Balthazar de Moucheron (–) was a Dutch trader, ship owner and one of the founders of 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 ...

, but never participated as he went bankrupt in the same year. He is known for his early trading with India (Calcutta) and Indonesia, America,Uit he
''Registre van de Besoignee van de gemeyne saecken der cooplieden tracerende op Spaengien ende andere plaetsen Westwaerts tsindts den jare 1581, fol. 15 en A.A.B. Deel 32, blz. 22.''
in the city archives of Antwerp it stated that he was one of the advocates of founding a trading company for the trade-in what is now America in 1583, which didn't happen at that time the west coast of

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

, the

Baltic Sea The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden and the North and Central European Plain. The sea stretches from 53°N to 66°N latitude and from ...

and the

White Sea The White Sea (russian: Белое море, ''Béloye móre''; Karelian and fi, Vienanmeri, lit. Dvina Sea; yrk, Сэрако ямʼ, ''Serako yam'') is a southern inlet of the Barents Sea located on the northwest coast of Russia. It is su ...

(Archangelsk).

Early life

His father was Pierre de Moucheron (1508–1565). Pierre was from the French province of le Perche (parish Boissy-le-Sec in the south of

Verneuil-sur-Avre Verneuil-sur-Avre (, literally ''Verneuil on Avre'') is a former commune in the Eure department in Normandy in northern France. On 1 January 2017, it was merged into the new commune Verneuil d'Avre et d'Iton. History Following the revolt of the ...

) and was a descendant of the House of Bouley Moucheron. He moved from Normandy to

Middelburg Middelburg may refer to: Places and jurisdictions Europe * Middelburg, Zeeland, the capital city of the province of Zeeland, southwestern Netherlands ** Roman Catholic Diocese of Middelburg, a former Catholic diocese with its see in the Zeeland ...

in 1530 and found a job with the trader Antoine de Gerbier. He married his master's daughter Isabeau in 1533. Pierre father became a wealthy merchant due to business activities in the Netherlands, France, Spain, and England. In 1545, he moved his ''handelshuis'' (trade house) to

Antwerp Antwerp (; nl, Antwerpen ; french: Anvers ; es, Amberes) is the largest city in Belgium by area at and the capital of Antwerp Province in the Flemish Region. With a population of 520,504,

, at that time the trading center of the region.Henry C. Murphy (2010). Henry Hudson in Holland. New York: Cosimo Classics. p. 6.

Adulthood

Alexander Farnese Alessandro Farnese may refer to: *Pope Paul III (1468–1549), Roman Catholic Bishop of Rome *Alessandro Farnese (cardinal) (1520–1589), Paul's grandson, Roman Catholic bishop and cardinal-nephew *Alexander Farnese, Duke of Parma (1545–1592), P ...

was sent to subdue a revolt in the

southern Netherlands The Southern Netherlands, also called the Catholic Netherlands, were the parts of the Low Countries belonging to the Holy Roman Empire which were at first largely controlled by Habsburg Spain (Spanish Netherlands, 1556–1714) and later by the A ...

. In 1584, Spain controlled most of the area, except for a handful of great cities. In the besieged city of Antwerp, a Night Watch was assembled, in which Balthazar was a colonel. After a failed attempt by Holland and

Zeeland , nl, Ik worstel en kom boven("I struggle and emerge") , anthem = "Zeeuws volkslied"("Zeelandic Anthem") , image_map = Zeeland in the Netherlands.svg , map_alt = , m ...

to free the city, Antwerp surrendered. Balthazar helped negotiate its capitulation. The terms of surrender stated that all Protestant citizens had four years' to leave the city. In 1585, after the

Fall of Antwerp The Fall of Antwerp on 17 August 1585 took place during the Eighty Years' War, after a siege lasting over a year from July 1584 until August 1585. The city of Antwerp was the focal point of the Protestant-dominated Dutch Revolt, but was force ...

