Daendels, after which he was honourably discharged from service at the rank of colonel. He and his family were sent back to Europe in 1810. On his way back to the Netherlands, Van den Bosch was captured by the British and remained a captive until 1812. Upon arriving in the Netherlands, he joined the

provisional government A provisional government, also called an interim government, an emergency government, or a transitional government, is an emergency governmental authority set up to manage a political transition generally in the cases of a newly formed state or ...

tasked with restoring the authority of the

Prince of Orange Prince of Orange (or Princess of Orange if the holder is female) is a title originally associated with the sovereign Principality of Orange, in what is now southern France and subsequently held by sovereigns in the Netherlands. The title ...

, William Frederick. He was recommissioned in the army as a colonel and, in the name of the Prince of Orange, captured

Utrecht Utrecht ( , , ) is the fourth-largest city and a municipality of the Netherlands, capital and most populous city of the province of Utrecht. It is located in the eastern corner of the Randstad conurbation, in the very centre of mainland Net ...

and

Naarden Naarden () is a city and former municipality in the Gooi region in the province of North Holland, Netherlands. It has been part of the new municipality of Gooise Meren since 2016. History Naarden was granted its city rights in 1300 (the only t ...

. In 1818, Van den Bosch was involved in the establishment of the Society of Humanitarianism, under the auspices of Prince Frederick, and was put on inactive in the military in order to focus on the society. The society considered labour to be the only means to combat poverty. In Drenthe, it founded the 'free colonies' of

Frederiksoord Frederiksoord is a village in the Dutch province of Drenthe. It is a part of the municipality of Westerveld, and lies about 24 km northwest of Hoogeveen. Frederiksoord was founded in 1818. It was the headquarters of the 19th century Society ...

, Willemsoord and Wilhelminaoord, where the poor from big cities would learn to care for themselves in a disciplined manner. In 1827, Van den Bosch was tasked with restoring Dutch control over the

West Indies The West Indies is a subregion of North America, surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea that includes 13 independent island countries and 18 dependencies and other territories in three major archipelagos: the Greate ...

as commissioner-general. He left the society and arrived on Curaçao in December that year, and would stay in the colony for eight months. During this period, he took several initiatives concerning trade and banking, focussed on stimulating economic activity and scope of the colony. Among other things, he introduced a regulation which would make the

Constitution of the Netherlands The Constitution for the Kingdom of the Netherlands ( nl, Grondwet voor het Koninkrijk der Nederlanden) is one of two fundamental documents governing the Kingdom of the Netherlands as well as the fundamental law of the European territory of the ...

apply to the colony as well, and used it to attempt to improve the living conditions of slaves. Only shortly after his return in 1828, Van den Bosch rose to the rank of

lieutenant general Lieutenant general (Lt Gen, LTG and similar) is a three-star military rank (NATO code OF-8) used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages, where the title of lieutenant general was held by the second-in-command on the ...

and was appointed Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies. In this capacity, he is most famous for the introduction of the

cultivation system The Cultivation System ( nl, cultuurstelsel) was a Dutch government policy from 1830–1870 for its Dutch East Indies colony (now Indonesia). Requiring a portion of agricultural production to be devoted to export crops, it is referred to by Ind ...

in 1830. This system forced Javanese farmers to use a fifth of their farmland for export goods such as coffee, sugar and indigo. Van den Bosch returned to the Netherlands on 18 May 1834 and was appointed Minister of Colonies on 30 May. As Minister, he demanded increasingly high financial results from the colonies, often to the detriment of the interest of individual farmers and slaves. In 1839, he received criticism from the

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entitles. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often c ...

for the opaqueness of his policy on loans between the government and the

Netherlands Trading Society The Netherlands Trading Society ( nl, Nederlandsche Handel-Maatschappij or NHM) was a Dutch trading and financial company, established in 1824 in The Hague by King William I to promote and develop trade, shipping and agriculture. For the next 140 ...

. Van den Bosch voluntarily stepped down from office on 1 January 1840, upon which he was granted the title

Count van den Bosch Van den Bosch is the name of family belonging to the Dutch nobility. Oldest known ancestor of this family is one Arij van den Bosch who lived in Utrecht in 1701. The title of count was created in 1839, when Johannes van den Bosch, Governor-Gener ...

by royal decree, as well as the honourable title of

. He entered the House of Representatives for South Holland in 1842 and would remain there until his death. Count van den Bosch died on 28 January 1844 at his estate in

The Hague The Hague ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a city and municipality of the Netherlands, situated on the west coast facing the North Sea. The Hague is the country's administrative centre and its seat of government, and while the official capital o ...

, as a result of a short disease.

Titles

* 17 June 1835: elevated into the Dutch nobility with the title of Baron * 25 December 1839: created

Count Count (feminine: countess) is a historical title of nobility in certain European countries, varying in relative status, generally of middling rank in the hierarchy of nobility. Pine, L. G. ''Titles: How the King Became His Majesty''. New York: ...

(

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

: ''Graaf'')

References

*The information in this article is based on that in its Dutch and German equivalents. *The

Meyers Konversations-Lexikon ' or ' was a major encyclopedia in the German language that existed in various editions, and by several titles, from 1839 to 1984, when it merged with the '. Joseph Meyer (1796–1856), who had founded the publishing house in 1826, intended t ...

External links

Dutch Parliament: J. graaf van den Bosch

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bosch, Johannes van den 1780 births 1844 deaths People from Lingewaal Governors-General of the Dutch East Indies Royal Netherlands East Indies Army generals Royal Netherlands East Indies Army officers Ministers of Colonial Affairs of the Netherlands Counts of the Netherlands Dutch military personnel of the Napoleonic Wars

Biography

Titles

See also

References

External links