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François Caron

1600–1673

A remarkable 17th-century traveler and merchant, he rose from a ship’s cook’s mate to become one of Europe’s leading authorities on Japan. His influential account of Japan and Siam helped introduce East Asian life, politics, and customs to European readers.

1 Audiobook

Beschrijvinge van het machtigh koninckrijcke Japan : Vervattende den aert en eygenschappen van 't landt, manieren der volckeren, als mede hare grouwelijcke wreedtheydt teghen de Roomsche christenen

Beschrijvinge van het machtigh koninckrijcke Japan : Vervattende den aert en eygenschappen van 't landt, manieren der volckeren, als mede hare grouwelijcke wreedtheydt teghen de Roomsche christenen

by François Caron

About the author

Born in Brussels around 1600 to a Huguenot refugee family, François Caron joined the Dutch East India Company as a young man and arrived in Japan in 1619. He mastered the Japanese language, worked his way up through the company, and eventually became head of its trading post in Japan, helping guide Dutch trade during a difficult period of negotiation with Japanese authorities.

Caron later served as governor of Dutch Formosa, now Taiwan, and as a senior official in Batavia, present-day Jakarta. His firsthand knowledge of Japan formed the basis of A True Description of the Mighty Kingdoms of Japan and Siam, first published in Dutch and later translated into English. In 1667 he became director-general of the French East India Company, but his career ended when he died in a shipwreck near Portugal on April 5, 1673.