Born on November 16, 1653, in Amsterdam, Joan (or Johan) van
Hoorn had a career marked by rising through the ranks of the Dutch East India
Company (VOC) and eventually transforming the economy and society of Java. His
father, Pieter Janszn van Hoorn, was a powder merchant, and thanks to the
family’s connections, Joan’s career began early, at the age of 12, as a
sub-assistant in the VOC.
Joan’s career took off after accompanying his father on a
diplomatic mission to China. By 1671, he had advanced to assistant, and by
1676, he was the first clerk to the Secretary General. His promotions
continued, eventually reaching the post of General Secretary in 1678. His most
significant leap came in 1685, when he became a member of the VOC’s High
Council of the Indies.
Throughout his life, Joan was involved in significant VOC
affairs and was appointed as Director-General of the VOC by 1691. His career,
however, was not without conflicts. He found himself at odds with Willem van
Outhoorn, the then Governor-General. This conflict ended with an unusual
solution: Joan married Outhoorn’s daughter, Susanna, in an effort to reconcile
the two.
Despite this marriage alliance, the rivalry continued.
Amsterdam’s governing body, the Council of Seventeen, pushed for Van Outhoorn’s
resignation and Joan’s appointment as his successor. However, both men refused
the arrangement, and the Council ultimately appointed Abraham van Riebeeck,
another rival, as Director-General, creating a rare dual leadership scenario
within the VOC.
As Joan continued to serve as Director-General, tensions
with van Riebeeck also grew. In an effort to ease these tensions, Joan married
van Riebeeck’s daughter, Joanna Maria, in 1706.
Joan van Hoorn’s tenure as Governor-General of the VOC
coincided with a crucial event in Javanese history: the First Javanese
Succession War (De Eerste Javaansche Succesie-oorlog) between Prince
Puger and his nephew, Amangkurat III. Initially, Joan maintained a neutral
stance. However, he later aligned with Prince Puger, who claimed that VOC
shared a common enemy with him—Amangkurat III and his ally, Untung Suropati.
This conflict led to VOC military operations in eastern Java
from 1706 to 1708, a series of campaigns that took a heavy toll on VOC’s
resources and manpower. Although Untung Suropati was defeated in 1706,
Amangkurat III continued to resist until finally falling into VOC’s trap in
1708.
While Joan’s military and political endeavors may have
dominated his career, his most significant impact on Java came from a more
unexpected source—coffee. In 1696, Joan received coffee seedlings from India,
which he attempted to cultivate near Batavia (modern-day Jakarta). Although
these initial efforts failed, in 1707, Joan distributed coffee beans to local
officials in Batavia and Cirebon, encouraging them to plant the crop.
This decision proved transformative. By 1720, the coffee
plantations in Priangan produced 45 tons of coffee annually, and within twelve
years, the output had exploded to 5,500 tons. This boom had far-reaching
consequences, reshaping Java’s economy and society.
The success of Java’s coffee cultivation brought not only
economic benefits but also exploitation. The VOC sought to maximize profits by
imposing harsh policies on the coffee producers, including manipulating the
weight systems for payment, which led to widespread poverty and suffering among
Javanese farmers. In addition to low payments, the people were forced to
transport their coffee to VOC warehouses in Batavia, resulting in the loss of
many lives from exhaustion and disease.
Joan van Hoorn’s time as Governor-General ended in 1708 when
his father-in-law, Abraham van Riebeeck, took over the role. Joan returned to
Amsterdam, where he spent his final years, passing away in his grand home on
February 21, 1711. Although his political career was marred by conflicts and
rivalries, Joan van Hoorn’s legacy lives on through the coffee revolution that
he helped initiate—an economic transformation that shaped Java for generations.
Despite his death, the coffee boom continued, with Java
becoming one of the world’s leading coffee producers, forever altering the
history of Indonesia and the VOC’s economic policies. Joan van Hoorn’s
experiment in coffee cultivation remains a pivotal moment in the region’s
history, with effects that are still felt today.
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