Carel Reyniersz (1604–1653) was

Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies The governor-general of the Dutch East Indies ( nl, gouverneur-generaal van Nederlands Indië) represented Dutch rule in the Dutch East Indies between 1610 and Dutch recognition of the independence of Indonesia in 1949. Occupied by Japanese fo ...

from 1650 until 1653. Reyniersz (or ''Reiniersz'') was born in

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...

in 1604 (or perhaps 1602). He left for 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 ...

in 1627 as Upperbuyer (''opperkoopman'') on the

Dutch Coromandel Coromandel was a governorate of the Dutch East India Company on the coasts of the Coromandel region from 1610, until the company's liquidation in 1798. Dutch presence in the region began with the capture of Pulicat from the Portuguese in Goa and ...

(

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is a States and union territories of India, state in southern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of India ...

). He was promoted to Governor of the Coromandel Coast in 1635, even though he had been accused of engaging in (forbidden) private/personal trading. In 1636 he became Counsellor-extraordinary (''Raad extra-ordinair'') of the

Dutch Council of the Indies The Council of the Indies ( nl, Raad van Indië; id, Dewan Hindia) was a body established in 1610 to advise and limit the powers of the governor-general of the Dutch East Indies. Initially the council had four members and a chairman, all Dutch na ...

. He returned to Amsterdam as Admiral of the returning fleet in 1638 and established himself as a merchant there. However, he lost his entire fortune, so left again, this time aboard the ''Salamander'', for India on 24 April 1645. He arrived there on 3 December 1645. The following year, 1646, he became a full Counsellor of the Indies. His allocated task was to carry out a new policy in the

. Most importantly, he was, as far as possible to eliminate sources of competition. He was to take action against private trading and to deal with too much production of spices by having trees cut down. Reinier stuck strictly to this policy, which led to much conflict in West Ceram, where the population would not accept the destruction of their plantations. It took until 1658 for the area to be pacified. Four years after Reyniersz become a Counsellor, Governor-General

Cornelis van der Lijn Cornelis van der Lijn (1608 – 27 July 1679) was Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies from 1646 until 1650. Early career Van der Lijn was born in Alkmaar, possibly in 1608. He went, in 1627, as assistant ( nl, assistent) to Batavia, Dutch E ...

received an ''honorable discharge'' (sic) and on 26 April 1650, Reyniersz was named his successor, a task he very much looked forward to. Four years later he was dismissed. The governors of the company were not pleased by the weakness of his rule. There still exists in the Netherlands his letter of dismissal. It indicates he was being dismissed because he had been unable to carry out the duties of his office, particularly maintaining peace. The letter was never sent, because Reynier had already written to the Seventeen Lords (

Heren XVII 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 ...

) asking to be relieved of his office on health grounds. This letter arrived just before his dismissal letter was to be sent. The Seventeen Lords willingly agreed to his request, though he died before their response reached him, on the night of 18/19 May 1653. He was buried in

Batavia, Dutch East Indies Batavia was the capital of the Dutch East Indies. The area corresponds to present-day Jakarta, Indonesia. Batavia can refer to the city proper or its suburbs and hinterland, the Ommelanden, which included the much-larger area of the Residency ...

and was succeed as Governor-General by

Joan Maetsuycker Joan Maetsuycker (14 October 1606 – 24 January 1678) was the Governor of Zeylan during the Dutch period in Ceylon and Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies from 1653 to 1678. He was appointed as Governor of Zeylan on 24 March 1646 and was go ...

Sources

* Dutch site on the East India Compan

* ''Encyclopaedie van Nederlandsch-Indië'', Part N–Soek * Putten, L. P. van, 2002. ''Ambitie en onvermogen: gouverneurs-generaal van Nederlands-Indië 1610–1796''. * http://www.bezuidenhout.nl {{DEFAULTSORT:Reyniersz, Carel 1604 births 1653 deaths Governors-General of the Dutch East Indies Governors of Dutch Coromandel Dutch East India Company people from Amsterdam People of the Dutch Republic in the Dutch East Indies