Albert Cornelius Ruyl

Ruyl is known to have come from Enkhuizen[1] and his first visit to the East Indies was probably in 1600 and by the time the VOC had established their permanent trading posts in Banten in 1603 and Batavia in 1611, was already established as a koopman or merchant in the region with a relatively good command of the Malay language, the regional lingua franca of trade.

[3] With the partially Protestant Reformation inspired Dutch Revolt still ongoing in the home provinces against the Roman Catholic Spanish Empire (of which Portugal was then a part), the motivation to undermine Portuguese trade and religious influence in the East Indies may have motivated this tolerance of proselytisation.

[3] The VOC published a primer entitled Sovrat ABC akan mengayd’jer anack boudack seperty deayd’jern’ja capada segala manusia Nassarany: daen beerbagy sombahayang Christaan (transl.

[2] This work was later published together with the translation of the Gospels of John and Luke that was done by a VOC clerk, Jan Van Hasel in 1646.

[7] Ruyl's relationship with the Pallaches was extremely strained and he stayed in Morocco for seven months, mostly in Safi, without ever being granted permission to inspect the Ras Cantin area or an audience with the Sultan, Mulay Zidan.