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Opperhoofd is a Dutch word (plural opperhoofden) which literally means 'supreme head[man]'. In its historical usage, the word is a
gubernatorial title, comparable to the English
chief factor, for the chief executive officer of a Dutch factory in the sense of trading post, as led by a factor, i.e. agent. The Japanese called the Dutch chief factors kapitan (from Portuguese capitão).
The Dutch East India Company was established in 1602 by the
States-General of the Netherlands to carry out colonial activities in Asia. The VOC enjoyed unique success in Japan, in part because of the ways in which the character and other qualities of its Opperhoofden were perceived to differ from other competitors.
Trading posts
Map of the bay of Hirado in 1621. Dutch East India Company trading post (Netherlands flag) on the upper right.
East India Company (British flag) on the upper left.
Hirado, 1609–1639
View circa 1699 of VOC compound at Hirado island, on the west coast of Kyūshū
The first VOC trading outpost in Japan was on the island of
Hirado off the coast of
Kyūshū. Permission for establishing this permanent facility was granted in 1609 by the first Tokugawa-shōgun
Ieyasu; but the right to make use of this convenient location was revoked in 1639.[citation needed]
An imagined bird's-eye view of Dejima's layout and structures. Note the island's fan-shape. Japanese wood-block print made in 1780.
In 1638, the harsh
Sakoku ("closed door" policy) was ordered by the
Tokugawa shogunate; and by 1641, the VOC had to transfer all of its mercantile operations to the small man-made island of
Dejima in
Nagasaki harbor. The island had been built for the Portuguese, but they had been forced to abandon it and all contacts with Japan. Only the Dutch were permitted to remain after all other Westerners had been excluded.[citation needed]
The Dutch presence in Japan was closely monitored and controlled. For example, each year the VOC had to transfer the opperhoofd. Each opperhoofd was expected to travel to Edo to offer tribute to the shogun (
Dutch missions to Edo). The VOC traders had to be careful not to import anything religious; and they were not allowed to bring any women, nor to bury their dead ashore. They were largely free to do as they pleased on the island; but they were explicitly ordered to work on Sunday.[citation needed]
For nearly 200 years a series of VOC traders lived, worked and seemed to thrive in this confined location.[citation needed]
In 1799 the VOC went bankrupt. The trade with Japan was continued by the Dutch Indian government at Batavia, with an interruption during the English occupation of Java, during which the English (
Stamford Raffles) unsuccessfully tried to capture Dejima.
After the creation of the Kingdom of The Netherlands (1815) the trade with Japan came under the administration of the Minister of the Colonies by way of the Governor General in Batavia. The directors of the trade (Opperhoofd) became colonial civil servants. From 1855 the director of the trade with Japan,
Janus Henricus Donker Curtius, became 'Dutch Commissioner in Japan' with orders to conclude a treaty with Japan. He succeeded in 1855 to conclude a convention, changed into a treaty in January 1856. In 1857 he concluded a commercial paragraph in addition to the treaty of 1856, thus concluding the first western treaty of friendship and commerce with Japan. His successor,
Jan Karel de Wit was Dutch Consul General in Japan, though still a colonial civil servant. In 1862 the Dutch representation in Japan was transferred to the
Ministry for Foreign Affairs. This change was effected in Japan in 1863,
Dirk de Graeff van Polsbroek becoming Consul General and Political Agent in Japan.[citation needed]
List of chief traders at Hirado
Hirado is a small island just off the western shore of the Japanese island of Kyūshū. In the early 17th century, Hirado was a major center of foreign trade and included British, Chinese, and other trading stations along with the Dutch one, maintained and operated by the Dutch East India Company (VOC) after 1609. The serial leaders of this VOC trading enclave or factory at Hirado were:[citation needed]
Hendrik Doeff and a Balinese servant in Dejima, Japanese paintingPieter Albert Bik, main Dutch chief in Japan, 1842–1845, by Johann Peter Berghaus
Dejima (出島) was a fan-shaped
artificial island in the bay of Nagasaki. This island was a Dutch trading post during Japan's period of maritime restrictions (海禁, kaikin, 1641–1853) during the Edo period. The serial leaders of this VOC trading enclave or "factory" at Dejima were:[citation needed]
Maximiliaen Le Maire: 14 February 1641 – 30 October 1641 Le Maire was the first "new" chief trader at Dejima[4]
Pieter Albert Bik: November 1842 – 31 October 1845
Joseph Henrij Levijssohn: 1 November 1845 – 31 October 1850
Frederik Cornelis Rose: 1 November 1850 – 31 October 1852
Janus Henricus Donker Curtius: 2 November 1852 – 28 February 1860 [Donker Curtius became the last in a long list of hardy Dutch Opperhoofden who were stationed at Dejima; and fortuitously, Curtius also became the first of many Dutch diplomatic and trade representatives in Japan during the burgeoning pre-Meiji years.
^
abcdeKornicki, Peter F. "European Japanology at the End of the Seventeenth Century," Bulletin of School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. Vol. 56, No. 3 (1993). pp. 510.
