Cornelis Speelman

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Cornelis Speelman
Rijcklof van Goens
Succeeded byJohannes Camphuys
Personal details
Born2 March 1628
Rotterdam, Dutch Republic
Died11 January 1684 (1684-01-12) (aged 55)
Batavia, Dutch East Indies
NationalityDutch Republic Dutch Republic

Cornelis Janszoon Speelman (2 March 1628 – 11 January 1684) was

Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies
from 1681 to 1684.

Cornelis Janszoon Speelman was the son of a

Indies. He was employed as an assistant (assistent) in the service of the Dutch East India Company
(VOC).

Biography

In 1645, he arrived in

Persia that year, and wrote an account of the voyage. They were received by the Shah Abbas II
with great festivity. Even before his voyage came to an end, in 1652, he was promoted to buyer (koopman).

On his return to Batavia, he took up a post in the office of the bookkeeper-general (boekhouder-generaal), for whom he deputed for a long time, and whom he succeeded in 1657. Meanwhile, he had married the fifteen-year-old Petronella Maria Wonderaer, daughter to the receiver-general (ontvanger-generaal). In 1659, he was placed in charge of the company's clerical and administrative staff (kapitein over de compagnie pennisten) in Batavia. In 1661, he became schepen van Batavia (a sort of alderman post connected with local government there).

Career

On 12 June 1663, Cornelis Speelman was appointed governor and director of

Treaty of Bongaya[1]). In the same year, he was named commissioner (commissaris) of Amboina, Banda, and Ternate
. Consequently, he became counsellor-extraordinary (raad extra-ordinaris) to the Dutch Council of the Indies. He travelled once again, in 1669, as admiral of another expedition to Makassar where he completely subjugated the kingdom, receiving a gold chain and medallion in recognition of this the following year.

He became a full Counsellor of the Indies on 23 March 1671. The following year he was admiral of a fleet sent against the French. In December 1676, he led an expedition to Central Java, supporting the ruler of Mataram who was facing the Trunajaya rebellion. On Java's East Coast, he went to war against the rebel leader Trunajaya. It took some time before peace was re-established. He was called back to Batavia at the end of 1677 and on 18 January 1678 named First Counsellor and Director-General of the Indies (Eerste Raad en Directeur-Generaal van Indië). Also in that year he was appointed president of the College van Schepenen (to do with local government) in Batavia. On 29 October 1680 he was named governor-general, a post he took up on 25 November 1681, succeeding Rijckloff van Goens.

During the term of office of Cornelis Speelman as governor-general, the

Bantam. Cornelis Speelman died on 11 January 1684 in the Castle at Batavia. His funeral was accompanied with great clamour and splendour, for which no pains or monies were spared. He was buried in the Kruiskerk to the salute of 229 cannon shots. He was followed as governor-general by Johannes Camphuys
.

Sources