Hans Putmans (? inMiddelburg – 1654 inDelft) was the Dutchgovernor of Formosa from 1629 to 1636.

Born inMiddelburg, Putmans came to Asia in 1621 in the service of theDutch East India Company. Over the first three years of his career, he was stationed in Siam, Cambodia, Patani, Sumatra's west coast and Java's north east coast. In 1624, he came to Batavia; four years later he became the president of the college of Aldermen and the overseer of the Chinese citizens.^[1]

In 1629, he became the fourthgovernor of Formosa, present-dayTaiwan. In 1633, he led a military campaign on the Chinese coast against the Chinese admiral Zheng Zhilong. In addition to Dutch vessels, Putmans commanded a great number of Chinese pirate vessels which he hired for the campaign. In July of that year, in a surprise attack near the island of Gulangyu, nearXiamen, he managed to destroy the fleet that Zheng Zhilong was building there. On 22 October, however, Putmans' fleet was defeated at theBattle of Liaoluo Bay, whereZheng Zhilong destroyed three Dutch East Indiamen with fireships and captured another, putting the remainder of the Dutch fleet to flight.^[2]

Defeated in the battle, Putmans turned his attention to agriculture, establishing a policy of attracting settlers from the Chinese mainland to Formosa, in order to cultivate rice and sugar on the fertile plains on the west side of the island. In time, this policy would become very successful.^[3]

In December 1636, Putmans returned to theDutch Republic and, after an apparent spell in Amsterdam, settled in Delft in 1638,^[4] where he would live until his death in 1654.^[5]

• 1654 deaths
• Colonial governors of Dutch Formosa
• People from Middelburg, Zeeland

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• Year of birth unknown