Pieter de Carpentier

Who was Pieter de Carpentier?

Pieter de Carpentier was a Dutch, or Flemish, administrator of the Dutch East India Company who served as Governor-General there from 1623 to 1627. The Gulf of Carpentaria in northern Australia is named after him.

Pieter de Carpentier was born in Antwerp in 1586, shortly after the formation of the newly independent Dutch Republic. He studied philosophy in Leiden, from 1603. In 1616 he sailed on board the sailing vessel De Getrouwheid to Indonesia. There he had a number of functions, including Director-General of the Trade, Member to the Council of the Indies, and member of the Council of Defence. From 1 February 1623 to 30 September 1627 he was the fifth Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies. He participated in the conquest of Jakarta and helped to build the town of Batavia. He did much for the town, including setting up a school, a Town Hall, and the first Orphanage Home. He also designed the structure of the churches in the town.

On 12 November 1627 Pieter de Carpentier sailed from the East Indies as Head of the Fleet. He arrived in Holland on 3 June 1628, with five richly-laden merchant ships, and this, combined with the fact that the Government had recently succeeded in releasing three ships from an embargo laid upon them by the English a year previously, led the authorities to determine to send another fleet of eleven ships to the East, with which General Jacob Specks was to sail. Two ships and a yacht being soon ready to sail, the senate sent them to Texel so as to lose no time. These vessels were the Batavia the Dordrecht and the Assendelft. They left Texel for their destination on 28 October 1628.