Frederick Coyett

Frederick Coyett, also Fredric Coijet (* 1615 or 1620 in Stockholm, † October 17th 1687 in the Netherlands), was the last governor of the Dutch East India Company from Formosa (today's Taiwan).

The family probably emigrated in 1569 from Flanders to Sweden. The father Gillis Coijet or Coyet Julius the Younger ( † 1634) was a goldsmith and moneyer. The mother Catharina von Steinberg was the daughter of the Stockholm merchant and goldsmith Johann von Steinberg. Coyett, originally a baker's servant (?), Hired by the Dutch East India Company and in 1644 the second senior businessman in the fortress of Batavia. Three years later he was sent to Nagasaki. He was the first Swede who entered Japanese soil. Here he led twice for one year ( 1647-48, 1652-53 ) as the head ( opperhoofd ) the agency Dejima ( Nagasaki ). The first cycle was overshadowed by events to which he had no control. In the summer of 1647 and a Portuguese embassy arrived in Nagasaki, and tried to connect the broken by the Japanese in 1639 relationships. The company had even done this vessel in Batavia technical assistance, but was not fulfilled their obligation to inform the surprised Japanese authorities consider. After tough negotiations, the Portuguese eventually moved unverrrichter things off again. However, in the Japanese government, the anger was so great that one, as Coyett the following spring moved to Edo to pay homage to the Shogun, the upcoming annual tribute, the audience canceled and refused the gifts brought. Thus the Dutch- Japanese relations within two decades had reached a low point for the second time. Coyetts Next Cycle in Japan was quieter because the company had sent 1649/50 an elaborate special embassy to Japan, which could dissolve accumulated during the forties voltages. Together with his brother Peter Julius, he was raised in 1649 in the Swedish nobility.

In March 1653 he became the second man ( Secunde ) at Fort Zeelandia on the Bay " Tayoean " on the occupied by the company island of Formosa (now Taiwan) appointed. In 1656 he was promoted to governor of the island. The fierce fighting on the mainland between the troops of the Manchu ( Qing ) and the declining Ming dynasty were not without their effect on the position of Formosa. 1658 and 1659 there was the first wave of refugees.

1661 landed the Chinese leader Koxinga troops, a follower of the Ming, with 25,000 men on the island to set up a base and regroup his forces. After nine months of siege and tough negotiations Coyett handed early February 1662 Zeelandia and moved with his family from Batavia. However, got a considerable number of Dutchmen who had been present in the environment in Chinese captivity. The last survivors were first released in 1684. The Age of Dutch control of the island was so after thirty-eight years to the end.

Accordingly, we reacted violently in the General Government in Batavia. Coyett came to court and was exiled for 12 years on the Banda Islands.

In 1675 he published the work " 't Verwaerloosde Formosa " ( " The neglected Formosa " ) in which he accused the company of ignorance. She had refused him gain, which led to the fall of Formosa. That was not completely wrong. On Coyetts request, they sent, although a ship with soldiers under Dirk van der Laan after Zeelandia, but van der Laan held the Coyetts fears are exaggerated, and he returned from Batavia. Among the soldiers he left behind was also Herport Albrecht, who reports extensively in his travel book about the operations.

He had married in India in 1650 by the Wik Helena, the daughter of a general. Their son, Balthasar Coyett (1651-1728) was governor of Ambon.