Jan Pieterszoon Coen was born in the city of Hoorn, Holland in 1587. Raised as a Calvinist, he grew up in a time when the Dutch were fighting for their independence from the Spanish King, who was also the Count of Holland and ruled over most parts of the Low Countries. 1/10
The Spanish King ruled over a vast realm across continents and had a strong say in global trade. In 1602, the Dutch started Vereenigde Oost Indische Compagnie (Dutch East India Company) partly to counter the Spanish might. 2/10
After studying the trade with a Flemish merchant in Rome, Coen joined the Company and sailed eastwards in 1607 with Pieter Verhoeff. Coen returned to the west in 1610, after Verhoeff and many of his men were killed during trade negotiations with Banda Islands. 3/10
Coen returned east in 1612 after receiving the backing of his senior colleagues. He used the Dutch troops advantageously and was able to obtain preferential trade agreements in Molucca and Banda Islands. But he faced resistance from the Banten Sultanate. 4/10
Banten, an area which had seen considerable change in local politics over the previous century, was an early ally of the Dutch in the east. But they also traded with the English. In 1619, Coen captured and destroyed the Banten port of Jayakarta and rebuilt it. 5/10
Jayakarta became the new base of operations for the Dutch. Renamed Batavia, the city would be crucial to Dutch dominance of the region for the next three centuries.
Coen wasn't done yet though. 6/10
In 1621, the Dutch returned to Banda Islands, with Coen in the lead. He had earlier been appointed their Governor General. The massacre that followed got him a reprimand (in the true colonial sense of the word) from his superiors. He later returned to the west in 1623. 7/10
Coen returned to the east in 1627, but found himself besieged by the Sultanate of Mataram in his capital in 1628 and 1629. Though Batavia withstood the attacks, Coen died during the 1629 siege, though due to unrelated causes. 8/10
Batavia remained the capital of Dutch East Indies as it expanded across the island of Java and later to the other islands of the archipelago. In 1942, Dutch authority in the region fell after its defeat by Japan. 9/10
The city became the capital of the newly formed nation of Indonesia in 1945. But with the city sinking many centimetres into the sea every year, the capital is being moved to a new city, while investment is being made to prevent it from sinking. 10/10
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It is kinda odd to listen to the @TheRestHistory presenter (Not sure if it was Holland or Sandbrook) talk of reading about the Burgundians when they were 17 or Bart van Loo talk of not studying about them in school earlier.
Recaredo was born around 560 to Leovigildo. They lived in the Visigothic Kingdom in the Iberian peninsula. The Visigoths held rule over a large part of the peninsula after the collapse of the Roman Empire in the West in 476. 1/10
The 550s saw the Visigoths in a state of civil war, with the King Agila struggling against Atanagildo. With help from Constantinople, Atanagildo deposed Agila and became King. But this also led to Constantinople acquiring area in the peninsula. 2/10
João de Bragança was born to Teodosio de Bragança, Duke of Bragança and Ana de Velasco y Girón in 1604. The Duchy of Bragança was created in 1442 for Afonso, Count of Barcelos and an illegitimate son of Portuguese King João, by his nephew, Afonso, the then King of Portugal. 1/10
The House of Bragança retained their influence in Portugal, even after the Portuguese Royal family died out. João's grandmother, Catarina, was among the contenders, but was overtaken by the Spanish King, Felipe, who also defeated his illegitimate cousin, António, in battle. 2/10
The Burgundy "project" as it ended up took a century in making when four successive Dukes of Burgundy acquired a large part of what we call the Low Countries. 2/5
Burgundy, like Lorraine, and to an extent, Switzerland, were the successors of a failed partition of the Carolingian Empire - Middle Francia. While France and Germany fought over it, it got divided into many parts which showed independent character. 3/5
Charles was born in 1227 to King Louis VIII of France & Blanca de Castilla. Born posthumously, Charles had a long list of elder brothers including the eldest, the new King of France, Louis IX. It is likely a career with the Church awaited Prince Charles, but it wasn't to be. 1/10
In 1246, he married Countess Beatrice of Provence and Forcalquier. The same year, his brother installed him as the Count of Anjou and Maine in France. Anjou and Maine had been seized by their grandfather in 1203 from the Angevin Kings of England. 2/10
Berengar was born around 845 to Eberhard, Margrave of Friuli and Gisela, daughter of the Holy Roman Emperor Louis. Friuli was one of the border realms of the Kingdom of Italy and part of the larger Carolingian Holy Roman Empire. 1/10
The Empire got divided many times after the death of Emperor Louis in 840, but the position of the Emperor persisted. Berengar became Margrave of Friuli in 874, after the death of his elder brother. His half-cousin, Louis, ruled Italy at the time. 2/10