Balthazar de Moucheron

Pierre was from the French province of Le Perche (parish Boissy-le-Sec in the south of Verneuil-sur-Avre) and was a descendant of the House of Bouley Moucheron.

Pierre's father became a wealthy merchant due to business activities in the Netherlands, France, Spain, and England.

He sent a request to Prince Willem van Oranje in 1584 that remained unanswered due to the turbulent times.

A new request in 1594 was accepted by the prince but was deemed of too high importance for two traders to do on their own, and the Staten Generaal (precursor of the parliament) took control.

They were hampered by large ice plains, but on August 11 they found open waters on the Kara Sea and assumed this was the long-sought passage.

In 1597, Cornelis de Houtman succeeded in the so-called Eerste Schipvaart (first expedition) to sail to Indonesia via the Cape of Good Hope.

[2] Balthazar sent five more ships, with a crew of 100 sailors and 150 soldiers, on a mission to capture Príncipe on the West African shore, to establish a supply point for further explorations.

In 1601 he sent Joris van Spilbergen with three ships, Ram, Schaap, and Lam, on a successful expedition to establish trade relations with the Kingdom of Kandy.

[5][6] Van Spilbergen met the king of Kandy (Sri Lanka), Vimala Dharma Suriya, in 1602 and discussed the possibility of trade in cinnamon.

When van Spilbergen returned to Zeeland in 1604, carrying rubies, sapphires, topazes and other gemstones that he had received as a gift from the maharajah of Kandy, the independent companies of Holland and Zeeland had already merged to form the Dutch East India Company.