Pieter Nuyts
Encyclopedia
Pieter Nuyts or Nuijts was a Dutch
explorer
, diplomat
, and politician
.
He was part of a landmark expedition of the Dutch East India Company
in 1626–27, which mapped the southern coast of Australia
. He became the Dutch ambassador
to Japan
in 1627, and he was appointed Governor of Formosa
in the same year. Later he became a controversial figure because of his disastrous handling of official duties, coupled with rumours about private indiscretions. He was disgraced, fined and imprisoned, before being made a scapegoat to ease strained Dutch relations with the Japanese. He returned to the Dutch Republic in 1637, where he became the mayor
of Hulster Ambacht and of Hulst
.
He is chiefly remembered today in the place names of various points along the southern Australia
n coast, named for him after his voyage of 1626–27. During the early 20th century, he was vilified in Japanese school textbooks in Taiwan
as an example of a "typical arrogant western bully".
in Zeeland
, Dutch Republic
to Laurens Nuyts, a merchant, and his wife Elisabeth Walraents, wealthy Protestant
immigrants from Antwerp. After studying at the University of Leiden
and gaining a doctorate
in philosophy
, he returned to Middelburg to work in his father's trading company.
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. Al-Hajari wrote for him an entry in Pieter's Album Amicorum stating:
In 1620, Pieter married Cornelia Jacot, also a child of Antwerp émigrés, who was to bear four of his children — Laurens (born around 1622), Pieter (1624) and the twins Anna Cornelia and Elisabeth (1626). In 1626 he entered service with the Dutch East India Company
(VOC) and was seen as one of their rising stars.
On 11 May 1626 the VOC ship ′t Gulden Zeepaerdt (The Golden Seahorse) departed from Amsterdam with Nuyts and his eldest son Laurens aboard. Deviating from the standard route to the VOC's East Asian Batavia headquarters, the ship continued east and mapped around 1,500 km of the southern coast of Australia
from Albany, Western Australia
to Ceduna, South Australia
. The captain of the ship, François Thijssen
, named the region ′t Landt van Pieter Nuyts (Pieter Nuyts' Land) after Nuyts, who was the highest-ranking official on the ship. Today several areas in the state of South Australia
still bear his name, such as Nuyts's Reef, Cape Nuyts and the Nuyts Archipelago
; names given by the British
navigator and cartographer Matthew Flinders
. Later Nuytsia floribunda, the Western Australian Christmas Tree, was also named for him.
(Taiwan
) and ambassador to Japan
for the Dutch East India Company
, travelling in this capacity to the court of the shogun
Tokugawa Iemitsu
, ruler of Japan. At the same time Hamada Yahei, a Japanese trader based in Nagasaki
with frequent business in Formosa, had taken a group of sixteen native Formosans
to Japan and had them pose as rulers of Formosa. His plan was to have the Formosans grant sovereignty over Taiwan to the shogun, while Nuyts was in Japan to assert rival Dutch claims on the island. Both embassies were refused an audience with the shogun (the Dutch failure being variously attributed to Nuyts's "haughty demeanour and the antics of his travel companions" and "Hamada's machinations at the court").
On returning from his unsuccessful mission to Japan, Nuyts took up his position as the third Governor of Formosa
, with his residence in Fort Zeelandia
in Tayouan (modern-day Anping). One of his early aims was to force an opening for the Dutch to trade in China — something which had eluded them since they arrived in East Asia in the early 17th century. To further this goal, he took the Chinese trade negotiator Zheng Zhilong
hostage and refused to release him until he agreed to give the Dutch trading privileges. More than thirty years later it was to be Zheng's son Koxinga
who ended the reign of the Dutch on Formosa.
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. He was also accused of profiting from private trade, something which was forbidden under company rules. Some sources claim that he officially married a native Formosan woman during this time, but as he was still legally married to his first wife Cornelia, this seems unlikely.
