Pieter van den Broecke had a long career in the service of various companies. He started out working as a trader on expeditions to the West African coast. From 1613 he entered the service of the VOC, for which he sailed to the Arabic peninsula in 1614. He established the first Dutch trade ties there at the city of Aden, but could not get permission from the pasha of Yemen to establish a post at the city. He did succeed in securing a trading post at the small sultanate of Shiriz, which lasted until 1616. He also established the first VOC post at Suratte in northern India. After a failed expedition against Portuguese interests in the Indian Ocean, he became stranded near Suratte and marched through the Indian subcontinent to Dutch holdings in southeastern India. In 1618, with Jan Pietersz. Coen in the Moluccas, Van den Broecke was in charge of the Dutch fort at Jacatra, when it was besieged by the English and Javanese. Coen later arrived to relieve Broecke and the garrison and conquer the city. In 1620, Van den Broecke became governor of the VOC holdings in north India, Persia and Arabia, a post he managed from the VOC lodge in Suratte until 1628. In 1629 he departed definitively from north India and in the following year he arrived home in the Dutch Republic. There, he published a book on about his various journeys in Africa and Asia. In 1634 he returned to the East Indies and died in 1640 at the VOC siege of Malacca.
Loango
3°44' S 10°65' EIn November 1607 Pieter van den Broecke sailed from Texel on a trade voyage to West Africa. He served on the ship Neptunus, of which Adriaen Jansz. was the skipper. The voyage brought Van den Broecke to the kingdom of Loango by the 22nd of April 1608, where Van den Broecke acquired ivory. He was sent to the king, from who he obtained permission for the Dutch to trade at Mayomba.
Sources and literature
[Coolhaas, uitg. Van Linschoten Ver.], Pieter van den Broecke in Azië ([1963])
Ratelband, K., Reizen naar West-Afrika van Pieter van den Broecke (1950)
Aden and Mocha
12°80' N 43°76' EIn 1614 Pieter van den Broecke began his service with the VOC. He departed from Texel on the ship Nassau as part of a fleet commanded by general Reynst. After rounding the Cape of Good Hope the fleet spent some time in the Comoros and other islands near the east African coast. Van den Broecke was sent as captain of the Nassau to explore possibilities to trade at the Red Sea area in July. After reaching the city of Aden he was received in a friendly way by the local governor, but the Pasha of Yemen would not permit the Dutch to trade at the city.
In 1616, he was sent sent from the Indies to visit the Arabic peninsula again. On his way he visited the Sumatran west coast to obtain pepper and he made a stop at Ceylon. Afterwards he sailed on to the city of Mocha, but first passed by Shihir, where he had left people behind in 1614. He arrived at Mocha on 25 January 1617. Van den Broecke struck a very favorable trade deal with the local governor and was allotted a house where he flew the Dutch Republic’s flag.
Sources and literature
[Coolhaas, uitg. Van Linschoten Ver.], Pieter van den Broecke in Azië ([1963])
Ratelband, K., Reizen naar West-Afrika van Pieter van den Broecke (1950)
Surat
21°19' N 72°82' EFrom 1620 to 1628 Pieter van den Broecke was the director of the VOC posts in Arabia, Persia and Surat, where he was based. After arriving at his post in Surat in 1620, Van den Broecke visited several trading posts of the VOC in the region. As part of his position, he maintained relationship with the Mughal governor of Surat.
Sources and literature
[Coolhaas, uitg. Van Linschoten Ver.], Pieter van den Broecke in Azië ([1963])
Ratelband, K., Reizen naar West-Afrika van Pieter van den Broecke (1950)
Gamron (Bandar Abbas)
27°19' N 56°32' EIn December 1628 left his directorship in Surat. Before returning to Batavia he first sailed with a fleet to the Persian city of Gamron, present-day Bandar Abbas, opposite which lies the island of Hormuz. After arriving in February 1629, Van den Broecke visited the governor at the castle of Hormuz and stayed here for some time.
Sources and literature
[Coolhaas, uitg. Van Linschoten Ver.], Pieter van den Broecke in Azië ([1963])
Ratelband, K., Reizen naar West-Afrika van Pieter van den Broecke (1950)
Batavia
6°11' S 106°85' EAfter a long career with the VOC in Asia, in December 1629 Pieter van den Broecke was permitted to return to the Netherlands. He sailed from Batavia, where by then the VOC had established a fortress and their headquarters in Asia, as commander of the return fleet.
Sources and literature
[Coolhaas, uitg. Van Linschoten Ver.], Pieter van den Broecke in Azië ([1963])
Ratelband, K., Reizen naar West-Afrika van Pieter van den Broecke (1950)