Blomhoff, J.C. (2000). The Court Journey to the Shogun of Japan: From a Private Account by Jan Cock Blomhoff. Amsterdam.
Blussé, L. et al., eds. (1995–2001) The Deshima [sic] Dagregisters: Their Original Tables of Content. Leiden.
Blussé, L. et al., eds. (2004). The Deshima Diaries Marginalia 1740–1800. Tokyo.
Boxer. C.R. (1950). Jan Compagnie in Japan, 1600–1850: An Essay on the Cultural, Artistic, and Scientific Influence Exercised by the Hollanders in Japan from the Seventeenth to the Nineteenth Centuries. Den Haag.
Caron, F. (1671). A True Description of the Mighty Kingdoms of Japan and Siam. London.
Clulow, A. (2014). The Company and the Shogun: The Dutch Encounters with Tokugawa Japan. New York.
Doeff, H. (1633). Herinneringen uit Japan. Amsterdam. [Doeff, H. "Recollections of Japan"
ISBN1-55395-849-7
Edo-Tokyo Museum exhibition catalog. (2000). A Very Unique Collection of Historical Significance: The Kapitan (the Dutch Chief) Collection from the Edo Period—The Dutch Fascination with Japan. Catalog of "400th Anniversary Exhibition Regarding Relations between Japan and the Netherlands," a joint project of the Edo-Tokyo Museum, the City of Nagasaki, the National Museum of Ethnology, the National Natuurhistorisch Museum" and the National Herbarium of the Netherlands in Leiden, the Netherlands. Tokyo.
Leguin, F. (2002). Isaac Titsingh (1745–1812): Een passie voor Japan, leven en werk van de grondlegger van de Europese Japanologie. Leiden.
Nederland's Patriciaat, Vol. 13 (1923). Den Haag.
Screech, Timon. (2006). Secret Memoirs of the Shoguns: Isaac Titsingh and Japan, 1779–1822. London.
Siebold, P.F.B. v. (1897). Nippon. Würzburg e Leipzig.
Titsingh, I. (1820). Mémoires et Anecdotes sur la Dynastie régnante des Djogouns, Souverains du Japon. Paris.
Titsingh, I. (1822). Illustrations of Japan; consisting of Private Memoirs and Anecdotes of the reigning dynasty of The Djogouns, or Sovereigns of Japan. London.
1 1975 is the year of East Timor's Declaration of Independence and subsequent
invasion by Indonesia. In 2002, East Timor's independence was fully recognized.
This article may require
cleanup to meet Wikipedia's
quality standards. The specific problem is: unencyclopedic; excessive italicization; inclusion of badly defined list; chaotic syntax; haphazardly added images; too many foreign-language terms—re: title. Please help
improve this article if you can.(August 2019) (
Learn how and when to remove this message)
Opperhoofd is a Dutch word (plural opperhoofden) which literally means 'supreme head[man]'. In its historical usage, the word is a
gubernatorial title, comparable to the English
chief factor, for the chief executive officer of a Dutch factory in the sense of trading post, as led by a factor, i.e. agent. The Japanese called the Dutch chief factors kapitan (from Portuguese capitão).
The Dutch East India Company was established in 1602 by the
States-General of the Netherlands to carry out colonial activities in Asia. The VOC enjoyed unique success in Japan, in part because of the ways in which the character and other qualities of its Opperhoofden were perceived to differ from other competitors.
Trading posts
Map of the bay of Hirado in 1621. Dutch East India Company trading post (Netherlands flag) on the upper right.
East India Company (British flag) on the upper left.
Hirado, 1609–1639
View circa 1699 of VOC compound at Hirado island, on the west coast of Kyūshū
The first VOC trading outpost in Japan was on the island of
Hirado off the coast of
Kyūshū. Permission for establishing this permanent facility was granted in 1609 by the first Tokugawa-shōgun
Ieyasu; but the right to make use of this convenient location was revoked in 1639.[citation needed]
An imagined bird's-eye view of Dejima's layout and structures. Note the island's fan-shape. Japanese wood-block print made in 1780.
In 1638, the harsh
Sakoku ("closed door" policy) was ordered by the
Tokugawa shogunate; and by 1641, the VOC had to transfer all of its mercantile operations to the small man-made island of
Dejima in
Nagasaki harbor. The island had been built for the Portuguese, but they had been forced to abandon it and all contacts with Japan. Only the Dutch were permitted to remain after all other Westerners had been excluded.[citation needed]
The Dutch presence in Japan was closely monitored and controlled. For example, each year the VOC had to transfer the opperhoofd. Each opperhoofd was expected to travel to Edo to offer tribute to the shogun (
Dutch missions to Edo). The VOC traders had to be careful not to import anything religious; and they were not allowed to bring any women, nor to bury their dead ashore. They were largely free to do as they pleased on the island; but they were explicitly ordered to work on Sunday.[citation needed]
For nearly 200 years a series of VOC traders lived, worked and seemed to thrive in this confined location.[citation needed]
In 1799 the VOC went bankrupt. The trade with Japan was continued by the Dutch Indian government at Batavia, with an interruption during the English occupation of Java, during which the English (
Stamford Raffles) unsuccessfully tried to capture Dejima.