His handling of relations with the natives of Formosa too was a cause for concern, with the residents of Sinkan contrasting his harsh treatment with the "generous hospitality of the Japanese". Nuyts had a low opinion of the natives, writing that they were "a simple, ignorant people, who know neither good nor evil". In 1629 he narrowly escaped death when after being feted at the aboriginal village of Mattau, the locals took advantage of the relaxed and convivial atmosphere to slaughter sixty off-guard Dutch soldiers — Nuyts was spared by having left early to return to Zeelandia. This incident was later used as a justification for the Pacification Campaign
of 1635–36.
It was during Nuyts' tenure as Governor that the Spanish
established their presence on Formosa
in 1629. He 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
. In his letter he stressed the potential for the Spanish to interfere with Dutch activities and the trade benefits the Dutch could gain by taking the north of the island. The colonial authorities ignored his request, and took no action against the Spanish until 1641.
The already troubled relations with Japanese merchants in Tayouan took a turn for the worse in 1628 when tensions boiled over. The merchants, who had been trading in Taiwan long before the Dutch colony was established, refused to pay Dutch tolls levied for conducting business in the area, which they saw as unfair. 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. However, the Japanese were still not inclined to pay taxes, and the affair came to a head when Hamada took Nuyts hostage at knifepoint in his own office. Hamada's demands were for the return of their ships and property, and for safe passage to return to Japan. These requests were granted by the Council of Formosa (the ruling body of Dutch Formosa), and Nuyts' son Laurens was taken back to Japan as one of six Dutch hostages. Laurens died in Omura
prison on 29 December 1631. During the Japanese era
in Taiwan (1895–1945), school history textbooks retold the hostage-taking as the , portraying the Dutchman as a "typical arrogant western bully who slighted Japanese trading rights and trod on the rights of the native inhabitants".
. All their overtures to the Japanese court failed, until they decided to extradite Pieter Nuyts to Japan for the shogun to punish him as he saw fit. This was a unprecedented step, and was representative of both the extreme official displeasure with Nuyts in the Dutch hierarchy and the strong desire to recommence Japanese trade.
A measure of the upset he caused to the Dutch authorities can be gauged by the contents of a letter from VOC Governor-General
Anthony van Diemen
to VOC headquarters in Amsterdam in 1636, expressing his concern about plans to send a highly-paid lawyer to Batavia to draw up a legal code: Nuyts was held under house arrest by the Japanese from 1632 until 1636, when he was released and sent back to Batavia. During this period he passed the time by mining his collection of classical Latin texts by writers such as Cicero
, Seneca
, and Tacitus
to write treatises on subjects such as the elephant
and the Nile Delta
, exercises which were designed to display rhetorical flair and high style. He also further annoyed Dutch authorities by spending lavish sums on clothing and food, things for which the VOC had to foot the bill.
Nuyts was released from captivity in 1636, most likely due to the efforts of François Caron
, who knew Nuyts from serving as his interpreter during the unsuccessful Japanese embassy of 1627. On returning from Japan, Nuyts was fined by the VOC, before being dishonorably dismissed from the company and sent back to the Netherlands.
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On returning to his home country he first went back to his city of birth Middelburg
, before starting a career as a local administrator in Zeelandic Flanders, and settling in Hulst
shortly after the town had been wrested from the Spanish
in 1645. He eventually rose to be three times mayor of Hulster Ambacht and twice mayor of Hulst. Thanks to powerful allies in the Middelburg chamber of the VOC he was able to successfully appeal for the cancellation of the fines placed on him, and the money was returned. In 1640 he married Anna van Driel, who died that same year while giving birth to Nuyts' third son, also called Pieter
. In 1649 he married his third (or perhaps fourth) and final wife, Agnes Granier, who was to outlive him.
.
Dutch Republic
The Dutch Republic — officially known as the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands , the Republic of the United Netherlands, or the Republic of the Seven United Provinces — was a republic in Europe existing from 1581 to 1795, preceding the Batavian Republic and ultimately...
explorer
Exploration
Exploration is the act of searching or traveling around a terrain for the purpose of discovery of resources or information. Exploration occurs in all non-sessile animal species, including humans...
, diplomat
Diplomat
A diplomat is a person appointed by a state to conduct diplomacy with another state or international organization. The main functions of diplomats revolve around the representation and protection of the interests and nationals of the sending state, as well as the promotion of information and...
