Simon van der Stel was born at sea off Mauritius in 1639 and lived on the island with his parents, Adriaan and Maria, for the first few years of his life. Adriaan was an official of the Dutch East India Company (VOC, for Verenigde Oostindische Compagnie), and subsequently commander of the island. In 1645, Adriaan’s tenure in Mauritius ended and he and his family sailed to Saloor (Sri Lanka). The following year, he was killed during a rebellion against Dutch and Portuguese coastal territories, and the family moved once more, this time to Batavia (Jakarta).
