Jakob Verseveldt (1903-1987) was one of the first men to travel from the Netherlands to the Dutch East Indies on behalf of the Jan Pieterszoon Coen Foundation. This society was located in Batavia ...Show moreJakob Verseveldt (1903-1987) was one of the first men to travel from the Netherlands to the Dutch East Indies on behalf of the Jan Pieterszoon Coen Foundation. This society was located in Batavia (modern Jakarta), where it ran an all-boys boarding school. The foundation was partly funded by Henri Deterding, director of the Bataafse Petroleum Maatschappij (Batavian Petroleum Company, B.P.M., now known as Shell). This was used to fund the expedition of ‘Deterdingers’. Verseveldt was part this group of ‘Deterdingers’, young Dutch students and teachers who were sent to the Dutch East Indies to learn about teaching methods in the colony. To a large extent, however, the trip was meant as propaganda for the Dutch colonial government and the economic exploitation of the East Indies.Show less
