Isaac Le Maire
Encyclopedia
Cape Horn
Cape Horn is the southernmost headland of the Tierra del Fuego archipelago of southern Chile, and is located on the small Hornos Island...
.
Isaac le Maire was born in 1558 or 1559 in Tournai. He learned the trade from his merchant brother-in-law Jacques van de Walle. Isaac had three brothers, who also were merchants. Already in 1584 he was registered in Antwerp as a wealthy grocer. At the time, he was also captain of the company of the Antwerp militia
Militia
The term militia is commonly used today to refer to a military force composed of ordinary citizens to provide defense, emergency law enforcement, or paramilitary service, in times of emergency without being paid a regular salary or committed to a fixed term of service. It is a polyseme with...
. He rented the house of Bourgognien Schilt, but in 1585 after the fall of Antwerp he fled to the northern Netherlands.
In 1585 he settled in Amsterdam
Amsterdam
Amsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population...
. He was married in Antwerp to Maria Jacobsdr. Walraven and they had 22 children, and one of them, his son Jacob
Jacob Le Maire
Jacob Le Maire was a Dutch mariner who circumnavigated the earth in 1615-16. The strait between Tierra del Fuego and Isla de los Estados was named the Le Maire Strait in his honor, though not without controversy...
, would go down in history as an explorer. In 1641 his son Maximiliaan
Maximiliaan le Maire
Maximiliaan le Maire , was the Dutch Opperhoofd at Dejima from February to October 1641 and Governor of Formosa from 1643 to 1644....
became the first chief of Deshima.
VOC Opperhoofden in Japan
VOC Opperhoofden in Japan were the chief traders of the Dutch East India Company in Japan during the period of the Tokugawa shogunate, also known as the Edo period.Opperhoofd is a Dutch word which literally means 'supreme head[man]'...
Initially, Isaac le Maire was the largest shareholder in the VOC.
Merchant in Amsterdam
In 1592 his name was registered for the first time in Amsterdam as a participant in the oldest marine insurance policy. In the following years he grew into the trade in European waters. Initially, he wasn't one of the wealthiest merchants, but he could make major investments by ensuring warrant positions within the direct and indirect family network. Together with Peter van de Pulle and Dirck van Os he constituted a company for trading in Russia. They carried Baltic grain and timber to Spain. Ships with leather, wax, fur and caviar from Archangelsk often were destined for VeniceVenice
Venice is a city in northern Italy which is renowned for the beauty of its setting, its architecture and its artworks. It is the capital of the Veneto region...
and Livorno
Livorno
Livorno , traditionally Leghorn , is a port city on the Tyrrhenian Sea on the western edge of Tuscany, Italy. It is the capital of the Province of Livorno, having a population of approximately 160,000 residents in 2009.- History :...
. They also traded in bills of exchange, chartering
Chartering (shipping)
Chartering is an activity within the shipping industry. In some cases a charterer may own cargo and employ a shipbroker to find a ship to deliver the cargo for a certain price, called freight rate. Freight rates may be on a per-ton basis over a certain route or alternatively may be expressed in...
and marine insurance
Marine insurance
Marine insurance covers the loss or damage of ships, cargo, terminals, and any transport or cargo by which property is transferred, acquired, or held between the points of origin and final destination....
s. Between 1594 and 1598 he had a major position in the fish trade between British ports and Spain.
After Cornelis de Houtman
Cornelis de Houtman
Cornelis de Houtman , brother of Frederick de Houtman, was a Dutch explorer who discovered a new sea route from Europe to Indonesia and managed to begin the Dutch spice trade...
made the first trip to the Indies
Indies
The Indies is a term that has been used to describe the lands of South and Southeast Asia, occupying all of the present India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka, the Maldives, and also Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, Brunei, Singapore, the Philippines, East Timor, Malaysia and...
from 1595 to 1597, Le Maire, like many other merchants, plunged into the Indian adventure. In 1599 he and several others in Amsterdam established the Brabant Company, which carried out two voyages to the Indies. The Brabant Company was very successful, it quickly yielded the company 400% profit.
In 1600 he decided to concentrate on trade with the East Indies
East Indies
East Indies is a term used by Europeans from the 16th century onwards to identify what is now known as Indian subcontinent or South Asia, Southeastern Asia, and the islands of Oceania, including the Malay Archipelago and the Philippines...
