Martinus or Maarten Sonck (also Marten; Soncq; Sonk) (ca. 1590, Amsterdam? – August 1625,
Anping) was the first
Dutch governor of Formosa
The governor of Formosa ( nl, gouverneur van Formosa; ) was the head of government during the Dutch colonial period in Taiwan, which lasted from 1624 to 1662. Appointed by the governor-general of the Dutch East Indies in Batavia (modern-day ...
from 1624 to 1625.
Sonck, who in 1612 lived 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 ...
, studied law at
Leiden University
Leiden University (abbreviated as ''LEI''; nl, Universiteit Leiden) is a Public university, public research university in Leiden, Netherlands. The university was founded as a Protestant university in 1575 by William the Silent, William, Prince o ...
from October 1612 to March 1616. In 1618 Sonck was sent by the
Dutch East Indies Company as “advocaat-fiscaal” (a district attorney) to
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 ...
, where he arrived in 1619. He subsequently became governor of the
Banda Islands. In 1623 he was recalled to Batavia to account for the use of excessive amounts of ammunition at gun salutes (he was to pay for it out of his own pocket).
[ (in Dutch, with a picture of Martinus Sonck's signature)] On 4 May 1624 the governing body in Batavia decided to send him to replace
Cornelis Reijersen
Cornelis is a Dutch form of the male given name Cornelius. Some common shortened versions of Cornelis in Dutch are Cees, Cor, Corné, Corneel, Crelis, Kees, Neel and Nelis.
Cornelis (Kees) and Johannes (Jan) used to be the most common given na ...
as commander of the Dutch fort and trading base on Peng-hu, the main island of the
Pescadores west of Formosa.
[ The Pescadores were Chinese territory, and after a failed accord, Nan Juyi, the governor of ]Fujian
Fujian (; alternately romanized as Fukien or Hokkien) is a province on the southeastern coast of China. Fujian is bordered by Zhejiang to the north, Jiangxi to the west, Guangdong to the south, and the Taiwan Strait to the east. Its capi ...
, sent an army to attack Peng-hu in July 1624.[ The Dutch monopolized the harbour, while Zheng Zhilong, or Nicolas Iquan, became a ]privateer
A privateer is a private person or ship that engages in maritime warfare under a commission of war. Since robbery under arms was a common aspect of seaborne trade, until the early 19th century all merchant ships carried arms. A sovereign or deleg ...
for the Dutch, attacking trade between China and Manila
Manila ( , ; fil, Maynila, ), officially the City of Manila ( fil, Lungsod ng Maynila, ), is the capital of the Philippines, and its second-most populous city. It is highly urbanized and, as of 2019, was the world's most densely populate ...
.[ This constituted the beginning of the colonial presence of the Dutch on Formosa.
Sonck was governor of Dutch Formosa for only one year, as he drowned in Anping harbour in August 1625.]Gerard Frederikszoon de With Gerard Frederikszoon de With was the second Dutch governor of Formosa, from 1625 to 1627, succeeding Martinus Sonck Martinus or Maarten Sonck (also Marten; Soncq; Sonk) (ca. 1590, Amsterdam? – August 1625, Anping) was the first Dutch governor of ...
.
References
Bibliography
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sonck, Martinus
Year of birth missing
1625 deaths
Dutch East India Company people from Amsterdam
Colonial governors of Dutch Formosa
Leiden University alumni