, and politician
Politician
A politician, political leader, or political figure is an individual who is involved in influencing public policy and decision making...
.
He was part of a landmark expedition of the 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...
in 1626–27, which mapped the southern coast of Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
. He became the Dutch ambassador
Ambassador
An ambassador is the highest ranking diplomat who represents a nation and is usually accredited to a foreign sovereign or government, or to an international organization....
to 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...
in 1627, and he was appointed Governor of Formosa
Governor of Formosa
The Governor of Formosa was the head of government during the Dutch colonial period in Taiwan, which lasted from 1624 to 1662. Appointed by the Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies in Batavia , the Governor of Formosa was empowered to legislate, collect taxes, wage war and declare peace on...
in the same year. Later he became a controversial figure because of his disastrous handling of official duties, coupled with rumours about private indiscretions. He was disgraced, fined and imprisoned, before being made a scapegoat to ease strained Dutch relations with the Japanese. He returned to the Dutch Republic in 1637, where he became the mayor
Mayor
In many countries, a Mayor is the highest ranking officer in the municipal government of a town or a large urban city....
of Hulster Ambacht and of Hulst
Hulst
Hulst is a municipality and a city in southwestern Netherlands in the east of Zeelandic Flanders.- History :Hulst received city rights in the 12th century....
.
He is chiefly remembered today in the place names of various points along the southern Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
n coast, named for him after his voyage of 1626–27. During the early 20th century, he was vilified in Japanese school textbooks in Taiwan
Taiwan
Taiwan , also known, especially in the past, as Formosa , is the largest island of the same-named island group of East Asia in the western Pacific Ocean and located off the southeastern coast of mainland China. The island forms over 99% of the current territory of the Republic of China following...
as an example of a "typical arrogant western bully".
Early life
Pieter Nuyts was born in 1598 in the town of MiddelburgMiddelburg
Middelburg is a municipality and a city in the south-western Netherlands and the capital of the province of Zeeland. It is situated in the Midden-Zeeland region. It has a population of about 48,000.- History of Middelburg :...
in Zeeland
Zeeland
Zeeland , also called Zealand in English, is the westernmost province of the Netherlands. The province, located in the south-west of the country, consists of a number of islands and a strip bordering Belgium. Its capital is Middelburg. With a population of about 380,000, its area is about...
, Dutch Republic
Dutch Republic
The Dutch Republic — officially known as the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands , the Republic of the United Netherlands, or the Republic of the Seven United Provinces — was a republic in Europe existing from 1581 to 1795, preceding the Batavian Republic and ultimately...
to Laurens Nuyts, a merchant, and his wife Elisabeth Walraents, wealthy Protestant
Protestantism
Protestantism is one of the three major groupings within Christianity. It is a movement that began in Germany in the early 16th century as a reaction against medieval Roman Catholic doctrines and practices, especially in regards to salvation, justification, and ecclesiology.The doctrines of the...
immigrants from Antwerp. After studying at the University of Leiden
Leiden University
Leiden University , located in the city of Leiden, is the oldest university in the Netherlands. The university was founded in 1575 by William, Prince of Orange, leader of the Dutch Revolt in the Eighty Years' War. The royal Dutch House of Orange-Nassau and Leiden University still have a close...
and gaining a doctorate
Doctor of Philosophy
Doctor of Philosophy, abbreviated as Ph.D., PhD, D.Phil., or DPhil , in English-speaking countries, is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities...
in philosophy
Philosophy
Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing such problems by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on rational...
, he returned to Middelburg to work in his father's trading company.
Oriental studies
Oriental studies is the academic field of study that embraces Near Eastern and Far Eastern societies and cultures, languages, peoples, history and archaeology; in recent years the subject has often been turned into the newer terms of Asian studies and Middle Eastern studies...
Erpenius, is known to have met with the Moroccan
Morocco
Morocco , officially the Kingdom of Morocco , is a country located in North Africa. It has a population of more than 32 million and an area of 710,850 km², and also primarily administers the disputed region of the Western Sahara...
envoy in the Low Countries
Low Countries
The Low Countries are the historical lands around the low-lying delta of the Rhine, Scheldt, and Meuse rivers, including the modern countries of Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg and parts of northern France and western Germany....