, but at that time he already acted in the West Indies as well. In 1601 he officially became a citizen of Amsterdam, which was no doubt because of the merger of the New Brabant Company and the Old Company into the First United East Indies Company in Amsterdam. This company, in which le Maire was participant, fitted out eight ships to the Indies, led by Jacob van Heemskerk
Jacob van Heemskerk
Jacob van Heemskerk was a Dutch explorer and later admiral commanding the Dutch fleet at the Battle of Gibraltar.-Arctic exploration:...
.
Shareholder of the Dutch East India Company
In 1602, at the insistence of Johan van Oldenbarnevelt, all Dutch trading companies merged into the Vereenigde Oostindische CompagnieDutch East India Company
The Dutch East India Company was a chartered company established in 1602, when the States-General of the Netherlands granted it a 21-year monopoly to carry out colonial activities in Asia...
(VOC). Le Maire applied for shares for the sum of 85,000 guilders and he became the largest shareholder in the VOC. He got the high position of governor of the VOC. But he soon fell into conflict with the VOC and the consistory as a result of malpractice concerning the journey of Wijbrant van Warwijck in 1602. There were rumors that le Maire intentionally did not submit receipts and other evidence of his share in the costs. The partners of the VOC let him be sued by the sheriff
Schout
In Dutch-speaking areas, a schout was a local official appointed to carry out administrative, law enforcement and prosecutorial tasks. The office was abolished with the introduction of administrative reforms during the Napoleonic period.- Functions:...
, but Le Maire settled the matter for 7200 guilders. The details of the offense were held secret. Because of this matter le Maire was forced to leave the VOC in 1605, while he also had to waive acting as a competitor of the VOC. This event was the foundation of his resentment and opposition against the VOC for the rest of his life. After leaving the VOC, he threw himself upon the European coasting trade, especially in grain. However, the thought of the lucrative trade with the Indies haunted him.
Competitor of the Dutch East India Company
Le Maire found his first opportunity to thwart the VOC in the efforts of France to set up a French trading company for India. King Henry IV of FranceHenry IV of France
Henry IV , Henri-Quatre, was King of France from 1589 to 1610 and King of Navarre from 1572 to 1610. He was the first monarch of the Bourbon branch of the Capetian dynasty in France....
invited him in 1607 for that purpose. Le Maire advised the French on the establishment and organization of a company, and in doing so ignored the competition stipulation with the VOC. However, at that time a French company was not yet established.
Next came the idea to involve Henry Hudson
Henry Hudson
Henry Hudson was an English sea explorer and navigator in the early 17th century. Hudson made two attempts on behalf of English merchants to find a prospective Northeast Passage to Cathay via a route above the Arctic Circle...
in the French plans. Hudson had already made two unsuccessful attempts for England to find a new North-Eastern passage
Northern Sea Route
The Northern Sea Route is a shipping lane officially defined by Russian legislation from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean specifically running along the Russian Arctic coast from Murmansk on the Barents Sea, along Siberia, to the Bering Strait and Far East. The entire route lies in Arctic...
, and in 1608 he came to the Netherlands to interest the VOC for that plan. He came in contact with Le Maire who proposed to the king of France to finance this expedition. With this attempt to find a new route to the Indies, Le Maire would not commit a breach of contract with the VOC, because the VOC only had a patent to trade via the Cape of Good Hope
Cape of Good Hope
The Cape of Good Hope is a rocky headland on the Atlantic coast of the Cape Peninsula, South Africa.There is a misconception that the Cape of Good Hope is the southern tip of Africa, because it was once believed to be the dividing point between the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. In fact, the...
and the Strait of Magellan
Strait of Magellan
The Strait of Magellan comprises a navigable sea route immediately south of mainland South America and north of Tierra del Fuego...
, until then the only two known routes to the Indies. The VOC got scent of this intention and offered Hudson a better contract, which ultimately led to his famous third voyage in 1608, discovering the river
Hudson River
The Hudson is a river that flows from north to south through eastern New York. The highest official source is at Lake Tear of the Clouds, on the slopes of Mount Marcy in the Adirondack Mountains. The river itself officially begins in Henderson Lake in Newcomb, New York...
that was named after him. After the VOC had caught away Hudson, Le Maire and the king of France secretly came to an agreement to make the North-Eastern journey with another captain. The newly to be discovered strait would be named after the French king, and the new discoveries would be made under the French flag. However, the voyage, led by Melchior van den Kerckhove, was a failure.
In 1609, Isaac le Maire traveled together with Joris van Spilbergen
Joris van Spilbergen
Joris van Spilbergen was a Dutch naval officer of the 17th century.His first major expedition was in 1596, when he sailed to Africa....
