Governor of Formosa

For other uses, see Governor of Taiwan (disambiguation).
Governor of Formosa
Gouverneur van Formosa
Flag of the Dutch East India Company
ResidenceFort Zeelandia
Tayouan, Formosa
AppointerGovernor-General of the Dutch East Indies
Inaugural holderMarten Sonk
Formation1624
Fort Zeelandia, residence of the governors of Formosa, Taiwan.

The governor of Formosa (Dutch: gouverneur van Formosa; Chinese: 台灣長官) was the head of government of Taiwan during the Dutch colonial period, which lasted from 1624 to 1662. Appointed by the governor-general of the Dutch East Indies in Batavia (now Jakarta, Indonesia), the governor of Formosa was empowered to legislate, collect taxes, wage war and declare peace on behalf of the Dutch East India Company (VOC) and therefore by extension the Dutch state.

The governor's residence was in Fort Zeelandia on Tayouan.

List of governors

There were a total of twelve governors during the Dutch colonial era.[1] The man sometimes said to be the thirteenth, Harmen Klenck van Odessen, was appointed by VOC Governor-General Joan Maetsuycker, only to arrive off the coast of Tayouan during the Siege of Fort Zeelandia. Klenck refused to go ashore to take up his post despite being urged to by Frederick Coyett, the incumbent governor, and finally left without ever setting foot on Formosa.[1]

№ Portrait Name From Until
1 Martinus Sonck 1624 1625
(died in office)
2 Gerard Frederikszoon de With 1625 1627
3 Pieter Nuyts 1627 1629
4 Hans Putmans 1629 1636
5 Johan van der Burg 1636 1640
(died in office)
6 Paulus Traudenius 1640 1643
7 Maximilian le Maire 1643 1644
8 François Caron 1644 1646
9 Pieter Anthoniszoon Overtwater 1646 1649
10 Nicolas Verburg 1649 1653
11 Cornelis Caesar 1653 1656
12 Frederick Coyett 1656 1662

See also

References

  1. ^ a b William Campbell (1903). Formosa under the Dutch: Described from Contemporary Records.