Cornelis van der Lijn

Cornelis van der Lijn was Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies from 1645 until 1650. He was born in Alkmaar in 1608, and by 1627 he was in service of the Dutch East India Company (VOC). In that year he went to Batavia as Assistant, aboard the Wapen van Hoorn. During the next two decades, his career followed an upward path: from 1632 to 1636 he was Accountant-General, in 1639 he became Counsellor-Extraordinary to the Council of the Indies, and a year later he was appointed President of the Schepenrechtbank, a maritime court with various other functions. In 1641 he was made a full Counsellor, and before becoming Governor-General in 1645 he also served as Director-General of the Indies, a second in command. His command of the Dutch East Indies lasted until 1650, when he was retired by his own request. On his return to Netherlands he settled in Alkmaar where he was elected Mayor on 24 December 1668, and died there on 27 July 1679.