Cornelis van Nijenrode, also Cornelis van Nieuwroode (b. Naarden - d. Dejima

Dejima

was a small fan-shaped artificial island built in the bay of Nagasaki in 1634. This island, which was formed by digging a canal through a small peninsula, remained as the single place of direct trade and exchange between Japan and the outside world during the Edo period. Dejima was built to...

, January 1633) was Governor of the VOC-trading post in Hirado, Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

 from 1623 to 1633.

Cornelis arrived in Asia in 1607. He filled several posts at Dutch East India Company

Dutch East India Company

The Dutch East India Company was a chartered company established in 1602, when the States-General of the Netherlands granted it a 21-year monopoly to carry out colonial activities in Asia...

-trading post in Siam. In 1622 he took part in an expedition, sent from Formosa

Formosa

Formosa or Ilha Formosa is a Portuguese historical name for Taiwan , literally meaning, "Beautiful Island". The term may also refer to:-Places:* Formosa Strait, another name for the Taiwan Strait...

, to the coast of China

China

Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...

.

In Japan Cornelis had a daughter, Cornelia

Cornelia van Nijenroode

Cornelia van Nijenroode , was a Dutch merchant in the Dutch East Indies, famous for her conflict with her second spouse. She is the subject of a novel, Bitters bruid by Leonard Blussé....

, with a local Japanese woman named Surishia.

Cornelis died in 1633, just before he was about to leave for Batavia.