Cornelis van der Lijn (1608 – 27 July 1679) 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 1646 until 1650.

Early career

Van der Lijn was born in

Alkmaar Alkmaar () is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Netherlands, located in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of North Holland. Alkmaar is well known fo ...

, possibly in 1608. He went, in 1627, as assistant () to

Batavia, Dutch East Indies Batavia was the capital of the Dutch East Indies. The area corresponds to present-day Jakarta, Indonesia. Batavia can refer to the city proper or its suburbs and hinterland, the , which included the much larger area of the Residency of Batavia ...

aboard the ''Wapen van Hoorn''. From 1632 to 18 January 1636 he was accountant-general (). In 1639 he became counsellor-extraordinary () to the Council of the Indies. A year later he was appointed president of the ''Schepenrechtbank'' (a maritime court, but with various other functions). One further year later he was made a full counsellor (); he followed Philips Lucasz ( whose portrait was painted by

Rembrandt Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn (; ; 15 July 1606 – 4 October 1669), mononymously known as Rembrandt was a Dutch Golden Age painter, printmaker, and Drawing, draughtsman. He is generally considered one of the greatest visual artists in ...

) as Director-General of the Indies.

Council of the Indies

Shortly before his death on 19 April 1645, Governor-General Antonio van Diemen called upon the Dutch Council of the Indies (12 April 1645) to establish Cornelis van der Lijn as his successor. This was not in line with the instructions of the ( Heren XVII), who has laid down in 1617 that immediately after the death of a governor-general, the council should choose a provisional governor-general. Only once the Seventeen Lords had agreed to the choice would the appointment come into actual force. The Heren XVII at first cancelled Van Diemen's decision, but then afterwards named the very same Cornelis van der Lijn as his successor. On 10 October 1646 he was named by them as governor-general. Cornelis van der Lijn was not a strong ruler. He built a little on what his predecessor Van Diemen had established, but did not go much further. He signed peace treaties with Solor, Bantam and Mataram. Moreover, on 24 September 1646 he signed a (largely trade) agreement with the Prince of Mataram, the first of such contracts signed by the Dutch with Javanese rulers. Strenuous measures were taken to maintain the monopoly 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 ...

(VOC) in the

Moluccas The Maluku Islands ( ; , ) or the Moluccas ( ; ) are an archipelago in the eastern part of Indonesia. Tectonically they are located on the Halmahera Plate within the Molucca Sea Collision Zone. Geographically they are located in West Melanesi ...

. After a fierce struggle, the fortress at Kapaha on Thitu Island (''Hitu'') was taken. The severe regulations would soon lead to riots. The rulers in the Netherlands allowed Van der Lijn, ''at his own request'', to retire with honour on 7 October 1650.

Carel Reyniersz Carel Reyniersz (1604–1653) was Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies from 1650 until 1653. Reyniersz (or ''Reiniersz'') was born in Amsterdam in 1604 (or perhaps 1602). He left for the Indies in 1627 as Upperbuyer (''opperkoopman'') on ...

was then named as governor-general. In 1651, Cornelis van der Lijn left aboard the ''Prinses Royaal'' for the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

. His reception in the homeland was as cool as his departure from the

Indies The East Indies (or simply the Indies) is a term used in historical narratives of the Age of Discovery. The ''Indies'' broadly referred to various lands in the East or the Eastern Hemisphere, particularly the islands and mainlands found i ...

. The customary reception and congratulations given to a returning fleet, and its commander were denied to him.

Mayor of Alkmaar

He established himself in

where he was elected mayor () on 24 December 1668. He died there on 27 July 1679.

Notes

References

Site in Dutch dedicated to the VOC
* ''Encyclopaedie van Nederlandsch-Indië'', part H–M. * * , 2003. ''Oud en Nieuw oost-Indiën, deel IV/A''. {{DEFAULTSORT:Lijn, Cornelis Van Der 1608 births 1679 deaths Dutch accountants Governors-general of the Dutch East Indies Mayors of Alkmaar People from Alkmaar