Gerard Reynst (1560s – 7 December 1615) was a Dutch merchant and later the second

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 ...

Biography

All that is known of his early years is that he was born in Amsterdam, the son of Pieter Rijnst (ca.1510–1574), soap Boiler from the later patrician Reynst family, and Trijn Sijverts. In 1588 he married Margrieta Nicquet and bought a house in Amsterdam from his older brother Reijnst. In 1599, as a merchant and ship-owner, he became a founder-member and administrator of the Nieuwe or

Brabantsche Compagnie The Brabant Company (Dutch - ''Brabantsche Compagnie''), also known as the New Company (''Nieuwe Compagnie'') was a precursor of the Dutch East India Company (VOC). The Brabantsche Company was set up in 1599, by Jacques de Velaer, Isaac le Maire, ...

which, in 1600, became the Vereenighde Company of Amsterdam. This company then in 1602 merged into 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 ...

(VOC). On the request of his elders in the college of the

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 co ...

(17 men), he became Governor-general of the Dutch East Indies in 1613 and left with 9 ships. The trip lasted 18 months, after which he took over command from

Pieter Both Pieter Both (1568 – 6 March 1615) was the first Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies. Not much is known of his early years. In 1599, Both was already an admiral in the New, or Brabant Company. In that year, he traveled to the East Indie ...

. On the way, he had already sent one of his ships to the

Red Sea The Red Sea ( ar, البحر الأحمر - بحر القلزم, translit=Modern: al-Baḥr al-ʾAḥmar, Medieval: Baḥr al-Qulzum; or ; Coptic: ⲫⲓⲟⲙ ⲛ̀ϩⲁϩ ''Phiom Enhah'' or ⲫⲓⲟⲙ ⲛ̀ϣⲁⲣⲓ ''Phiom ǹšari''; T ...

to start trade relations with the

Arab The Arabs (singular: Arab; singular ar, عَرَبِيٌّ, DIN 31635: , , plural ar, عَرَب, DIN 31635: , Arabic pronunciation: ), also known as the Arab people, are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in Western Asia, ...

s there. His May 1605 expedition against the

Banda island The Banda Islands ( id, Kepulauan Banda) are a volcanic group of ten small volcanic islands in the Banda Sea, about south of Seram Island and about east of Java, and constitute an administrative district (''kecamatan'') within the Central M ...

of Ai was a failure. He died more than a year after arrival, having caught dysentery so that he could do little there, besides a few minor activities that were only intermittently successful. There is a street named after him in The Hague, Gerard Reijnststraat, which is situated very close to the area which the Allies mistakenly bombed during World War II.

Family

Café Papeneiland - Amsterdam - 20020095 - RCE

In 1588 in

Haarlem Haarlem (; predecessor of ''Harlem'' in English) is a city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is the capital of the province of North Holland. Haarlem is situated at the northern edge of the Randstad, one of the most populated metropoli ...

Reijnst married Margriet Niquet, daughter of the wealthy merchant and art-collector (1539–1608) from

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 his death, Reijnst left his wife, who had accompanied him to the East Indies, with seven children. The younger of these she raised with her brother Jacques Nicquet, who was an art-collector as well. Among their children were the art-collecting brothers

Gerard Gerard is a masculine forename of Proto-Germanic origin, variations of which exist in many Germanic and Romance languages. Like many other early Germanic names, it is dithematic, consisting of two meaningful constituents put together. In this ca ...

and

Jan Jan, JaN or JAN may refer to: Acronyms * Jackson, Mississippi (Amtrak station), US, Amtrak station code JAN * Jackson-Evers International Airport, Mississippi, US, IATA code * Jabhat al-Nusra (JaN), a Syrian militant group * Japanese Article Num ...

(1601–1646). His daughter Weijntje became the mother of the merchant Isaak Isaaksz Coymans (1622–1673), one of the founders of the

Danish West India Company The Danish West India Company () or Danish West IndiaGuinea Company (') was a Denmark–Norway, Dano-Norwegian chartered company that operated out of the colonies in the Danish West Indies. It is estimated that 120,000 Atlantic slave trade, enslav ...

References

1560s births 1615 deaths Dutch East India Company people from Amsterdam Governors-General of the Dutch East Indies Deaths from dysentery Date of birth unknown Year of birth unknown 17th-century Dutch East Indies people {{Netherlands-bio-stub