, Balthazar de Moucheron and others to Paris, again to discuss the formation of a French East India Company. De Moucheron played a double role in these discussions, because at one point he asked the ambassador of the Netherlands what it would be worth if he would disrupt the proceedings. The discussions so flagged because of mistrust by the French in le Maire. Within the VOC the intrigues of Le Maire led to indignation, but it didn't result in actual actions against him, probably because the Republic wasn't looking for a conflict with France during the war with Spain
Dutch Revolt
The Dutch Revolt or the Revolt of the Netherlands This article adopts 1568 as the starting date of the war, as this was the year of the first battles between armies. However, since there is a long period of Protestant vs...
. In 1610 the King of France was killed and thus plans for a French East India Company were shelved.
Speculator against the Dutch East India Company
Isaac le Maire has also tried to use his knowledge of the VOC to cross the company financially. In 1609 he and eight others founded a secret company with the purpose to trade in VOC shareShare (finance)
A joint stock company divides its capital into units of equal denomination. Each unit is called a share. These units are offered for sale to raise capital. This is termed as issuing shares. A person who buys share/shares of the company is called a shareholder, and by acquiring share or shares in...
s. Le Maire owned nearly one quarter of its shares. This so called "Grote Compagnie" sold short shares of the VOC, that is, without actually owning them. By the time these shares were to be delivered, there was an interest in keeping the share price as low as possible. Le Maire probably expected that the competition by the still to be created French East India Company, would ensure the share price of the VOC to drop significantly. However, the French company was shelved. Rumors were spread to depress the prices, anyway. Such activities were detrimental to the (existing) VOC shareholders, who sometimes were forced to sell their shares at a low price. In particular, in 1609 the share price fell significantly, and the VOC imputed this to machinations of Le Maire.
The VOC attempted via the States-General of the Netherlands
States-General of the Netherlands
The States-General of the Netherlands is the bicameral legislature of the Netherlands, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The parliament meets in at the Binnenhof in The Hague. The archaic Dutch word "staten" originally related to the feudal classes in which medieval...
to impose restrictions on free trade in VOC shares, which the company of Le Maire fiercely resisted. They claimed, the price drop was the result of the bad course of actions of the VOC. But the States-General decided in 1610 to prohibit the sale of shares not in possession. During 1610 and 1611 the stock price of the VOC increased about 200% against the expectation of Le Maire. The company of Le Maire suffered big losses because many shares had to be delivered at a lower price than the market. they were therefore compelled to deliver shares at a loss. Many members of his company went bankrupt and Le Maire had also suffered significant losses, but he could still meet his obligations. This fiasco led him to withdraw from Amsterdam.
Dutch East India Company monopoly broken
Isaac le Maire sold his property in Amsterdam and retired to his possessions in Egmond aan den Hoef, which he had bought between 1598 and 1600 from the estate of the Count of Egmont. After some time, he again started to make plans to break the VOC monopoly. The VOC owned by patent from the States-General the Dutch monopoly on travels to the Indies via the Cape of Good Hope and through the Strait of Magellan, until then the only two known passages to the Indies. From various travel accounts Le Maire assumed that south of the Magellan Strait another passage from the AtlanticAtlantic Ocean
The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions. With a total area of about , it covers approximately 20% of the Earth's surface and about 26% of its water surface area...
to the Pacific Ocean
Pacific Ocean
The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south, bounded by Asia and Australia in the west, and the Americas in the east.At 165.2 million square kilometres in area, this largest division of the World...
could exist. In 1614 he founded the Austraalse Compagnie for the purpose of discovering this passage, which would fall outside the VOC monopoly. The voyage was prepared in Hoorn
Hoorn
-Cities :* Purmerend * Enkhuizen * Alkmaar * Amsterdam * Lelystad * Den Helder * Leeuwarden -Towns :* Edam...
. Two ships were fitted out, the Eendracht and the Hoorn. The journey would be made under the responsibility of his son Jacob le Maire
Jacob Le Maire
Jacob Le Maire was a Dutch mariner who circumnavigated the earth in 1615-16. The strait between Tierra del Fuego and Isla de los Estados was named the Le Maire Strait in his honor, though not without controversy...
