Willem Jacobszoon Coster ( – 21 August 1640) was a Dutch colonial governor who served as the first

Governor of Dutch Ceylon A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the type of political region or polity, a ''governor'' ma ...

from 13 March until 17 August 1640. He was succeeded by

Jan Thyszoon Payart Jan Thyszoon Payart was a Dutch statesman and administrator who served as Governor of Zeylan (Dutch Ceylon) during the early Dutch period in Ceylon. He was appointed on 1 August 1640 and was Governor until 24 March 1646. He was succeeded by Joan Ma ...

Ceylon

In 1637, the

King of Kandy The Kandyan Monarchy was the last independent monarchy of Sri Lanka, ruled by a succession of monarchs from the Kingdom of Kandy. This monarchy spanned over 230 years from 1590 to 1815 and played a significant role in shaping the country's hist ...

, Rajasingha II, approached 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) for military support against the Portuguese occupiers. Admiral Adam Westerwolt was sent to help the king to capture Fort Batticaloa. Coster had arrived in

Trincomalee Trincomalee (; , ; , ), historically known as Gokanna and Gokarna, is the administrative headquarters of the Trincomalee District and major resort port city of Eastern Province, Sri Lanka, Eastern Province, Sri Lanka. Located on the east coast o ...

in April 1638, which was already in Dutch hands, and sailed for

Batticaloa Batticaloa (, ''Maṭṭakkaḷappu'', ; , ''Maḍakalapuwa'', ) is a major city in the Eastern Province, Sri Lanka, and its former capital. It is the administrative capital of the Batticaloa District. The city is the seat of the Eastern Univers ...

with three ships and 180 men, where he awaited Westerwolt's arrival. The admiral arrived with four ships on 10 May, while the troops of the king arrived the next day from inland. On 14 May, the Portuguese surrendered the fort and were deported to the

Coromandel Coast The Coromandel Coast is a coastal region along the southeastern front of the Indian peninsula. Its delimitations are numerous, but generally admitted to be bounded by the Krishna River, Krishna river River mouth, mouth to the north, the Bay of B ...

. The next week, King Rajasingha signed an agreement with the VOC to allow a monopoly in the trade in cinnamon, amongst others, in exchange for help driving the Portuguese out of his kingdom. After Westerwolt's departure, Coster remained at Fort Batticaloa with 100 men.Ceylon
at vocsite.nl (in Dutch) In early 1640, the

Kingdom of Kandy The Kingdom of Kandy was a monarchy on the Sri Lanka, island of Sri Lanka, located in the central and eastern portion of the island. It was founded in the late 15th century and endured until the early 19th century. Initially a client kingdom ...

and the VOC signed another agreement and decided to capture

Galle Galle (, ; , ) (formerly ) is a major city on the southwestern tip of Sri Lanka, south of Colombo. Galle is the provincial capital and largest city of Southern Province, Sri Lanka and is the capital of Galle District. Galle was known as ''Gi ...

from the Portuguese. Coster arrived with his troops on 8 March, while on 11 March, the King's troops and three VOC ships arrived with 400 sailors and soldiers. On 13 March 1640, the combined troops under command of Coster overpowered Fort Galle and took over the city. The fort was subsequently renamed Fort Akersloot – after Coster's hometown. The High Council decided to install Coster as

Governor of Ceylon {{Use dmy dates, date=November 2019 The governor of Ceylon can refer to historical vice-regal representatives of three colonial powers: Portuguese Ceylon * List of captains of Portuguese Ceylon (1518–1551) * List of captain-majors of Portugue ...

, with Galle as his residence, where he had a garrison of 200 men. As part of the agreement, Trincomalee was returned to Kandy. When Rajasingha learned that Coster was reluctant to return more of the conquered land, he had Coster and his seven companions killed near

Nilgala Nilgala is a village in Sri Lanka. It is located within Central Province. See also *List of towns in Central Province, Sri Lanka Central Province, Sri Lanka, Central Province is a Provinces of Sri Lanka, province of Sri Lanka, containing the Ka ...

—on the way back from Kandy to Batticaloa—in August 1640. Coster's wife was one of the first Dutch women to arrive in Ceylon, in November 1640.

References

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Bibliography

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Coster, Willem Jacobszoon 17th-century Dutch colonial governors 1590s births 1640 deaths People murdered in the 1640s Dutch people murdered abroad Governors of Dutch Ceylon People from Akersloot People murdered in Sri Lanka