Carel Reyniersz

Who was Carel Reyniersz?

Carel Reyniersz was Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies from 1650 until 1653.

Reyniersz was born in Amsterdam in 1604. He left for the Indies in 1627 as Upperbuyer on the Dutch Coromandel. He was promoted to Governor of the Coromandel Coast in 1635, even though he had been accused of engaging in private/personal trading. In 1636 he became Counsellor-extraordinary of the Dutch Council of the Indies. He returned to Amsterdam as Admiral of the returning fleet in 1638 and established himself as a merchant there. However, he lost his entire fortune, so left again, this time aboard the Salamander, for India on 24 April 1645. He arrived there on 3 December 1645. The following year, 1646, he became a full Counsellor of the Indies.

His allocated task was to carry out a new policy in the Indies. Most importantly, he was, as far as possible to eliminate sources of competition. He was to take action against private trading and to deal with too much production of spices by having trees cut down. Reinier stuck strictly to this policy, which led to much conflict in West Ceram, where the population would not accept the destruction of their plantations. It took until 1658 for the area to be pacified.