Cornelis Chastelein, also written ''Chasteleijn'' or ''Chastelijn'' (
Amsterdam
Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the capital and most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population of 907,976 within the city proper, 1,558,755 in the urban ar ...
, August 10, 1657 – Batavia, June 28, 1714) was born of a notable merchant family. He was the youngest member of a family of eight children. His father, Anthony Chastelein, arrived to the Netherlands from France as a
huguenot
The Huguenots ( , also , ) were a religious group of French Protestants who held to the Reformed, or Calvinist, tradition of Protestantism. The term, which may be derived from the name of a Swiss political leader, the Genevan burgomaster Be ...
, and a member 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 ...
. His mother, Maria Cruydenier, was the daughter of the mayor of
Dordrecht
Dordrecht (), historically known in English as Dordt (still colloquially used in Dutch, ) or Dort, is a city and municipality in the Western Netherlands, located in the province of South Holland. It is the province's fifth-largest city after R ...
who served for the Dutch West India Company.
On January 24, 1675, 17-years-old Cornelis Chastelein boarded the Ship's ''’t Huis te Cleeff'' and arrived at Batavia on August 16, 1675. In Batavia, Chastelein worked as an accountant in service of the company.
Career
Cornelis Chastelein was successful in his career. In 1682 he was one a big shopkeeper (''groot-winkelier'') in the ''Grooten Winkel te Batavia''. In 1691, he was of the wealthiest "Big Shopkeeper in the Big Store in Batavia", and in 1691 he was "Second Upperman of the Batavia Castle. In that same year, he was resolutely fired on request "with regard to his increasing weakness". It is not unlikely that the appointment of Joan van Hoorn as Director-General, by which he became Chastelein's chief, was the reason for this resignation request. It was known that Chastelein and van Hoorn doesn't go very well together.
From 1691 to 1704, Chastelein acquired various estates to the south of Batavia e.g. Siringsing (now Serengseng Sawah,
South Jakarta
South Jakarta ( id, Jakarta Selatan; bew, Jakarte Beludik ), colloquially known as ''Jaksel'', is one of the five administrative cities which form the Special Capital Region of Jakarta, Indonesia. South Jakarta is not self-governed and does not ...
) in 1695, at pole 17 (about from Batavia), somewhere in the middle of the Batavia-
Buitenzorg
Bogor ( su, , nl, Buitenzorg) is a city in the West Java province, Indonesia. Located around south of the national capital of Jakarta, Bogor is the 6th largest city in the Jakarta metropolitan area and the 14th overall nationwide.Ciliwung and Pesanggrahan river. There he established the first of its kind in Java, a Protestant congregation consisting of native Indonesians which was named ''De Eerste Protestante Organisatie van Christenen'' (DEPOC).
Weltevreden
In 1704, Chastelein bought another land which later he named Weltevreden. In this new estate he established the first experimental coffee plantation in the Indies, as well as the first Indies zoo. In the estate of Depok he created a pepper plantation. It can not be a coincidence that Chastelein had let this family work in Depok, slave families like Laurens and Loen from Ambon. During the period he wrote a dissertation in which he established an ethical manifestation against the Dutch East India Company's merchant politics, especially toward Governor General Willem van Outhoorn, who was in favor of aggressive trade policy.
Cornelis Chastelein was against slavery and he would give slaves in the colonial land their freedom. The church council of Batavia had ruled that slavery is contrary to the Bible, but this provision was valid only for Christians. Because of this, Chastelein converted his slaves to Christianity and made them free people. Their number in the year 1714 – the year that Chastelein died – was estimated about 200.
Slave families
For his estate Depok, Chastelein bought twelve slave families from various parts of the archipelago: Balinese, Ambonese, Buginese and Sundanese. It is suspected that there were also the descendants of the
Mardijker
The Mardijker people refers to an ethnic community in the Dutch East Indies (present-day Indonesia) made up of descendants of freed slaves. They could be found at all major trading posts in the East Indies. They were mostly Christian, of various ...
s, a group of Portuguese-creole, among his slaves.
Of the twelve original slave families, at least five families decided to receive a new Christian name from Chastelein. There were also Roman Catholic families which were converted to (Protestant) Christianity by Chastelein. Isakh, Jacob, Jonathan, Joseph and Samuel are the Biblical names given to Chastelein to the converted slave families. The remaining seven families retained their original names: Bacas, Laurens, Leander, Loen, Sadokh, Soedira and Tholense. After the Second World War, the name Sadokh went extinct.
In 1704, Chastelein worked for the company once more as 'Extraordinary Council'. After his first meeting in the
Council of the Indies
The Council of the Indies ( es, Consejo de las Indias), officially the Royal and Supreme Council of the Indies ( es, Real y Supremo Consejo de las Indias, link=no, ), was the most important administrative organ of the Spanish Empire for the Amer ...
in 1705, he was appointed as Ordinary Member of the Council of Dutch India in November 1708, receiving a monthly allowance of 350 guilders per month. He remained in this position to his death.
Marriage
Cornelis Chastelein was married to Catharina of Quaelborg. She was probably his niece, since her father, Council of India, was married to one Henriëtte Chastelein.
They had one son Anthony, while Chastelein's will shows that they have also adopted a mixed blood girl as daughter: Maria Chastelein mixtures (5 June 1693). Cornelis Chastelein died at the age of 56, on 28 June 1714 at 4 o'clock in the afternoon and 28 June is still the official day of Chastelein being commemorated.
In addition to his great ability as a businessman, Chastelein was a socially moved man who had his time far ahead. His greatest merit, however, was his legacy to his body-owners. In his will, he had found that the twelve original families had the estate Depok, 1240 ha. great, if he would inherit a communal property and thereby obtain their freedom. And thus it was determined that "released bodies and their descendants would have landed forever and used".
Trivia
The name Chastelein does not exist anymore. The people are now called Castelein or Casteleijn.