All that is known of his early years is that he was born in Amsterdam, the son of Pieter Rijnst (ca.1510–1574), soap boiler from the later patrician
Reynst family, and Trijn Sijverts. In 1588 he married Margrieta Nicquet and bought a house in Amsterdam from his older brother Reijnst. In 1599, as a merchant and ship-owner, he became a founder-member and administrator of the Nieuwe or
Brabantsche Compagnie which, in 1600, became the Vereenighde Company of Amsterdam. This company then in 1602 merged into the
Dutch East India Company (VOC). On the request of his elders in the college of the
Heren XVII (17 men), he became Governor-general of the Dutch East Indies in 1613 and left with 9 ships. The trip lasted 18 months, after which he took over command from
Pieter Both. On the way, he had already sent one of his ships to the
Red Sea to start trade relations with the
Arabs there. His
May 1605 expedition against the
Banda island of Ai was a failure. He died more than a year after arrival, having caught dysentery so that he could do little there, besides a few minor activities that were only intermittently successful. There is a street named after him in The Hague, Gerard Reijnststraat, which is situated very close to the area which the Allies mistakenly bombed during World War II. ==Family==