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Joan Maetsuycker (14 October 1606 – 24 January 1678) was the Governor of Zeylan during the Dutch period in Ceylon, and Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies from 1653 to 1678.
He studied law in Leuven, and was a lawyer first in The Hague, and later in Amsterdam.
Seven years later, in 1657 he became the Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies. He stayed on that post for 25 years, which is the longest period for any governor-general. The Dutch colony in the Indies flourished under Maetsuycker. Under his rule, the Portuguese lost Ceylon (1658), the Coromandel Coast (1658) and Malabar (1663); Makassar was conquered (1667), the west coast of Sumatra was occupied, and the first expedition to the interior of Java was held.
As Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies, he also issued edicts in the Dutch Cape Colony, including one in 1657 which allowed those brought from the Dutch East Indies to the Cape as servants or slaves to practise their religion, but not in public. They were also prohibited from attempting to convert anyone, on pain of death. Between the years 1671 and 1678 Maetsuycker worked closely with Pieter de Graeff, bewindhebber of Dutch East India Company at Amsterdam. Pieter de Graeffs Biography at digitale bibliothek voor de nederlandse letteren, part VII (dutch)
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