View source for Jan Hendrik Donker Curtius


Jan Hendrik Donker Curtius was [[Dutch East India Company]] factor (''opperhoofd'') at the Dutch base on [[Dejima]] in the mid-1850s. He served as interpreter, mediator, and in several other capacities in negotiations which resulted in the conclusions of treaties or conventions signed between the [[Tokugawa shogunate]] and the [[Convention of Kanagawa|United States]], [[Treaty of Shimoda|Russia]], and the [[Anglo-Japanese Convention of 1854|United Kingdom]] in [[1854]]-[[1855]];<ref name=mitani>Mitani Hiroshi, David Noble (trans.), ''Escape from Impasse'', International House of Japan (2006), 260-262.</ref> he also played a primary role in the negotiation and conclusion of the [[Treaty of Peace and Amity (Dutch-Japan)|Dutch-Japanese Treaty of Peace and Amity]] in [[1856]].<ref name=mitani/> Meanwhile, in 1855, he was named Dutch consul (''rijikan'').<ref>Ishin Shiryô Kôyô 維新史料綱要, vol 2 (1937), 78.</ref>

In 1854-1855, Curtius also arranged for the Dutch warship ''Soembing'' (later renamed ''[[Kanko Maru|Kankô-maru]]'') to be gifted to the shogunate, and for Dutch naval officers to provide training in the operation of the warship to shogunate retainers.<ref>Ishin Shiryô Kôyô 維新史料綱要, vol 1 (1937), 622, 628.; vol 2., 78.</ref>

On 1858/7/10, he signed a [[Dutch-Japanese Treaty of Amity and Commerce]] with officials of the Tokugawa shogunate,<ref>Ishin Shiryô Kôyô 維新史料綱要, vol 3 (1937), 12.</ref> amidst the shogunate signing treaties with the United States, Russia, and the United Kingdom all within a short period.

{{stub}}