Adriaen Maertensz Block was successively captain, commander, and governor of the Ambon Island

Ambon Island

Ambon Island is part of the Maluku Islands of Indonesia. The island has an area of , and is mountainous, well watered, and fertile. Ambon Island consists of 2 territories: The main city and seaport is Ambon , which is also the capital of Maluku province and Maluku Tengah Ambon Island is part of the...

 between 1614-1617, administrator of the Raad van Indië for the Kamer of the Dutch East India Company in Amsterdam

Dutch East India Company

The Dutch East India Company was a chartered company established in 1602, when the States-General of the Netherlands granted it a 21-year monopoly to carry out colonial activities in Asia...

 (VOC) in Batavia.

In 1627 two of his ships wrecked on the island Wight

Wight

Wight is a Middle English word, from Old English wiht, and used to describe a creature or living sentient being. It is akin to Old High German wiht, meaning a creature or thing.In its original usage the word wight described a living human being...

 in a storm. He probably intended to go there to buy secretely and trade privately. He was suspended and declared unsuitable for other similar offices, and retired in a country house at Lisse (which he had let built in 1641), now known as Kasteel Keukenhof.

In his inventory were many books listed on navigation and history: Jan Huygen van Linschoten, Hugo de Groot, Justus Lipsius

Justus Lipsius

Justus Lipsius was a Southern-Netherlandish philologist and humanist. Lipsius wrote a series of works designed to revive ancient Stoicism in a form that would be compatible with Christianity. The most famous of these is De Constantia...

, Lieuwe van Aitzema, Plutarch

Plutarch

Plutarch then named, on his becoming a Roman citizen, Lucius Mestrius Plutarchus , c. 46 – 120 AD, was a Greek historian, biographer, essayist, and Middle Platonist known primarily for his Parallel Lives and Moralia...

, Tacitus

Tacitus

Publius Cornelius Tacitus was a senator and a historian of the Roman Empire. The surviving portions of his two major works—the Annals and the Histories—examine the reigns of the Roman Emperors Tiberius, Claudius, Nero and those who reigned in the Year of the Four Emperors...

.

External links

• http://www.historischhuis.nl/recensies/recensie68.html