17 Facts About Pieter Nuyts

Pieter Nuyts or Nuijts was a Dutch explorer, diplomat and politician.

Pieter Nuyts became the Dutch ambassador to Japan in 1627, and was appointed governor of Formosa in the same year.

Pieter Nuyts was disgraced, fined and imprisoned, before being made a scapegoat to ease strained Dutch relations with the Japanese.

Pieter Nuyts was born in 1598 in the town of Middelburg in Zeeland, Dutch Republic to Laurens Nuyts, a merchant, and his wife Elisabeth Walraents, wealthy Protestant immigrants from Antwerp.

In 1613, Pieter Nuyts, who was staying in Leiden with the famous Orientalist Erpenius, is known to have met with the Moroccan envoy in the Low Countries Al-Hajari.

In 1620, Pieter Nuyts married Cornelia Jacot, a child of immigrants from Antwerp, who was to bear four of his children: Laurens was born on around 1622), Pieter Nuyts (1624 and and the twins Anna Cornelia and Elisabeth.

Pieter Nuyts's plan was to have the Formosans grant sovereignty over Taiwan to the, while Nuyts was in Japan to assert rival Dutch claims on the island.

On returning from his unsuccessful mission to Japan, Pieter Nuyts took up his position as the third governor of Formosa, with his residence in Fort Zeelandia in Tayouan.

Pieter Nuyts acquired some notoriety while governor for apparently taking native women to his bed, and having a translator hide under the bed to interpret his pillow-talk.

Pieter Nuyts was accused of profiting from private trade, something which was forbidden under company rules.

Pieter Nuyts's handling of relations with the natives of Formosa too was a cause for concern.

Pieter Nuyts had a low opinion of the natives, writing that they were "a simple, ignorant people, who know neither good nor evil".

Pieter Nuyts was greatly concerned by this development, and wrote to Batavia urgently requesting an expedition to dislodge the Spanish from their strongholds in Tamsuy and Kelang.

Pieter Nuyts exacted revenge on the same Hamada Yahei who he blamed for causing the failure of the Japanese embassy by impounding his ships and weapons until the tolls were paid.

Pieter Nuyts was held under house arrest by the Japanese from 1632 until 1636, when he was released and sent back to Batavia.

Pieter Nuyts was released from captivity in 1636, most likely due to the efforts of Francois Caron, who knew Pieter Nuyts from serving as his interpreter during the unsuccessful Japanese embassy of 1627.

On returning from Japan, Pieter Nuyts was fined by the VOC, before being dishonorably dismissed from the company and sent back to the Netherlands.