Japan-Netherlands Trade 1600-1800: The Dutch East India Company and Beyond

In the early modern period, relations between the Netherlands and Japan were founded on trade. The Dutch United East India Company operated in Japan for over 100 years, from 1609 to the early 18th century. The Dutch-Japanese relationship--built sometimes on understanding and at other times on resentment--is recorded in great detail in the trade-related archives of the period. This book closely examines these documents to reveal the changing market conditions of the main commodities exported by the Dutch from Japan at the time: silver, koban (gold), copper, and camphor. This analysis of both Dutch and Japanese perspectives on the trade market forms an intricate picture of the cultural, political, and economic context of trade between the Netherlands and Japan in the early modern period.