Johan Bax van Herenthals (14 March 1637 – 29 June 1678), also written as Joan Bax, and van Herentals, was born in

's-Hertogenbosch s-Hertogenbosch (), colloquially known as Den Bosch (), is a city and municipality in the Netherlands with a population of 157,486. It is the capital of the province of North Brabant and its fourth largest by population. The city is south of th ...

and was the governor of the

Dutch Cape Colony The Cape Colony ( nl, Kaapkolonie) was a Dutch United East India Company (VOC) colony in Southern Africa, centered on the Cape of Good Hope, from where it derived its name. The original colony and its successive states that the colony was inco ...

from 1676 succeeding the acting interim governor

IJsbrand Godske IJsbrand Godske (also spelled Isbrand, Usbrand, Goske, or Godsken) ( 1626 – after 1689) was the second Governor of the Dutch Cape Colony. After the death of Governor Pieter Hackius's on 30 November 1671, Godske was appointed to succeed him wit ...

. Agriculture developed during his term and he is recognized as contributing to the development of

Botany Botany, also called plant science (or plant sciences), plant biology or phytology, is the science of plant life and a branch of biology. A botanist, plant scientist or phytologist is a scientist who specialises in this field. The term "bot ...

and

Ethnobiology ] Ethnobiology is the scientific study of the way living things are treated or used by different human cultures. It studies the dynamic relationships between people, biota, and environments, from the distant past to the immediate present.culture ...

. He declared two wars with the

Khoikhoi Khoekhoen (singular Khoekhoe) (or Khoikhoi in the former orthography; formerly also '' Hottentots''"Hottentot, n. and adj." ''OED Online'', Oxford University Press, March 2018, www.oed.com/view/Entry/88829. Accessed 13 May 2018. Citing G. S. ...

. He died in

Cape Town Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second larges ...

Biography

Johan Bax was the grandson of Joan Bax, governor of

Heusden Heusden () is a municipality and a town in the South of the Netherlands. It is located between the towns of Waalwijk and 's-Hertogenbosch. The municipality of Heusden, including Herpt, Heesbeen, Hedikhuizen, Doeveren, and Oudheusden, merged wit ...

and

Muiden Muiden () is a city and former municipality in the Netherlands, in the province of North Holland. It lies at the mouth of the Vecht and is in an area called the Vechtstreek. Since 2016, Muiden has been part of the new municipality of Gooise Me ...

. His father Willem Maurits, a

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

in the

Dutch States Army The Dutch States Army ( nl, Staatse leger) was the army of the Dutch Republic. It was usually called this, because it was formally the army of the States-General of the Netherlands, the sovereign power of that federal republic. This mercenary arm ...

under Willem Ripperda, married Jeanette Hoefijser in 1630 in

Deventer Deventer (; Sallands: ) is a city and municipality in the Salland historical region of the province of Overijssel, Netherlands. In 2020, Deventer had a population of 100,913. The city is largely situated on the east bank of the river IJssel, ...

. In 1631 Willem moved to Amsterdam, and according to

François Valentijn François () is a French masculine given name and surname, equivalent to the English name Francis. People with the given name * Francis I of France, King of France (), known as "the Father and Restorer of Letters" * Francis II of France, King ...

, Johan Bax was born in 1637 in

. He started his service with the

Dutch East India Company The United East India Company ( nl, Verenigde Oostindische Compagnie, the VOC) was a chartered company established on the 20th March 1602 by the States General of the Netherlands amalgamating existing companies into the first joint-stock c ...

around 1656. The following year he arrived in Batavia with

Hendrik van Rheede Hendrik Adriaan van Rheede tot Drakenstein (Amsterdam, 13 April 1636 – at sea, 15 December 1691) was a military man and a colonial administrator of the Dutch East India Company and naturalist. Between 1669 and 1676 he served as a governor of ...

and Isaac de l'Ostal de Saint-Martin. In 1663 he was involved in the attack on the Malabar coast under Rijckloff of Goens, in 1667 he stayed in Cochin. In 1669 at the age of 32, Johan Bax married Aletta Hinloopen (1649–1680), the daughter of

Jacob Fransz Hinlopen Jacob (; ; ar, يَعْقُوب, Yaʿqūb; gr, Ἰακώβ, Iakṓb), later given the name Israel, is regarded as a patriarch of the Israelites and is an important figure in Abrahamic religions, such as Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Ja ...

in Batavia. This made

Joan Huydecoper II Joan Huydecoper van Maarsseveen II (21 February 1625, Amsterdam – 1 December 1704, Amsterdam) was the eldest son of burgomaster Joan Huydecoper van Maarsseveen I and the brother-in-law of the collector Jan J. Hinlopen and the sheriff Jacob Bo ...

his uncle. Bax served as the successor to Van Rheede in

Colombo Colombo ( ; si, කොළඹ, translit=Koḷam̆ba, ; ta, கொழும்பு, translit=Koḻumpu, ) is the executive and judicial capital and largest city of Sri Lanka by population. According to the Brookings Institution, Colombo me ...

and

Galle Galle ( si, ගාල්ල, translit=Gālla; ta, காலி, translit=Kāli) (formerly Point de Galle) is a major city in Sri Lanka, situated on the southwestern tip, from Colombo. Galle is the provincial capital and largest city of Southern ...

