Jacob Mossel, Date of Birth, Place of Birth, Date of Death

    

Jacob Mossel

Dutch colonial governor

Date of Birth: 28-Nov-1704

Place of Birth: Enkhuizen, North Holland, Netherlands

Date of Death: 15-May-1761

Profession: politician

Nationality: Netherlands

Zodiac Sign: Sagittarius


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About Jacob Mossel

  • Jacob Mossel (28 November 1704 – 15 May 1761) went from being a common sailor to become Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies from 1750 to 1761. He was of noble birth, born in Enkhuizen.
  • When he was 15 he left as an able-bodied seaman aboard a Fluyt (a type of Dutch sailing cargo vessel) called de Haringthuyn, bound for the Indies.
  • As his family had a coat of arms, he was able to obtain a privileged position, through Dirk van Cloon, and was sent to the Dutch Coromandel (1721).
  • On 30 March 1730, he married Adriana Appels, the fourteen-year-old stepdaughter of Adriaan van Pla, Governor of Dutch Coromandel.
  • Jacob Mossel worked himself up finally to Governor and Director of Dutch Coromandel.
  • In 1740 he got the title of Counsellor-extraordinary of the Indies and in 1742 he became a member of the Dutch Council of the Indies (Raad van Indië) in Batavia/Jakarta. In 1745, he became the first Director of the Amfioensociëteit, which tried to regulate its monopoly of the trade in opium.
  • In 1747, he was named as the Director-General (the second highest post in the Dutch East Indies).
  • When in 1750, Gustaaf Willem van Imhoff died, Mossel succeeded him as Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies.
  • He remained in post until his own death in 1761.Jacob Mossel ruled the Indies during a period in which things got steadily worse for the Dutch East India Company.
  • He made may economies and he ended the war in Bantam Province, recognising that his predecessor had handled things badly.
  • The Dutch were threatened by the expansion of the British East India Company.
  • In the battle for Bengal, Mossel lost to the British.
  • Mossel was a supporter of the policy to allow private entrepreneurs to trade for themselves in the territory of the Indies.
  • This concerned small scale trading in which the Company could make no profit.
  • Following that, Batavia/Jakarta underwent a period of growth, which, because of his successors tax regulations, came to nothing.
  • The Company was plagued by corruption and self-interest among its office holders.
  • Jacob Mossel was also involved in this.
  • His great fortune could not in any case have been put together from his official salary.
  • The initiatives he took against corruption were not very effective. To curb exaggerated displays of wealth, in 1754 he brought in a so-called "Regulation against pomp and splendour", which tried to lay down exactly what wealth an officer could display.
  • These details went from the number of buttonholes they could have to the size of their houses.
  • Of course, the regulations did not apply to himself, and there was great feasting at his daughter's wedding.
  • After his death at Batavia/Jakarta, from a wasting disease, he was given a magnificent funeral.

Read more at Wikipedia

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