Pieterszoon Coen, Jan

Jan Pieterszoon Coen (8 January 1587 – 21 September 1629) was an officer of Dutch East India Company (VOC) in the early seventeenth century, holding two terms as its Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies.

A national hero in the Netherlands, for providing the impulse that set the VOC on the path to dominance in the Dutch East Indies. A quote of his from 1618 is well known, "Despair not, spare your enemies not, for God is with us" ("Dispereert niet, ontziet uw vijanden niet, want God is met ons" in Dutch). Since the latter half 20th century he has been looked at in a more critical light, as some people view his often violent means to have been excessive.

Coen was known in his time on account of strict governance and harsh criticism of people who did not share his views, at times directed even at the 17 Lords of the VOC (for which he was reprimanded). His overall policies were however never judged to be unreasonable. Coen was known be strict towards subordinates and merciless to his opponents. His willingness to use violence to obtain his ends was too much for many, even for such a relatively violent period of history. When Saartje Specx, a girl whom he had been entrusted to care for, was found in a garden in the arms of a soldier, Pieter Cortenhoeff, Coen showed little mercy in having her whipped instead of drowned in a barrel as he first intended. Cortenhoeff was beheaded. (Wikipedia, 2010-06-15)