Mattheus de Haan was Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies

Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies

The Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies represented the Dutch rule in the Dutch East Indies between 1610 and Dutch recognition of the independence of Indonesia in 1949.The first Governors-General were appointed by the Dutch East India Company...

 from 1725 to 1729. (His portrait can be seen at http://www.rijksmuseum.nl/collectie/zoeken/asset.jsp?id=SK-A-3774&lang=en).

He was born in Dordrecht

 in 1663. On 26 October 1671 he left for 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...

, where his father had been appoined as Underbuyer (onderkoopman) in the Dutch East India Company

Dutch 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). He then quickly went through posts in the lower levels of that organisation in Dutch Suratte. There, in 1676, he was made Provisional Assistant (provisioneel assistent), and in 1681 he became assistent. He became Bookkeeper (boekhouder) in 1683, and, in 1685, onderkoopman (Underbuyer/Undermerchant). Ten years later, in 1695, he was promoted to Buyer/Merchant (koopman). The next year he had to move to Batavia, to take up the post of Second Senior Buyer (tweede opperkoopman) in the Company's headquarters there. Two years later, in 1698, he was promoted to First Senior Buyer (eerste opperkoopman). He became Secretary (secretaris) to the High Government of the Indies in 1700 and, in 1702, Vice-President of the Council of Justice. He was made a Counsellor-extraordinary (Raad extraordinair) of the Dutch Council of the Indies in 1704. He was then appointed President of the College van Schepenen in 1705. Five years later, he was made full Counsellor of the Indies and in 1722 he became Director-General. On 16 October 1724 he was nominated Governor-General, taking over from Henrick Zwaardecroon on 8 July 1725.

Characteristic of his time in office was his opposition Zwaardecroon's encouragement of silk

Silk

Silk is a natural protein fiber, some forms of which can be woven into textiles. The best-known type of silk is obtained from the cocoons of the larvae of the mulberry silkworm Bombyx mori reared in captivity...

 cultivation. Coffee

Coffee

Coffee is a brewed beverage with a dark,init brooo acidic flavor prepared from the roasted seeds of the coffee plant, colloquially called coffee beans. The beans are found in coffee cherries, which grow on trees cultivated in over 70 countries, primarily in equatorial Latin America, Southeast Asia,...

 production in the de Preanger region (the Priangan :fr:Priangan uplands to the south of Batavia) went enormously well and de Haan felt that this would lead to a decline in coffee prices in Europe, so he lowered the prices paid to the coffee farmers. Their response was to chop down some of the coffee plantations. This was not what was intended, and De Haan forbade it. Meanwhile, there was further heavy damage to the production of coffee. Coffee from Java went mainly to Europe. They never managed to get into the Asian market. Coffee from Mocha

Mocha, Yemen

Mocha or Mokha is a port city on the Red Sea coast of Yemen. Until it was eclipsed in the 19th century by Aden and Hodeida, Mocha was the principal port for Yemen's capital Sana'a.-Overview:...

 took off there, as did the Arabic coffee of the English. No action was taken against this. The English also began to play a more important role in the cotton

Cotton

Cotton is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective capsule, around the seeds of cotton plants of the genus Gossypium. The fiber is almost pure cellulose. The botanical purpose of cotton fiber is to aid in seed dispersal....

 and tea

Tea

Tea is an aromatic beverage prepared by adding cured leaves of the Camellia sinensis plant to hot water. The term also refers to the plant itself. After water, tea is the most widely consumed beverage in the world...

 trade.

Following a very unremarkable term in office (De Haan had all his life been more interested in repose than in action), the Governor-General died, after lying ill for three days, on 1 June 1729. He was buried in Batavia and was followed as Governor-General by Diederik Durven

Diederik Durven

Diederik Durven was Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies from 1 June 1729 until 28 May 1732Durven studied Law at Leiden University where he graduated in 19 July 1702. He became an advocate in Delft in 1704. In 1705, he was nominated as a member of the Council of Justice at Batavia in the Indies...

.

Sources

• Site in Dutch on the Dutch East India Company (VOC) http://www.vocsite.nl/geschiedenis/personalia/dehaan.html
• Encyclopaedie van Nederlandsch-Indië, Part H-M
• Putten, L.P. van, 2002. - Ambitie en onvermogen : gouverneurs-generaal van Nederlands-Indië 1610-1796.
• RGP-GS205, 1988. - Generale Missiven van Gouverneurs-Generaal en Raden aan Heeren XVII der Verenigde Oostindische Compagnie : Deel IX: 1729-1737