After the creation of the Kingdom of The Netherlands (1815) the trade with Japan came under the administration of the Minister of the Colonies by way of the Governor General in Batavia. The directors of the trade (Opperhoofd) became colonial civil servants. From 1855 the director of the trade with Japan,
Janus Henricus Donker Curtius, became 'Dutch Commissioner in Japan' with orders to conclude a treaty with Japan. He succeeded in 1855 to conclude a convention, changed into a treaty in January 1856. In 1857 he concluded a commercial paragraph in addition to the treaty of 1856, thus concluding the first western treaty of friendship and commerce with Japan. His successor,
Jan Karel de Wit was Dutch Consul General in Japan, though still a colonial civil servant. In 1862 the Dutch representation in Japan was transferred to the
Ministry for Foreign Affairs. This change was effected in Japan in 1863,
Dirk de Graeff van Polsbroek becoming Consul General and Political Agent in Japan.[citation needed]
List of chief traders at Hirado
Hirado is a small island just off the western shore of the Japanese island of Kyūshū. In the early 17th century, Hirado was a major center of foreign trade and included British, Chinese, and other trading stations along with the Dutch one, maintained and operated by the Dutch East India Company (VOC) after 1609. The serial leaders of this VOC trading enclave or factory at Hirado were:[citation needed]
Hendrik Doeff and a Balinese servant in Dejima, Japanese paintingPieter Albert Bik, main Dutch chief in Japan, 1842–1845, by Johann Peter Berghaus
Dejima (出島) was a fan-shaped
artificial island in the bay of Nagasaki. This island was a Dutch trading post during Japan's period of maritime restrictions (海禁, kaikin, 1641–1853) during the Edo period. The serial leaders of this VOC trading enclave or "factory" at Dejima were:[citation needed]
Maximiliaen Le Maire: 14 February 1641 – 30 October 1641 Le Maire was the first "new" chief trader at Dejima[4]
Pieter Albert Bik: November 1842 – 31 October 1845
Joseph Henrij Levijssohn: 1 November 1845 – 31 October 1850
Frederik Cornelis Rose: 1 November 1850 – 31 October 1852
Janus Henricus Donker Curtius: 2 November 1852 – 28 February 1860 [Donker Curtius became the last in a long list of hardy Dutch Opperhoofden who were stationed at Dejima; and fortuitously, Curtius also became the first of many Dutch diplomatic and trade representatives in Japan during the burgeoning pre-Meiji years.
^
abcdeKornicki, Peter F. "European Japanology at the End of the Seventeenth Century," Bulletin of School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. Vol. 56, No. 3 (1993). pp. 510.
Blomhoff, J.C. (2000). The Court Journey to the Shogun of Japan: From a Private Account by Jan Cock Blomhoff. Amsterdam.
Blussé, L. et al., eds. (1995–2001) The Deshima [sic] Dagregisters: Their Original Tables of Content. Leiden.
Blussé, L. et al., eds. (2004). The Deshima Diaries Marginalia 1740–1800. Tokyo.
Boxer. C.R. (1950). Jan Compagnie in Japan, 1600–1850: An Essay on the Cultural, Artistic, and Scientific Influence Exercised by the Hollanders in Japan from the Seventeenth to the Nineteenth Centuries. Den Haag.
Caron, F. (1671). A True Description of the Mighty Kingdoms of Japan and Siam. London.
Clulow, A. (2014). The Company and the Shogun: The Dutch Encounters with Tokugawa Japan. New York.
Doeff, H. (1633). Herinneringen uit Japan. Amsterdam. [Doeff, H. "Recollections of Japan"
ISBN1-55395-849-7
Edo-Tokyo Museum exhibition catalog. (2000). A Very Unique Collection of Historical Significance: The Kapitan (the Dutch Chief) Collection from the Edo Period—The Dutch Fascination with Japan. Catalog of "400th Anniversary Exhibition Regarding Relations between Japan and the Netherlands," a joint project of the Edo-Tokyo Museum, the City of Nagasaki, the National Museum of Ethnology, the National Natuurhistorisch Museum" and the National Herbarium of the Netherlands in Leiden, the Netherlands. Tokyo.
Leguin, F. (2002). Isaac Titsingh (1745–1812): Een passie voor Japan, leven en werk van de grondlegger van de Europese Japanologie. Leiden.
Nederland's Patriciaat, Vol. 13 (1923). Den Haag.
Screech, Timon. (2006). Secret Memoirs of the Shoguns: Isaac Titsingh and Japan, 1779–1822. London.
Siebold, P.F.B. v. (1897). Nippon. Würzburg e Leipzig.
Titsingh, I. (1820). Mémoires et Anecdotes sur la Dynastie régnante des Djogouns, Souverains du Japon. Paris.
Titsingh, I. (1822). Illustrations of Japan; consisting of Private Memoirs and Anecdotes of the reigning dynasty of The Djogouns, or Sovereigns of Japan. London.
1 1975 is the year of East Timor's Declaration of Independence and subsequent
invasion by Indonesia. In 2002, East Timor's independence was fully recognized.