Dutch East Indies Coen on the islands of the Banda archipel Aad 'Arcengel' Engelfriet

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groote broer

......wiser brother.......

Jan Pieterszn Coen and the extinction of the population on the Banda islands
( Dutch version )

Kaart1595

At the time, these maps (of 1595) were used for sailing

coen

Jan Pieterszn Coen's (founder of Batavia) motto:" Do not disparage, do not have mercy on your enemies, for God is with us". At the time, many people liked these words.

banda_islands_overview

The VOC tried to monopolise trade in nutmeg and other products on the Banda islands, which did not work out too well. Agreements that were made under pressure were repeatedly violated and there were more competitors, for instance The British.

Coen decided to do something about it. In 1621 he appeared on the coast of the island Great-Banda and he was defeated thanks to the cannons from the British (traded for nutmeg).

Korakora_oorlogsvaartuig_Banda_eilanden_1600

Korakora battleship of the Banda islands ( 1600 )

At their second attack under the command of Coen the Dutch were more successful. 800 prisoners were immediately moved to Batavia as slaves. They only had to wait for a chance now to take further actions.

One night (so the story goes) an oillamp fell in the Dutch encampment. This caused panic, because " the people from Banda were revolting"

The inhabitants of the next village "confessed" after a bit of torturing. This was the signal for Coen....a massacre was the result!

banda_islands

Punishing expeditions were being executed on all Banda islands, on which hardly any lives were spared. After a fake trial 44 prisoners were beheaded and cut in four by Japanese Samurai private soldiers. A Dutch officer reported: " People died without even a sound, except for one who spoke Dutch who said : My Lords, does no one of You have mercy then?
Everything that happened was so horrible that we were numbed. Only God knows who is right. All of us, as practising Christians, were full of disgust about the way this was being handled and we had no fun during these executions (sic)"

A museum on the island shows a picture of the execution of 8 Mai 1621. As a Dutch person one can not look at the painting for very long, for in the painting (so the story goes) a small Dutch flag can be found...

Batavia_1657

Fishmarket and castle Batavia ( 1657 )

Yet in 1635 there was a notification that before Coen there lived about 15,000 people on the islands, of which there were a mere 1000 left in 1635.

In 1886 one wrote : "If not already a statue was risen for Coen (as well in Batavia, removed straight after the Japanese invasion in 1942, as in Hoorn : still there), I doubt if such a thing would still happen. His name has blood written all over it."

coenopkoningsplein

Statue of Coen in Batavia, until 1942.....

A beautiful essay about the history of the Banda Islands is also available.
From Nik we received this

coenwapen

The coat of arms for the Coen / Keun family
Nik added that this was put together by an Italian Prince, who, I was told was a cousin, by marriage. My Grandmother was Italian, married to the said Oswald Keun mentioned in the Coat of Arms document. She has her own Family coat of arms as well.
When I was in Singapore, I travelled through Malaya and Thailand, and found some Keuns living in Kuala Lumpa, they've since moved to a suburb Petalang Jaya.

Arcengel was unable to find in one of his books any confirmation about this beautiful coat of arms, refering to Governor-General Jan Pieterszoon Coen...., so please can somebody help us??

Like to read my other stories about the Dutch East Indies?
More to come......

and in English as soon as possible (some sites are already translated : see below the header after opening of the requested story in Dutch )

Pramoedya_Ananta_Toer

Introduction to the history of the Dutch East Indies

GG_sJacob

Governors-General of the Dutch East Indies

coen

Jan Pieterszn Coen and the extinction of the population on the Banda islands

raadhuis Batavia 1750

The killing of at least 5000 Chinese people in 1740

Ambon_1817

Who was Pattimura ?

Diponegoro

Who was Diponegoro ?

Radja_van_Lombok

The "betrayal" of the ( present holiday ) island of Lombok and the "Treasures of Lombok"

Balinees monument ter herinnering aan de strijd tegen de Nederlanders

The pacification of the ( present holiday ) island of Bali

Wilhelmus van Nassaue,
Ziet gij dien heldenstoet?
Zij schoten op de vrouwen
En drenkten 't land met bloed.
De kwasten der banieren
zijn darmen van een kind.
Licht dat ge aan hun rapieren,
nog vrouwenharen vindt.

The war of aggression against Aceh

The war of aggression against Aceh has been the largest Dutch war ever which resulted in 100,000 people killed and 1,000,000 people injured

Bali in the 19th century

Book covers and references

Batavia harbour 1870 de kleine boom

Photos and images of the Dutch East Indies

            ......a Northsea coast state of robbers......
            .....building railways from stolen money
            stunned the victims with
            opium, Gospels and Dutch gin...

             I dare to ask you in confidence is it
            your order that more than thirty
            million of your subjects in the East are maltreated and
            squeezed in Your name?

            Multatuli [1860] ...to the Netherlands...King William III

Multatuli : Assistent_resident_Eduard_Douwes_Dekker_from_Lebak_Residential_area_of_Bantam

....that village was set to fire, because it was captured by the Dutch.......

Yes, the village was captured by the Dutch, so it was burning

After each Dutch victory a fire
After each Dutch victory a destruction.
Dutch warfare methods induce desperation

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Translated by Sonja van den Heijkant

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Last update :

22 February 2005