. There he and Aletta had a daughter who died within a year. He sent his uncle a

mango A mango is an edible stone fruit produced by the tropical tree '' Mangifera indica''. It is believed to have originated in the region between northwestern Myanmar, Bangladesh, and northeastern India. ''M. indica'' has been cultivated in Sout ...

, an

acacia ''Acacia'', commonly known as the wattles or acacias, is a large genus of shrubs and trees in the subfamily Mimosoideae of the pea family Fabaceae. Initially, it comprised a group of plant species native to Africa and Australasia. The genus n ...

, a

coconut The coconut tree (''Cocos nucifera'') is a member of the palm tree family (Arecaceae) and the only living species of the genus ''Cocos''. The term "coconut" (or the archaic "cocoanut") can refer to the whole coconut palm, the seed, or ...

, a

civet A civet () is a small, lean, mostly nocturnal mammal native to tropical Asia and Africa, especially the tropical forests. The term civet applies to over a dozen different species, mostly from the family Viverridae. Most of the species diversit ...

and a Negombo devil. Bax was governor of the

for two years, during which the status of the Cape Colony was reduced by the

. Bax sent many specimens in to his uncle Huydecoper such as a

herbarium A herbarium (plural: herbaria) is a collection of preserved plant specimens and associated data used for scientific study. The specimens may be whole plants or plant parts; these will usually be in dried form mounted on a sheet of paper (calle ...

bulb In botany, a bulb is structurally a short stem with fleshy leaves or leaf basesBell, A.D. 1997. ''Plant form: an illustrated guide to flowering plant morphology''. Oxford University Press, Oxford, U.K. that function as food storage organs du ...

s and

seed A seed is an embryonic plant enclosed in a protective outer covering, along with a food reserve. The formation of the seed is a part of the process of reproduction in seed plants, the spermatophytes, including the gymnosperm and angiosper ...

s, as well as canaries,

parakeet A parakeet is any one of many small to medium-sized species of parrot, in multiple genera, that generally has long tail feathers. Etymology and naming The name ''parakeet'' is derived from the French wor''perroquet'' which is reflected in ...

s, a

monkey Monkey is a common name that may refer to most mammals of the infraorder Simiiformes, also known as the simians. Traditionally, all animals in the group now known as simians are counted as monkeys except the apes, which constitutes an incom ...

and a young

rhinoceros A rhinoceros (; ; ), commonly abbreviated to rhino, is a member of any of the five extant taxon, extant species (or numerous extinct species) of odd-toed ungulates in the family (biology), family Rhinocerotidae. (It can also refer to a member ...

. Huydecoper sent Bax a gardener from

Maarssen Maarssen () is a town in the middle of the Netherlands, in the province of Utrecht, along the river Vecht and the Amsterdam–Rhine Canal. The west of Maarssen is called Maarssen-BroekStatistics are taken from thSDU Staatscourant whereas the eas ...

. He was named governor of Dutch Ceylon on 25 October 1678, but he died after a chest infection before he could take that position. He was buried on 4 July 1679 in Cape Town. Due to a shortage of slaves in the Dutch

Cape Colony The Cape Colony ( nl, Kaapkolonie), also known as the Cape of Good Hope, was a British colony in present-day South Africa named after the Cape of Good Hope, which existed from 1795 to 1802, and again from 1806 to 1910, when it united with t ...

, his widow Aletta sold some of her slaves from

Malabar Malabar may refer to the following: People * Malabars, people originating from the Malabar region of India * Malbars or Malabars, people of Tamil origin in Réunion Places * Malabar Coast, or Malabar, a region of the southwestern shoreline o ...

before departing for Batavia.

References

* BACKX. Boeree,Th.A. De kroniek van het geslacht Backx (Bax, Bacx, Bakx en Baks). Een episode uit den strijd tegen Spanje. Wageningen, Vada, 1943. XIV,569 blz. * Bijgevoegd; Registers op de geslachtnamen voorkomende in Th.A.Boeree De kroniek van het geslacht Backx, Wageningen 1943. 16 blz.

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bax van Herenthals, Johan 1637 births 1678 deaths 17th-century Dutch colonial governors 17th-century South African people Commanders of the Dutch Cape Colony People from 's-Hertogenbosch