Jan Pieterszoon Coen

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

He was long considered 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". Since the latter half of the 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). Coen was known to 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 Cortenhoeff beheaded. Specx only escaped the death penalty by drowning because she was still underage.

Further but more extensive actions perpetrated by order of Coen, are recounted in a BBC Television documentary series "The Spice Trail" (episode 2: "Nutmeg and Cloves"). The program also contains details of wanton acts of destruction committed by the Dutch in the spice islands of Eastern Indonesia, the purpose of which was to create scarcity of natural produce in order to maintain price levels.