Steven van der Hagen

Laurens Reael and Steven van der Hagen wrote with disapproval on how the Heren XVII treated the interests and laws of the Maluku population.

Moreover, Laurens Reael and Van der Hagen, while prepared in the last extremity to use force against their English competitors in the Moluccas were reluctant to do so otherwise, for fear of unfavourable repercussions on Anglo-Dutch relations in Europe - a possibility that did not worry Coen.

Finally they both considered that it might be unjust and unwise to exclude Asian traders, whether Chinese, Malay or Javanese, from the Moluccas by force.

[2] Steven van der Hagen was born around 1563 in Amersfoort and was brought up by an aunt, his father's sister, after his parents fled to the Southern Netherlands due to the Dutch Revolt.

When he was ten he went to visit his father Andries van der Hagen in Bruges, and together they went to Ypres and Doornik to seek work for him.

Steven began work at a silkworkers' shop on the market square, before returning to Ypres to receive further education from his uncle Willem van der Hagen.

At 12, Steven developed a great interest in Spain and (unbeknownst to his uncle) he traveled to Calais on foot to catch a ship there.

He succeeded to get back to Hoorn and in 1589, he married Stephania van der Made in Amsterdam in a civil ceremony before the schepenen.

For two months his ships - despatched from Amsterdam, Hoorn and Enkhuizen - lay off the coast of England awaiting a favourable wind.

On 11 November Van der Hagen reached a political agreement to trade at Kozhikode and Ponnani and promised the Zamorin help against the Portuguese.

[9][10] On the Indian coast were founded the Masulipatnam (1605) and Petapuli (1606) factory, aimed especially at getting a hold on the huge trade in cotton, spices, precious stones, and pigments.

In 1607 Van der Hagen sailed to Mauritius, there he met with Cornelis Matelieff[15] and ate a dodo, whose taste he noted was rather disgusting.

Van der Hagen became the first councillor under the governor-generals Gerard Reynst, Laurens Reael and Jan Pieterszoon Coen.