Coen, Jan Pieterszoon (1587-1629), served two terms as governor general of the Netherlands Indies (now Indonesia). In 1619, he founded Batavia (now Jakarta), the capital of Indonesia. Historians credit him with having laid the foundations of Dutch power in the Netherlands Indies.
Coen was born in the Netherlands on Jan. 8, 1587. In 1607, he sailed for the East Indies in the employment of the Dutch East India Company, a trading company that had a monopoly on trade between Asia and the Netherlands. In 1612, he was sent to Southeast Asia in command of two trading vessels. He remained at Banten, West Java. When Coen became governor general in 1619, he drove the British out of Jayakarta, destroying much of the town in the process. He then moved the Dutch headquarters from Banten to Jayakarta, which he renamed Batavia. In 1623, he returned to the Netherlands. In 1627, he began a second term as governor general. Coen died of an illness on Sept. 20, 1629, while troops of the Javanese ruler, Sultan Agung, were attacking Batavia.
See also Dutch East India Company.