. Willem Schouten
Willem Schouten
Willem Cornelisz Schouten was a Dutch navigator for the Dutch East India Company. He was the first to sail the Cape Horn route to the Pacific Ocean.- Biography :Willem Cornelisz Schouten was born in c...
was recruited as an experienced captain. The sailing orders expressly forbade a passage through the Strait of Magellan, even if a new route to the Pacific Ocean could not be found. Furthermore, the expedition was forbidden to trade on coasts where the VOC had a trading post. At that time, there was still the expectation that a great unknown South Land
Terra Australis
Terra Australis, Terra Australis Ignota or Terra Australis Incognita was a hypothesized continent appearing on European maps from the 15th to the 18th century...
would exist. Isaac le Maire hoped to discover it, and in this way tap into an unimagened trading area. But above all, his motive was to circumvent the VOC monopoly. But Isaac gave his son a remarkable secret instruction: although the official sailing order was that no trade should be driven on coasts where the VOC was established, on arrival in the Indies his son had to make clear to the administrators of the VOC that their monopoly had not been violated, because they had not sailed via the Cape of Good Hope or the Strait of Magellan. Then, he should ask permission to still be allowed to trade. Isaac le Maire anticipated it would not be granted, so Jacob would then have to do everything needed to win Governor-General Gerard Reynst
Gerard Reynst
Gerard Reynst was a Dutch merchant, father of a museum curator, and later the second Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies...
, who had been, like Isaac le Maire, a participant in the Brabant Company, for their cause. This even went so far as to Jacob asking Van Reynst the hand of one of his daughters. In this way Isaac le Maire tried to sow dissension within the VOC, because if Gerard Reynst allowed them to trade in this way it could lead to a major conflict within the VOC.
On June 14, 1615 the two ships set sail from Texel
Texel
Texel is a municipality and an island in the Netherlands, in the province of North Holland. It is the biggest and most populated of the Frisian Islands in the Wadden Sea, and also the westernmost of this archipelago, which extends to Denmark...
. The journey was a success in that, with the discovery of the passage round Cape Horn
Cape Horn
Cape Horn is the southernmost headland of the Tierra del Fuego archipelago of southern Chile, and is located on the small Hornos Island...
, the monopoly of the VOC was indeed broken, but the unknown South Land was not discovered, and the secret instruction could not be put into action because Gerard Reynst was already deceased.
After the ships had left Texel, the VOC got wind of the real intention of the travel. Therefore the order was sent to the Indies that, if the expedition would arrive there, the ships would have to be confiscated because of a breach of the VOC's patent. And so it happened. Jacob Le Maire and Willem Schouten were sent back to the Republic, but Jacob Le Maire died during the return voyage. The VOC attempted to rewrite history by assigning the new discoveries to Willem Schouten.
The aftermath of the voyage
Isaac le Maire had to fight many years to obtain his right. In 1619 the court ruled that the ship Eendracht was unlawfully seized by the VOC. The journals were to be returned to Le Maire, and in 1622 Le Maire could finally publish the Spieghel der Australische Navigatie door den Wijtvermaerden ende Cloeckmoedighen Zee-heldt Jacob Le Maire, to do justice to the discoveries of his son. For the damage, he was awarded 64,000 pounds. However, the court ruled that the Austraalse Compagnie was not allowed to trade in the Indian region, but that they did have the right to travel across the newly discovered route around Cape Horn. However, one year earlier the Dutch West India CompanyDutch West India Company
Dutch West India Company was a chartered company of Dutch merchants. Among its founding fathers was Willem Usselincx...
was established and in its patent it received also the monopoly on travels through the Strait of Magellan and other routes in that region. This was contrary to the rights that were granted to Le Maire's Austraalse Compagnie.
Le Maire died on September 20, 1624. He was buried in the Buurkerk in Egmond-Binnen
Egmond-Binnen
Egmond-Binnen is a village in the Dutch province of North Holland. It is a part of the municipality of Bergen, and lies about southwest of Alkmaar....
, and on his tombstone he had written that he had lost during 30 years (except for his honor) 1.5 million guilders, a considerable sum in that time. His Australian Company continued the legal fight, but ultimately the States-General decided in 1644 to the detriment of the company.
See also
- Jacob le MaireJacob Le MaireJacob Le Maire was a Dutch mariner who circumnavigated the earth in 1615-16. The strait between Tierra del Fuego and Isla de los Estados was named the Le Maire Strait in his honor, though not without controversy...
- Financial history of the Dutch RepublicFinancial history of the Dutch RepublicFinancial history of the Dutch Republic describes the history of the interrelated development of financial institutions in the Dutch Republic. The rapid economic development of the country after the Dutch Revolt in the years 1585 - 1620, described in Economic History of the Netherlands ,...
- Dutch East India CompanyDutch East India CompanyThe Dutch East India Company was a chartered company established in 1602, when the States-General of the Netherlands granted it a 21-year monopoly to carry out colonial activities in Asia...