Dirck van Cloon (also Dirk and Theodoor van Cloon; 1684 – 10 March 1735) was Eurasian

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 ...

. He died of

malaria Malaria is a Mosquito-borne disease, mosquito-borne infectious disease that affects vertebrates and ''Anopheles'' mosquitoes. Human malaria causes Signs and symptoms, symptoms that typically include fever, Fatigue (medical), fatigue, vomitin ...

at the age of 50. He was born in Batavia sometime in 1684. For his education and training he was sent to 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 ...

. He graduated in

Law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior, with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been variously described as a science and as the ar ...

Leiden University Leiden University (abbreviated as ''LEI''; ) is a Public university, public research university in Leiden, Netherlands. Established in 1575 by William the Silent, William, Prince of Orange as a Protestantism, Protestant institution, it holds the d ...

on 1 April 1707. He returned to Batavia on the clipper ''Donkervliet'' and spent some time in

Dutch Coromandel Coromandel was a governorate of the Dutch East India Company on the coasts of the Coromandel region from 1610, until the company's liquidation in 1798. Dutch presence in the region began with the capture of Pulicat from the Portuguese in Goa and ...

. He was among other things a district overseer in Sadraspatnam. He got into a fight with the governor of Coromandel, Adriaan de Visser, who accused Van Cloon of delivering bad quality goods. The government in Batavia sent Van Cloon back to the Netherlands, but he persuaded the Directors 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 ...

that de Visser was not to be trusted. Van Cloon was reinstated and he left for the Indies on 4 November 1719 on board the ''van de Huis te Assenburg'' as supercargo. In 1720, he became district chief at Negapatnam. In 1723, he became Governor of

. In 1724, he returned to Batavia to advise the Governor-General and in 1730, he became “''Raad-ordinair''” (chief advisor) of the Indies. On 9 October 1731 the Directors of the

named Dirck van Cloon Governor-General of the Indies, to which he succeeded on 28 May 1732, following the disgrace of Diederik Durven. By 20 December 1733 van Cloon was asking to resign because of sickness. He died in the post, however, and it was not until after he had died that his successor took over. Van Cloon was involved in a stand-off with the nascent Swedish East India Company, but he resolved it amicably. Less happy was an insurrection of unemployed Chinese sugar plantation workers. This was caused by the collapse of the sugar market, due to over-production and government mishandling.

External links

Vocsite.nl
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Cloon, Dirck van 1684 births 1735 deaths Governors-general of the Dutch East Indies Governors of Dutch Coromandel Leiden University alumni People from Batavia, Dutch East Indies