Johan Bax van Herenthals (14 March 1637 – 29 June 1678), also written as Joan Bax, and van Herentals, was born in

's-Hertogenbosch s-Hertogenbosch (), colloquially known as Den Bosch (), is a city and municipality in the Netherlands with a population of 157,486. It is the capital of the province of North Brabant and its fourth largest by population. The city is south of th ...

and was the governor of the

Dutch Cape Colony The Cape Colony ( nl, Kaapkolonie) was a Dutch United East India Company (VOC) colony in Southern Africa, centered on the Cape of Good Hope, from where it derived its name. The original colony and its successive states that the colony was inco ...

from 1676 succeeding the acting interim governor

IJsbrand Godske IJsbrand Godske (also spelled Isbrand, Usbrand, Goske, or Godsken) ( 1626 – after 1689) was the second Governor of the Dutch Cape Colony. After the death of Governor Pieter Hackius's on 30 November 1671, Godske was appointed to succeed him wi ...

. Agriculture developed during his term and he is recognized as contributing to the development of

Botany Botany, also called , plant biology or phytology, is the science of plant life and a branch of biology. A botanist, plant scientist or phytologist is a scientist who specialises in this field. The term "botany" comes from the Ancient Greek w ...

and

Ethnobiology ] Ethnobiology is the scientific study of the way living things are treated or used by different human cultures. It studies the dynamic relationships between people, biota, and environments, from the distant past to the immediate present.culture ...

. He declared two wars with the

Khoikhoi Khoekhoen (singular Khoekhoe) (or Khoikhoi in the former orthography; formerly also '' Hottentots''"Hottentot, n. and adj." ''OED Online'', Oxford University Press, March 2018, www.oed.com/view/Entry/88829. Accessed 13 May 2018. Citing G. S. ...

. He died in

Cape Town Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...

Biography

Johan Bax was the grandson of Joan Bax, governor of

Heusden Heusden () is a municipality and a town in the South of the Netherlands. It is located between the towns of Waalwijk and 's-Hertogenbosch. The municipality of Heusden, including Herpt, Heesbeen, Hedikhuizen, Doeveren, and Oudheusden, merged wit ...

and

Muiden Muiden () is a city and former municipality in the Netherlands, in the province of North Holland. It lies at the mouth of the Vecht and is in an area called the Vechtstreek. Since 2016, Muiden has been part of the new municipality of Gooise Mere ...

. His father Willem Maurits, a captain in the

Dutch States Army The Dutch States Army ( nl, Staatse leger) was the army of the Dutch Republic. It was usually called this, because it was formally the army of the States-General of the Netherlands, the sovereign power of that federal republic. This mercenary arm ...

under Willem Ripperda, married Jeanette Hoefijser in 1630 in Deventer. In 1631 Willem moved to Amsterdam, and according to

François Valentijn François () is a French masculine given name and surname, equivalent to the English name Francis. People with the given name * Francis I of France, King of France (), known as "the Father and Restorer of Letters" * Francis II of France, King o ...

, Johan Bax was born in 1637 in

. He started his service with 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 ...

around 1656. The following year he arrived in

Batavia Batavia may refer to: Historical places * Batavia (region), a land inhabited by the Batavian people during the Roman Empire, today part of the Netherlands * Batavia, Dutch East Indies, present-day Jakarta, the former capital of the Dutch East In ...

with Hendrik van Rheede and Isaac de l'Ostal de Saint-Martin. In 1663 he was involved in the attack on the Malabar coast under Rijckloff of Goens, in 1667 he stayed in Cochin. In 1669 at the age of 32, Johan Bax married Aletta Hinloopen (1649–1680), the daughter of Jacob Fransz Hinlopen in

. This made Joan Huydecoper II his uncle. Bax served as the successor to Van Rheede in

Colombo Colombo ( ; si, කොළඹ, translit=Koḷam̆ba, ; ta, கொழும்பு, translit=Koḻumpu, ) is the executive and judicial capital and largest city of Sri Lanka by population. According to the Brookings Institution, Colombo m ...

and

Galle Galle ( si, ගාල්ල, translit=Gālla; ta, காலி, translit=Kāli) (formerly Point de Galle) is a major city in Sri Lanka, situated on the southwestern tip, from Colombo. Galle is the provincial capital and largest city of Southern ...

. There he and Aletta had a daughter who died within a year. He sent his uncle a mango, an acacia, a coconut, a

civet A civet () is a small, lean, mostly nocturnal mammal native to tropical Asia and Africa, especially the tropical forests. The term civet applies to over a dozen different species, mostly from the family Viverridae. Most of the species diversit ...

and a Negombo devil. Bax was governor of the

for two years, during which the status of the Cape Colony was reduced by the

. Bax sent many specimens in to his uncle Huydecoper such as a herbarium, bulbs and

seed A seed is an embryonic plant enclosed in a protective outer covering, along with a food reserve. The formation of the seed is a part of the process of reproduction in seed plants, the spermatophytes, including the gymnosperm and angiospe ...

s, as well as canaries,

parakeet A parakeet is any one of many small to medium-sized species of parrot, in multiple genera, that generally has long tail feathers. Etymology and naming The name ''parakeet'' is derived from the French wor''perroquet'' which is reflected in ...

s, a monkey and a young

rhinoceros A rhinoceros (; ; ), commonly abbreviated to rhino, is a member of any of the five extant species (or numerous extinct species) of odd-toed ungulates in the family Rhinocerotidae. (It can also refer to a member of any of the extinct species ...

. Huydecoper sent Bax a gardener from

Maarssen Maarssen () is a town in the middle of the Netherlands, in the province of Utrecht, along the river Vecht and the Amsterdam–Rhine Canal. The west of Maarssen is called Maarssen-BroekStatistics are taken from thSDU Staatscourant whereas the east ...

. He was named governor of Dutch Ceylon on 25 October 1678, but he died after a chest infection before he could take that position. He was buried on 4 July 1679 in Cape Town. Due to a shortage of slaves in the Dutch

Cape Colony The Cape Colony ( nl, Kaapkolonie), also known as the Cape of Good Hope, was a British colony in present-day South Africa named after the Cape of Good Hope, which existed from 1795 to 1802, and again from 1806 to 1910, when it united with t ...

, his widow Aletta sold some of her slaves from Malabar before departing for

References

* BACKX. Boeree,Th.A. De kroniek van het geslacht Backx (Bax, Bacx, Bakx en Baks). Een episode uit den strijd tegen Spanje. Wageningen, Vada, 1943. XIV,569 blz. * Bijgevoegd; Registers op de geslachtnamen voorkomende in Th.A.Boeree De kroniek van het geslacht Backx, Wageningen 1943. 16 blz.

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bax van Herenthals, Johan 1637 births 1678 deaths 17th-century Dutch colonial governors 17th-century South African people Commanders of the Dutch Cape Colony People from 's-Hertogenbosch