Jan Valckenburgh (1623 – 8 July 1667) was a civil servant of the

Dutch West India Company The Dutch West India Company () was a Dutch chartered company that was founded in 1621 and went defunct in 1792. Among its founders were Reynier Pauw, Willem Usselincx (1567–1647), and Jessé de Forest (1576–1624). On 3 June 1621, it was gra ...

. Valckenburgh began as a simple assistant-trader, but managed to make career up to one of the highest ranks, that of Director-General of the Dutch Gold Coast, twice.

Biography

Born into a family of modest means, Valckenburg was baptized in the Oude Kerk 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 ...

on 2 April 1623. His father, Paulus Paulusz Valckenburgh was a basket weaver from

Geleen Geleen (; ) is a city in the southern part of the province of Limburg (Netherlands), Limburg in the Netherlands. With 31,670 inhabitants in 2020, it is part of the municipality of Sittard-Geleen. Geleen is situated along the river Geleenbeek, a ri ...

, his mother Geertje Lamberts a housewife. Valckenburgh became a commissioner in food supplies in

Luanda Luanda ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Angola, largest city of Angola. It is Angola's primary port, and its major industrial, cultural and urban centre. Located on Angola's northern Atlantic coast, Luanda is Ang ...

in 1643 and returned to Amsterdam in 1649, after the

recapture of Luanda The Recapture of Angola, or Reconquest of Angola, was a military campaign fought between the Portuguese and the Dutch occupation of Angola, Dutch occupiers of Angola. Its most important episode was the siege imposed by the Portuguese on the f ...

by the Portuguese. It is likely that he married the same year to Dina Lems from

Flushing Flushing may refer to: Places Netherlands * Flushing, Netherlands, an English name for the city of Vlissingen, Netherlands United Kingdom * Flushing, Cornwall, a village in Cornwall, England * The Flushing, a building in Suffolk, England ...

, a daughter of former Governor of Dutch Brazil and later Luanda, Adriaen Lems. Valckenburgh returned to West-Africa in 1652 when he was installed as fiscal on the Gold Coast. In

Elmina Elmina ( Fante: ''Edina'') is a town and the capital of the Komenda/Edina/Eguafo/Abirem District on the south coast of Ghana in the Central Region. It is situated on a bay on the Atlantic Ocean, west of Cape Coast.Straight line distances ...

, he had a relationship with

mulatto ( , ) is a Race (human categorization), racial classification that refers to people of mixed Sub-Saharan African, African and Ethnic groups in Europe, European ancestry only. When speaking or writing about a singular woman in English, the ...

Helena Correa, who was also the mistress of the previous Director-General. A son from this relationship was born in 1653. Three years later, Valckenburgh himself became Director-General. After the end of his first term, Valkenburgh returned to Amsterdam in 1659, where he bought

Keizersgracht The Keizersgracht (; "Emperor's canal") is a canal in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. It is the second of the three main Amsterdam canals that together form the Grachtengordel, or canal belt, and lies between the inner Herengracht and outer Prinseng ...

number 113, becoming a neighbour of his Gold Coast colleague

Hendrik Carloff Hendrik Carloff, Caerloff or Caarlof was an adventurer and slave trader active in the 17th century. Carloff began his career as a cabin boy but rose to become a commander and governor appointed by the Dutch West India Company and Danish or the S ...

. In 1660, his son Jacobus was born, and in 1662, his daughter Cornelia. On 5 September 1662, he left Amsterdam again, however, for his second term as Director-General on the Gold Coast. Due to

kidney In humans, the kidneys are two reddish-brown bean-shaped blood-filtering organ (anatomy), organs that are a multilobar, multipapillary form of mammalian kidneys, usually without signs of external lobulation. They are located on the left and rig ...

problems, he was relieved of his duties on 2 June 1667, and a month later, on 8 July, Valckenburgh died.

Portrait

During his leave in Amsterdam between 1659 and 1662, Valckenburgh commissioned a portrait of himself and his wife with the painter Daniel Vertangen. In 2002 it was considered the only painting of a Director-General of the Gold Goast in service of the Dutch West India Company, but a portrait of Director-General Jan Pranger has been identified since as well. He is painted with a black house slave and with Fort Elmina on the background. Both portraits were bought by the

Rijksmuseum The Rijksmuseum () is the national museum of the Netherlands dedicated to Dutch arts and history and is located in Amsterdam. The museum is located at the Museum Square in the borough of Amsterdam South, close to the Van Gogh Museum, the S ...

in Amsterdam in 2002.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Valckenburgh, Jan 1623 births 1667 deaths Colonial governors of the Dutch Gold Coast Dutch West India Company people from Amsterdam Dutch slave traders