Caron began as a cook's mate[6] on board the Dutch ship Schiedam bound for Japan, where he arrived at Hirado in 1619.

Caron's answers formed the outline for his work Beschrijvinghe van het machtigh coninckrijcke Jappan ("Description of the Mighty Kingdom of Japan"), published as an appendix to a corporate history in 1645 and as an independent book in 1661.

This was one of the first reports to introduce Japan in any detail to a European audience and was widely read, receiving translations into German, French, and English.

The Portuguese trading out of Nagasaki were completely expelled, and the VOC warehouses at Hirado were destroyed, ostensibly because one was engraved with the Christian date of its erection ("AD 1638").

The Dutch, now the only Europeans allowed to trade on Japanese soil, were forced to relocate to the small artificial island of Dejima, although Caron ended his term as opperhoofd shortly before the move took place in the summer of 1641.

[11] During this period, Caron's achievements included restructuring the production of rice, sulfur, sugar and indigo, and moderating the trade with Chinese pirates.

In 1651, Caron was recalled to the Netherlands, together with Cornelis van der Lijn, due to allegations of private trade, but he successfully defended his case, and was able to resign with honor from the company.

The Company failed to found a colony on Madagascar but established ports on the nearby islands of Bourbon (now Réunion) and Isle de France (now Mauritius).

Caron succeeded in founding French outposts at Surat (1668) and at Masulipatam (1669) in India;[15] and Louis XIV acknowledged those successes by awarding him the Order of St.

In 1672, he helped lead French forces in Ceylon, where the strategic bay at Trincomalee was captured and St. Thomé (also known as Meilâpûr) on the Coromandel coast was also taken;[15] however, the consequences of his military success was short-lived.