Background
Abraham van Riebeeck was born on 18 October 1653 in the Dutch Cape Colony (present-day South Africa).
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Abraham Riebeeck
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His father was January van Riebeeck, commander of the Cape, and his mother was Maria van Riebeeck. He studied law at Leiden University from 1673 to 1676. After his studies, he became a merchant with the Dutch East India Company and travelled on the ship De Vrijheyt to Batavia, where he arrived 1677.
They had six children, Johanna Maria (1679–1759), Johannes (1691–1735), Elisabeth (1693–1723), and three others who died in their childhood.
He was Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies from 1709 until his death in 1713. He was a keen explorer, who undertook several smaller and a few larger voyages in the Indies.
Van Riebeeck died on 17 November 1713 in Batavia in the Dutch East Indies.
