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'François Caron' (1600-1673), was a French Huguenot refugee to the Netherlands who entered the Dutch East India Company, and became the first French person to set foot in Japan.

Contents

Japanese career

Return to the Netherlands

New assignements in Asia

Appointment with the French East Indies Company

Madagascar

India

Titles

Publications

See also

Japanese career

Caron was originally an assistant cook (or, according to another source, an assistant trader) onboard the Dutch ship ''Schiedam'' bound for Japan, where he arrived in 1619. He is not quite the first known instance of Franco-Japanese relations, since he was preceded by the visit of Hasekura Tsunenaga's to France in 1615.

He learned Japanese and became quite fluent. He stayed in Japan for 20 years, and ultimately became the Director General for the company in Japan. He married a Japanese woman and had six children.
In 1626, Caron was working in Hirado as full assistant.
On April 9, 1633, Caron was promoted as a senior merchant, making him the second ranking Company official in Japan. On February 12, 1639, he succeeded Nicolaes Couckebacker as President and head of the Company's trade in Japan.
The Company's headquarters were moved from Hirado to Dejima in Nagasaki in 1640.

Return to the Netherlands

In 1641, Caron's Japan contract with the company expired, and he went to Batavia awaiting a transfer to Europe. At that time, he was nominated
member of the Council of the East Indies, the governing body of the VOC in Asia, next to the Governor-General.
On December 13, 1641, Caron sailed back to Europe as commander of the merchant fleet.

New assignements in Asia

Although he was rewarded handsomely for his services with a capital of 1500 gilders, he again left for Asia in 1643 aboard the ''Olifant''. In September 1643, he headed an army of 1700 men against the Portuguese in Ceylon.
Caron was then named governor of Formosa (Taiwan) until 1646, where he restructured the production of rice, sulfer, sugar and indigo, and controlled the trade with Chinese pirates.
He had to return to Batavia in 1646. In 1647, he was appointed Director-General, second in command after the Governor-General.
In 1651, Caron had to return to the Netherland, due to allegations of private trade, but he successfully defended his case, and was able to resign with honor from the Company.

Appointment with the French East Indies Company

In his later years, in 1664, Caron received an offer from Colbert to become the Director General of the French East India Company, and he accepted.
This was perceived as treason by the Dutch, and Caron was banned eternally from the Provinces.

Madagascar

In 1665, François Caron, the Director General of the newly formed French East India Company, sailed to Madagascar. The Company failed to found a colony on Madagascar but established ports on the nearby islands of Bourbon and Île-de-France (today's Réunion and Mauritius). In the late 17th century, the French established trading posts along the east coast.

India

He then founded a French trading post at Surat in India. He was "Commissaire" at Pondicherry between 1668 and 1672. The French East India Company formally set up a trading centre at Pondicherry in 1673. This outpost eventually became the chief French settlement in India.
In 1672, he helped the French to Ceylon.
He died as his ship sank off Lisbon on April 5, 1673, as he was returning to Europe.

Titles

Publications

Caron wrote "A True Description of the Mighty Kingdoms of Japan and Siam", published in London in 1671.

See also

★ Nanban trade period

★ Franco-Japanese relations