, Balthazar moved his business to

Northern passage

Lucas Wagenaer - Fragment of the Generale pascaerte van gantsch Europa

Balthazar played an important role in the search for a Northern passage to the

Indies The East Indies (or simply the Indies), is a term used in historical narratives of the Age of Discovery. The Indies refers to various lands in East (disambiguation)#Geography, the East or the Eastern hemisphere, particularly the islands and ...

. He was most likely inspired by his connection with Olivier Brunel. He sent a request to prince Willem van Oranje in 1584 that remained unanswered due to the turbulent times. Balthazar and Brunel then initiated the search on their own account with limited success. A new request in 1594 was accepted by the prince, but was deemed of too high importance for two traders to do on their own, and the ''Staten Generaal'' (precursor of the parliament) took control. In 1594, Zeeland and Amsterdam equipped four ships for the expedition.

Willem Barentsz Willem Barentsz (; – 20 June 1597), anglicized as William Barents or Barentz, was a Dutch Republic, Dutch navigator, cartographer, and Arctic explorer. Barentsz went on three expeditions to the far north in search for a Northern Sea Route, N ...

sailed for Amsterdam and

Cornelis Nay Cornelis Corneliszoon Nay was a Dutch navigator and explorer who attempted to discover the Northeast Passage from Europe to the Far East. Nay hailed from Enkhuizen in the Netherlands. In June 1594, he set out from the Dutch island of Texel with ...

for Zeeland. Balthazar accepted reluctantly but was unhappy that he was only appointed as an advisor. The fleet sailed on 5 June 1594. They were hampered by large ice plains, but on August 11 they found open waters on the

Kara Sea The Kara Sea (russian: Ка́рское мо́ре, ''Karskoye more'') is a marginal sea, separated from the Barents Sea to the west by the Kara Strait and Novaya Zemlya, and from the Laptev Sea to the east by the Severnaya Zemlya archipelago. ...

and assumed this was the long sought passage. The fleet returned to the Netherlands and reported on these findings. Balthazar sent his brother Melchior as a trading agent to the mouth of the Dwina at the White Sea.

Trade routes through the Cape

In 1597,

Cornelis de Houtman Cornelis de Houtman (2 April 1565 – 1 September 1599) was a Dutch merchant seaman who commanded the first Dutch expedition to the East Indies. Although the voyage was difficult and yielded only a modest profit, Houtman showed that the Po ...

succeeded in the so-called

Eerste Schipvaart The First Dutch Expedition to East Indies (Dutch: ''Eerste Schipvaart'') was an expedition that took place from 1595 to 1597. It was instrumental in opening up the Indonesian spice trade to the merchants that eventually formed the Dutch E ...

(first expedition) to sail to Indonesia via

Cape of Good Hope The Cape of Good Hope ( af, Kaap die Goeie Hoop ) ;''Kaap'' in isolation: pt, Cabo da Boa Esperança is a rocky headland on the Atlantic coast of the Cape Peninsula in South Africa. A common misconception is that the Cape of Good Hope is t ...

. Thereafter, Balthazar focused on that route. In 1597, he acquired a house in

Veere Veere (; zea, label=Zeelandic, Ter Veere) is a municipality with a population of 22,000 and a town with a population of 1,500 in the southwestern Netherlands, in the region of Walcheren in the province of Zeeland. History The name ''Veere'' ...

and founded the ''Veerse Compagnie'' and became a main shareholder. In 1598, the ''Veerse Compagnie'' sent two ships, ''De Leeuw'' (the lion) and the ''Leeuwin'' (the lioness), under the supervision of Cornelis and

Frederik de Houtman Frederick de Houtman ( – 21 October 1627) was a Dutch explorer, navigator, and colonial governor who sailed on the first Dutch expedition to the East Indies from 1595 until 1597, during which time he made observations of the southern cel ...

to East India. The fleet returned in 1600 without the two brothers. Cornelis was killed and Frederik was captured on

Atjeh Aceh ( ), officially the Aceh Province ( ace, Nanggroë Acèh; id, Provinsi Aceh) is the westernmost province of Indonesia. It is located on the northernmost of Sumatra island, with Banda Aceh being its capital and largest city. Granted a s ...

