Willem Verstegen

Willem Verstegen (c. 1612 – 1659) was a merchant in service of the Dutch East India Company and chief trader of factory in Dejima.

On December 7 of that year, Verstegen wrote to Governor Antonie van Diemen that he had learned of some Japan's islands (at around the 37th parallel north) where almost everything was made of gold and silver.

He paid an obligatory visit to Shōgun Tokugawa Iemitsu in Edo, bringing with him two camels, a civet, a cassowary, two cockatoos, medicine, and a perspectiefkast (a miniature diorama in a chest or peepshow box, possibly by Samuel Dirksz van Hoogstraten who was known for this craft).

Verstegen's report of his trip to Edo is extremely detailed: he mentioned the names of places, described the landscape, recounted what he saw and heard.

[7] Verstegen gained an extraordinary position on the Counsel of India (central governing body of the Dutch Asian colonies), but was recalled in 1652 back to the Netherlands.