Joost Schouten (c. 1600 – 1644) was a
Dutch East Indies 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 co ...
figure of considerable repute, in demand as an astute
administrator
Administrator or admin may refer to:
Job roles Computing and internet
* Database administrator, a person who is responsible for the environmental aspects of a database
* Forum administrator, one who oversees discussions on an Internet forum
* N ...
,
diplomat
A diplomat (from grc, δίπλωμα; romanization, romanized ''diploma'') is a person appointed by a state (polity), state or an intergovernmental institution such as the United Nations or the European Union to conduct diplomacy with one or m ...
,
courtier
A courtier () is a person who attends the royal court of a monarch or other royalty. The earliest historical examples of courtiers were part of the retinues of rulers. Historically the court was the centre of government as well as the official ...
and
negotiator for this Dutch colonial and mercantile outpost in the
South-East Asia
Southeast Asia, also spelled South East Asia and South-East Asia, and also known as Southeastern Asia, South-eastern Asia or SEA, is the geographical south-eastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of mainland ...
n archipelago today known as
Indonesia
Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guinea. In ...
. In July 1644, Schouten was found to have engaged in
homosexual
Homosexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or sexual behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality is "an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexual attractions" to p ...
sex with numerous men. Convicted of
sodomy
Sodomy () or buggery (British English) is generally anal or oral sex between people, or sexual activity between a person and a non-human animal ( bestiality), but it may also mean any non- procreative sexual activity. Originally, the term ''sod ...
, a capital offence in the seventeenth-century
Netherlands
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, anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau")
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, subdivision_type = Sovereign state
, subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands
, established_title = Before independence
, established_date = Spanish Neth ...
, he was burnt at the stake.
Early life: 1600–1622
Born in the Netherlands, Schouten emigrated to the
Dutch East Indies
The Dutch East Indies, also known as the Netherlands East Indies ( nl, Nederlands(ch)-Indië; ), was a Dutch colony consisting of what is now Indonesia. It was formed from the nationalised trading posts of the Dutch East India Company, which ...
in 1622.
Dutch East Indies Company career: 1624–1644
Over the next two decades, Schouten established a formidable reputation in colonial trade and diplomacy. He became involved in manufacturing and trade within a
Siam
Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is b ...
ese Dutch East Indies Company factory enclave in
Ayutthaya in 1624 and shortly thereafter became secretary to Willem Janssen on the latter's exploratory trade and reconnaissance visit to
Japan
Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
in 1625.
In 1633, Schouten returned to Siam as the Dutch colonial factory director in
Ayutthaya and successfully negotiated for expanded operational facilities and further Dutch trade concessions in return for diplomatic negotiation assistance rendered to
Somdet Phra Chao (r1629–1656), the
king of Siam
The monarchy of Thailand (whose monarch is referred to as the king of Thailand; th, พระมหากษัตริย์ไทย, or historically, king of Siam; th, พระมหากษัตริย์สยาม) refers to the c ...
. In 1635, Schouten maintained a record of his activities in Japan and Siam for his employers, one of the first reliable accounts of the region. It attracted enough interest to be published later in the 17th century and translated in several languages.
[ By 1640, he had returned to Batavia and served on 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 ...
for elite mercantile and commercial interests within the Dutch East Indies Company. In 1642, he equipped Abel Tasman
Abel Janszoon Tasman (; 160310 October 1659) was a Dutch seafarer, explorer, and merchant, best known for his voyages of 1642 and 1644 in the service of the Dutch East India Company (VOC). He was the first known European explorer to reach New ...
for his expedition to the Southwest Pacific, which was to circumnavigate Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country by ...
and lead to the European discovery of New Zealand
New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island coun ...
. On that voyage, Tasman named Schouten Island
Schouten Island (formerly Schouten's Isle), part of the Schouten Island Group, is an island with an area of approximately lying close to the eastern coast of Tasmania, Australia, located south of the Freycinet Peninsula and is a part of Fre ...
for him.
Prosecution and execution
In July 1644, Joost Schouten was accused of sodomy, a crime punishable by water or fire. He confessed to the crimes and offered no defense. After being tried and convicted, his sentence was mitigated in light of his distinguished record. The colony's governor-general, Anthony van Diemen
Anthony van Diemen (also ''Antonie'', ''Antonio'', ''Anton'', ''Antonius'') (1593 – 19 April 1645) was a Dutch colonial governor.
Early life
He was born in Culemborg in the Netherlands, the son of Meeus Anthonisz van Diemen and Christina Ho ...
, ordered him strangled before being burnt at the stake.[ At least three of his sexual partners were subsequently tied in sacks and drowned.][Peter Boomgaard, "Male-male sex, bestiality and incest in the early modern Indonesian Archipelago: Perceptions and penalties", in Raquel Meyes and Will Clarence-Smith, editors, ''Sexual Diversity in Asia: c600-1954'' (Routledge: 2012)]
152
/ref>
See also
* Utrecht sodomy trials (1730–1731)
References
Additional sources
*Francois Caron and Joost Schouten, ''A True Description of the Mighty Kingdoms of Japan and Siam'' (Siam Society: Bangkok, 1986). This publication contains two distinct accounts of the region, first published together in English in 1935.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Schouten, Joust
1640s in Europe
Dutch LGBT people
17th-century LGBT people
People executed for sodomy
17th-century Dutch East Indies people
People executed by the Dutch East India Company
Dutch East India Company people
LGBT history in the Netherlands