François Caron

François Caron
A map of Japan in François Caron's "A True Description of the Mighty Kingdoms of Japan and Siam".
1st Director-General of the French East India Company
In office 1667–1673
8th Governor of Formosa
In office 1644–1646
Preceded by	Maximiliaan le Maire
Succeeded by	Pieter Anthoniszoon Overtwater
12th Opperhoofd in Japan
In office 2 February 1639 – 13 February 1641
Preceded by	Nicolaes Couckebacker
Succeeded by	Maximiliaan le Maire
Personal details
Born	1600 Brussels
Died	5 April 1673 at sea, near Portugal
Nationality	French

François Caron (1600–1673) was a French Huguenot refugee to the Netherlands who served the Dutch East India Company (Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie or VOC) for 30 years, rising from cabin boy to Director-General at Batavia (Jakarta), only one grade below Governor-General. He was later to become Director-General of the French East Indies Company (Compagnie française pour le commerce des Indes orientales) (1667–1673).

He is sometimes considered the first Frenchman to set foot in Japan: he was actually born in Brussels to a family of French Huguenot refugees; but he only became a naturalized citizen of France when he was persuaded by Colbert to become head of the French East Indies Company, which was intended to compete with the Dutch and the English in Asia. He disputes that honour with the French Dominican missionary Guillaume Courtet.

Caron began as a cook's mate on board the Dutch ship Schiedam bound for Japan, where he arrived in 1619. His language skills had developed; and in 1627, he traveled to Edo as the interpreter for the VOC mission to the shogunal capital. He is not quite the first known instance of Franco-Japanese relations, since he was preceded by the visit of Hasekura Tsunenaga to France in 1615.

Caron stayed in Japan for over twenty years, from 1619 to 1641, eventually becoming the VOC Opperhoofd (chief factor or merchant) in Japan. During this period, he married a Japanese woman (the daughter of Eguchi Jūzaemon) and had six children. His entire family followed him to Nagasaki when the Japanese forced the Dutch to abandon their outpost at Hirado. Then his family moved with him to Batavia when he left Japan in 1641.