Governor Generals

This page offers an overview of Governor Generals, their term in office and the number of placards issued during a particular Governor General’s term in office. The table and the graphic bear evidence to the fact that most announcements were made during the bureaucratic second half of the eighteenth century. This is in line with the simultaneous expansion of the Resolutions of Batavia Castle. The low numbers for the seventeenth century should be viewed with suspicion. It is highly unlikely that the first three Governors General only issued nine placards throughout their total seven years in office. In fact, the number of placards issued during the early decades of colonial rule in Batavia had risen to such high proportions in the 1630s that GG Antonio van Diemen ordered on 23 April 1641 to make a compilation of all placards which had been issued in Batavia before. This first western law code in Indonesian history, the ‘Bataviasche Statuten’, was issued on 5 July 1642. Further research in the Resolutions of Batavia Castle and the Resolutions of the College of Alderman in Batavia may reveal how many of the seventeenth-century placards were collected in compilations in the early eighteentch century. These compilations (inv. nrs. 224-2267) may be digitalized and published later.

Period Years Name Placards
1610-1614 4 Pieter Both 1
1614-1615 1 Gerard Reynst 3
1616-1617 1 Laurens Reael 5
1619-1623 4 Jan Pieterszoon Coen 85
1623-1627 4 Pieter de Carpentier 57
1627-1629 2 Jan Pieterszoon Coen 0
1629-1632 3 Jacques Specx 20
1632-1636 4 Hendrik Brouwer 83
1636-1645 9 Antonio van Diemen 124
1645-1650 5 Cornelis van der Lijn 76
1650-1653 3 Carel Reyniersz 45
1653-1678 25 Joan Maetsuycker 561
1678-1681 3 Rijcklof van Goens 127
1681-1684 3 Cornelis Speelman 62
1684-1691 7 Johannes Camphuys 218
1691-1704 13 Willem van Outhoorn 325
1704-1709 5 Joan van Hoorn 118
1709-1713 4 Abraham van Riebeeck 83
1713-1718 5 Christoffel van Swol 144
1718-1725 7 Hendrick Zwaardecroon 128
1725-1729 4 Mattheus de Haan 102
1729-1731 2 Diederik Durven 166
1731-1735 4 Dirk van Cloon 113
1735-1737 2 Abraham Patras 75
1737-1741 4 Adriaan Valckenier 161
1741-1743 2 Johannes Thedens 65
1743-1750 7 Gustaaf Willem van Imhoff 707
1750-1761 11 Jacob Mossel 957
1761-1775 14 Petrus Albertus van der Parra 1135
1775-1777 2 Jeremias van Riemsdijk 98
1777-1780 3 Reinier de Klerk 242
1780-1796 16 Willem Alting 1520
1796-1801 3 Pieter Gerardus van Overstraten 763
1801-1805 4 Johannes Siberg 584
1805-1808 3 Albertus Henricus Wiese 360
1808-1811 3 Herman Willem Daendels 1444
1811 1 Jan Willem Janssens 86