Constanti(j)n Ranst de Jonge (October 28, 1635 – January 10, 1714) was a Dutch businessman employed by the Dutch East India Company (VOC) who was chief of the trading posts in Tonkin and

Dutch Bengal Bengal was a directorate of the Dutch East India Company in Mughal Bengal between 1610 until the company's liquidation in 1800. It then became a colony of the Kingdom of the Netherlands until 1825, when it was relinquished to the British accor ...

and three times opperhoofd of Dejima in

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

Ranst Family

Ranst was born in Amsterdam as the son of Hieronimus Rans(t) (1607–1660) and Barbara Carel. The Ranst family had originated in Bruges, but had moved to Middelburg and Amsterdam after 1585. Hieronimus and Barbara lived near the port, on Oude Schans 74/76, in a house called ''The Two Tigers''. The couple had at least eleven children; four died young. In 1633 Hieronimus invested in digging peat near Smilde, in 1635 he bought property in the Schermer, when the

polder A polder () is a low-lying tract of land that forms an artificial hydrological entity, enclosed by embankments known as dikes. The three types of polder are: # Land reclaimed from a body of water, such as a lake or the seabed # Flood plains s ...

was drained, and in 1638 he was involved in whaling. In 1640 he became a guardian over the children of Gommer Spranger. In 1644 Hieronimus owned a mansion designed by Philips Vingboons in the

Purmer Purmer is a polder and reclaimed lake in the Netherlands province of North Holland, located between the towns of Purmerend and Edam-Volendam. It is also a village located in the municipalities of Waterland and Edam-Volendam. Purmer polder Wind ...

near Edam; in 1650 his brother-in-law, Willem Boreel, became ambassador in Venice.

Constantin Ranst

In 1656 Constantin married Hester Hartsinck in Batavia. In March 1659 he arrived in Cape Colony and met with

Jan van Riebeeck Johan Anthoniszoon "Jan" van Riebeeck (21 April 1619 – 18 January 1677) was a Dutch navigator and colonial administrator of the Dutch East India Company. Life Early life Jan van Riebeeck was born in Culemborg, as the son of a surgeon. He ...

and Johan Bax (van Herentals). He was successively chief of Tonkin, 1665–1667, opperhoofd on Deshima, 1667–1668, extraordinary council in Batavia (1668), director of Bengal (1669–1673), ordinary council (1675) in Batavia, opperhoofd in Deshima 1683–1684, and again from 1686 to 1687. In 1688

Jacob J. Hinlopen Jacob J. Hinlopen (1582 – 1629 in Amsterdam) lived in a house ''with Hinlopen in the gable'', now at 155 Nieuwendijk. He traded in cloth and Indian wares. In 1602 he was co-founder of the Dutch East India Company in Enkhuizen: his descendan ...

(1668–1698) married his daughter Hester (Bengal, 1671-Amsterdam, 1750) in Ouderkerk aan de Amstel. Ranst lived on Herengracht 527; the house (& seven warehouses on Prinsengracht) were inherited by his grandson Jacob J. Hinlopen. Ranst owned a painting by Rembrandt van Rijn with the adoration of the three kings. His brother Leonard was a member of the vroedschap. Ranst belonged to the 250 wealthiest families in the Netherlands during the Golden Age. He died in Amsterdam. Herengracht527&529,detail

In 1717 the mansion on Herengracht was rented out to czar

Peter the Great Peter I ( – ), most commonly known as Peter the Great,) or Pyotr Alekséyevich ( rus, Пётр Алексе́евич, p=ˈpʲɵtr ɐlʲɪˈksʲejɪvʲɪtɕ, , group=pron was a Russian monarch who ruled the Tsardom of Russia from t ...

during his 2nd visit.

Notes

Literature

* 'Constantijn Ranst', in Kees Zandvliet, De 250 rijksten van de Gouden Eeuw (Amsterdam : Rijksmuseum etc., 2006) 131–132. * Gaastra, F.S. (1985) Constantijn Ranst en de corruptie onder het personeel van de VOC te Bengalen, 1669 - 1673. e.v.a. * “Constantijn Ranst”. In Groenveld, S., M.E.H.N. Mout, I. Schoffer, Bestuurders en geleerden: opstellen over onderwerpen uit de Nederlandse geschiedenis van de zestiende, zeventiende en achttiende eeuw, aangeboden aan Prof. Dr. J.J. Woltjer bij zijn afscheid als hoogleraar van de Rijksuniversiteit te Leiden Amsterdam: De Bataafsche Leeuw. 1985.

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ranst, Constantin 1635 births 1714 deaths Dutch chiefs of factory in Japan Directors of Dutch Bengal 17th-century Dutch colonial governors Dutch expatriates in Japan Businesspeople from Amsterdam

Ranst Family

Constantin Ranst

See also

Notes

Literature

External links