De Ruyter was born on 24 March 1607 in Vlissingen, in the Spanish Netherlands, the son of a seaman who eventually became a brewery drayman, Adriaen Michielszoon, and Aagje Jansdochter. Little is known about de Ruyter's … See more

In July 1655, De Ruyter took command of a squadron of eight ships, of which the Tijdverdrijf ("Pastime") was his flagship, and set out for the Mediterranean with 55 merchantmen in convoy. His orders were to protect Dutch trade interests in that region and to ransom See more

In 1664, a year before the Second Anglo-Dutch War began, Robert Holmes had captured several Dutch West India Company trading … See more

The English withdrawal did not end naval engagements in the Franco-Dutch War. As Louis XIV did not wish to send his main fleet against the more powerful Dutch, de Ruyter was first … See more

During the First Anglo-Dutch War of 1652–1654, De Ruyter agreed to join the expanding Dutch fleet as a junior flag-officer or commandeur, a rank broadly comparable to that of commodore, commanding a Zeelandic squadron of "director's ships", … See more

The Treaty of Breda which ended the Second Anglo-Dutch War in July 1667 failed to remove the root causes of the long-standing Anglo-Dutch rivalry, which included colonial … See more

De Ruyter was highly respected by his sailors and soldiers, who used the term of endearment bestevaêr ("grandfather") for him, both because of his disregard for hierarchy, as he … See more