. Initially, the expedition was not a financial success. Balthazar sent five more ships, with a crew of 100 sailors and 150 soldiers, on a mission to capture

Príncipe Príncipe is the smaller, northern major island of the country of São Tomé and Príncipe lying off the west coast of Africa in the Gulf of Guinea. It has an area of (including offshore islets) and a population of 7,324 at the 2012 Census;

on the West African shore, with the goal of establishing a supply point for further explorations. The expedition took the island from the Portuguese by a surprise attack, but before reinforcements arrived, the island was re-captured.

Expeditions

Balthazar commissioned

Joris van Spilbergen Joris van Spilbergen (1568 in Antwerp – January 31, 1620 in Bergen op Zoom) was a Dutch naval officer. Joris van Spilbergen was born in Antwerp in 1568. His first major expedition was in 1596, when he sailed to Africa. He then left for As ...

, who sailed in May 1600 with four ships to India. The expedition turned back after capturing a Spanish ship en route. Moucheron was supported by stadtholder Maurits of Orange. Through a merger of the Veerse Compagnie and the Middelburgsche Compagnie (Compagnie van Tenhaeff) in November 1600, the Verenigde Zeeuwse Compagnie (United company of Zeeland) was founded. Balthazar left the company at that point. Only Pieter van Hecke and Pierre le Moyne remained loyal; they formed the Compagnie van De Moucheron in 1601. The company eventually helped with the founding of the

, but demanded a payment delay, protection from his creditors and free passage on the east coast of Africa (Mozambique). In 1601 he sent

with three ships, ''Ram'', ''Schaap'' and ''Lam'', on a successful expedition to establish trade relations with 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 ...

. They eventually reached

. Van Spilbergen met the king of Kandy (

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

Vimala Dharma Suriya Vimaladharmasūriya I was a king of Kandy from 1590 to 1604. His reputation was built when he successfully repulsed two major Portuguese offensives on Kandy, the Battle of Danture in 1594 and the Battle of Balana in 1602, in both of which the P ...

, in 1602 and discussed the possibility of trade in

cinnamon Cinnamon is a spice obtained from the inner bark of several tree species from the genus ''Cinnamomum''. Cinnamon is used mainly as an aromatic condiment and flavouring additive in a wide variety of cuisines, sweet and savoury dishes, breakfa ...

. When van Spilbergen returned to Zeeland in 1604, carrying rubies, sapphires, topazes and other gemstones that he had received as a gift from the ''

maharajah Mahārāja (; also spelled Maharajah, Maharaj) is a Sanskrit title for a "great ruler", "great king" or " high king". A few ruled states informally called empires, including ruler raja Sri Gupta, founder of the ancient Indian Gupta Empire, an ...

'' of Kandy, the independent companies of Holland and Zeeland had already merged to form the Dutch East India Company. One year before the expedition returned from their travels, Balthazar declared bankruptcy and fled to France.

Personal life

Balthazar was married twice. His first wife was Jacqueline de la Croix, who died in 1589. In 1591 he married Elysabeth Berwoudts Van CrompvlietDoop- Trouw- en Begraafboeken - Gemeentearchief Delft
/ref> in Delft. Around 1630 he died in poverty in France.

Footnotes

Biography

* De Jonge, J. K. J. (1862). ''De opkomst van het Nederlandsch gezag in Oost-Indië, 1595–1610''. . Den Haag: Martinus Nijhoff * Unger, W. S. (1948). ''De oudste reizen van de Zeeuwen naar Oost-Indië''. . Den Haag: Martinus Nijhoff. * Wijnroks, E. H. (2003). ''Handel tussen Rusland en de Nederlanden, 1560–1640''. . Hilversum. {{DEFAULTSORT:Moucheron, Balthazar de 16th-century Dutch businesspeople 17th-century Dutch businesspeople 17th-century explorers 1550s births 1630 deaths Founders of the Dutch East India Company Businesspeople from Antwerp