page_title: Willem Janszoon
section_title: Political life
hierarchical_section_title: Willem Janszoon / Political life
caption_attribution_description: English: Hessel Gerritszoon, Nueva Guinea on his 1622 map of the Pacific Ocean
context_page_description: Willem Janszoon, sometimes abbreviated to Willem Jansz., was a Dutch navigator and colonial governor. Janszoon served in the Netherlands East Indies in the periods 1603–1611 and 1612–1616, including as governor of Fort Henricus on the island of Solor. He is the first European known to have seen the coast of Australia during his voyage of 1605–1606.
context_section_description: Around 1617/18 he was back in the Netherlands and was appointed as a member of the Council of the Indies. He served as admiral of the Dutch Defence fleet. Janszoon was awarded a gold chain worth 1,000 guilders in 1619 for his part in capturing four ships of the British East India Company near Tiku on West Sumatra, which had aided the Javanese in their defence of the town of Jakarta against the Dutch. In 1620 he was one of the negotiators with the English. In a combined fleet they sailed to Manila to prevent Chinese merchants dealing with the Spanish. Janszoon became vice-admiral, and the year later admiral. Near the end of his life, Janszoon served as governor of Banda (1623–1627). He returned to Batavia in June 1627 and soon afterwards, as admiral of a fleet of eight vessels, went on a diplomatic mission to India. On 4 December 1628, he sailed for Holland and on 16 July 1629, reported on the state of the Indies at The Hague. He was now probably about sixty years old and ready to retire from his strenuous and successful career in the service of his country. Nothing is known of his last days, but he is thought to have died in 1630.
caption: Willem Janszoon’s Vliege Bay, Dubbelde Rev., R. Visch, and Cape Keerweer on the coast of Nueva Guinea on Hessel Gerritszoon’s map of the Pacific Ocean, 1622.
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