Gerard Reynst

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Gerard Reynst (Amsterdam, ? - Jakarta, 7 December 1615) was a Dutch merchant and later the second Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies. All that is known of his early years is that he was born in Amsterdam.

In 1599 he became a merchant and ship-owner, as well as a founder-member and administrator of the Nieuwe or Brabantsche Compagnie that in 1600 became the Vereenighde Company of Amsterdam that in 1602 became the Dutch East India Company (VOC).

On the request of his elders in the college of the Heren XVII (17 men), he became Governor-general of the Dutch East Indies in 1613 and left with 9 ships. The trip lasted 18 months, after which he took over command from Pieter Both. On the way, he had already sent one of his ships to the Red Sea to start trade relations with the Arabs there. He died more than a year after arrival, having caught dysentery so that he could do little there, besides a few minor activities that were only intermittently successful.