Christoffel van Swoll (25 April 1668 – 12 November 1718) was

Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies The governor-general of the Dutch East Indies (, ) represented Dutch rule in the Dutch East Indies between 1610 and Dutch recognition of the independence of Indonesia in 1949. Occupied by Japanese forces between 1942 and 1945, followed by the ...

from 17 November 1713 until his death. He was born in 1668 in

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...

as the son of Harmen Stoffelsz. van Swoll, an attendant of the

Bank of Amsterdam The Bank of Amsterdam or Wisselbank () was an early bank, vouched for by the city of Amsterdam, and established in 1609. It was the first public bank to offer accounts not directly convertible to coin. As such, it has been described as the firs ...

. On 19 December 1683, he left for Batavia on board the ''Juffrouw Anna'' as an assistant in the service of the

Dutch East India Company The United East India Company ( ; VOC ), commonly known as the Dutch East India Company, was a chartered company, chartered trading company and one of the first joint-stock companies in the world. Established on 20 March 1602 by the States Ge ...

. He arrived in Batavia on 19 June 1684 and began working in the ''General Secretariat''. He was regularly promoted. In 1686 he was promoted to ''Accountant'', in 1690 to ''First Clerk to the General Secretariat'', and in 1691 to ''Buyer''. In 1696, he was appointed as ''Secretary to the High Government'' (de Hoge Regering). In 1700 he became ''Raad extra-ordinair'' (Counsellor extraordinary) and President of the ''College van Weesmeesteren'' (an orphanage). In 1701 he was named ''Raad ordinair van Indië'' (Full Counsellor of the Indies). On 3 May 1703 he became President of the ''College van Schepenen'' (

Aldermen An alderman is a member of a municipal assembly or council in many jurisdictions founded upon English law with similar officials existing in the Netherlands (wethouder) and Belgium (schepen). The term may be titular, denoting a high-ranking membe ...

) at Batavia. Following the death of Governor-General

Abraham van Riebeeck Abraham van Riebeeck (; 18 October 1653 – 17 November 1713) was a merchant with the Dutch East India Company and the Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies from 1709 to 1713. Biography Abraham van Riebeeck was born on 18 October 1653 in t ...

, the Council (''Raad'') chose ''van Swoll'', by a slim majority, as Governor-General (on 17 November 1713). This proposal was sent to the 17 Lords of the Indies (''de Heren XVII'') on 18 May 1714 who confirmed his appointment in 1715, despite his difficulty character. His honesty was the deciding factor in those times of corruption and maladministration. As Governor-General, he put a lot of energy into dealing with the private, or unofficial, trade. In this he was not really successful. In general, there was nothing particularly remarkable about his time in office. He was no great promoter of development, such as extending coffee farming. He was also against extending the territory of the Company, because he thought it would then become ungovernable. He suddenly dropped the price the Chinese got for tea by a third. The result was that the trade in

tea Tea is an aromatic beverage prepared by pouring hot or boiling water over cured or fresh leaves of '' Camellia sinensis'', an evergreen shrub native to East Asia which probably originated in the borderlands of south-western China and nor ...

(and

porcelain Porcelain (), also called china, is a ceramic material made by heating Industrial mineral, raw materials, generally including kaolinite, in a kiln to temperatures between . The greater strength and translucence of porcelain, relative to oth ...

) collapsed for years. Four years after his provisional appointment as Governor-General, he died in Batavia on 12 November 1718. He was buried in the ''Church of the Holy Cross'' (Kruiskerk). His successor was named as

Hendrick Zwaardecroon Hendrick or Henricus Zwaardecroon (26 January 1667 – 12 August 1728) was Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies from 1718 until 1725. Early career Zwaardecroon left for the East Indies as a midshipman aboard the ''Purmer'' in December 1684 ...

References

* Biographies of the Governors-General, (in Dutch) i
Vocsite.nl
* Encyclopaedie van Nederlandsch-Indië, deel Soek-Zij * Putten, L.P. van, 2002. - Ambitie en onvermogen : gouverneurs-generaal van Nederlands-Indië 1610–1796; se
here
1668 births 1718 deaths Dutch accountants Governors-general of the Dutch East Indies Dutch East India Company people from Amsterdam {{Netherlands-politician-stub