Al-Hajari. Al-Hajari wrote for him an entry in Pieter's Album Amicorum stating:
In 1620, Pieter married Cornelia Jacot, also a child of Antwerp émigrés, who was to bear four of his children — Laurens (born around 1622), Pieter (1624) and the twins Anna Cornelia and Elisabeth (1626). In 1626 he entered service with the 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...
(VOC) and was seen as one of their rising stars.
Australian expedition
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
from Albany, Western Australia
Albany, Western Australia
Albany is a port city in the Great Southern region of Western Australia, some 418 km SE of Perth, the state capital. As of 2009, Albany's population was estimated at 33,600, making it the 6th-largest city in the state....
to Ceduna, South Australia
Ceduna, South Australia
Ceduna is a small town in the West Coast region of South Australia. It is situated in the northwest corner of Eyre Peninsula, facing the islands of the Nuyts Archipelago. It lies west of the junction of the Flinders and Eyre Highways around 786 km northwest of the capital Adelaide. The port...
. The captain of the ship, François Thijssen
François Thijssen
François Thijssen or Frans Thijsz was a Dutch explorer who explored the southern coast of Australia.He was the captain of the ship t Gulden Zeepaerdt when sailing from Cape of Good Hope to Batavia...
, named the region ′t Landt van Pieter Nuyts (Pieter Nuyts' Land) after Nuyts, who was the highest-ranking official on the ship. Today several areas in the state of South Australia
South Australia
South Australia is a state of Australia in the southern central part of the country. It covers some of the most arid parts of the continent; with a total land area of , it is the fourth largest of Australia's six states and two territories.South Australia shares borders with all of the mainland...
still bear his name, such as Nuyts's Reef, Cape Nuyts and the Nuyts Archipelago
Nuyts Archipelago
The Nuyts Archipelago, including the Isles of St Francis, comprises a group of mainly small and mostly granitic islands lying off Ceduna, South Australia, at the eastern end of the Great Australian Bight and the north-western coast of the Eyre Peninsula...
; names given by the British
Great Britain
Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...
navigator and cartographer Matthew Flinders
Matthew Flinders
Captain Matthew Flinders RN was one of the most successful navigators and cartographers of his age. In a career that spanned just over twenty years, he sailed with Captain William Bligh, circumnavigated Australia and encouraged the use of that name for the continent, which had previously been...
. Later Nuytsia floribunda, the Western Australian Christmas Tree, was also named for him.
Ambassador to Japan
On 10 May 1627, a month after completing his Australian voyage, Nuyts was simultaneously appointed both Governor of FormosaGovernor of Formosa
The Governor of Formosa was the head of government during the Dutch colonial period in Taiwan, which lasted from 1624 to 1662. Appointed by the Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies in Batavia , the Governor of Formosa was empowered to legislate, collect taxes, wage war and declare peace on...
(Taiwan
Taiwan
Taiwan , also known, especially in the past, as Formosa , is the largest island of the same-named island group of East Asia in the western Pacific Ocean and located off the southeastern coast of mainland China. The island forms over 99% of the current territory of the Republic of China following...
) and ambassador to 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...
for the 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...
, travelling in this capacity to the court of the shogun
Shogun
A was one of the hereditary military dictators of Japan from 1192 to 1867. In this period, the shoguns, or their shikken regents , were the de facto rulers of Japan though they were nominally appointed by the emperor...
Tokugawa Iemitsu
Tokugawa Iemitsu
Tokugawa Iemitsu was the third shogun of the Tokugawa dynasty. He was the eldest son of Tokugawa Hidetada, and the grandson of Tokugawa Ieyasu. Iemitsu ruled from 1623 to 1651.-Early life :...
, ruler of Japan. At the same time Hamada Yahei, a Japanese trader based in Nagasaki
Nagasaki
is the capital and the largest city of Nagasaki Prefecture on the island of Kyushu in Japan. Nagasaki was founded by the Portuguese in the second half of the 16th century on the site of a small fishing village, formerly part of Nishisonogi District...
with frequent business in Formosa, had taken a group of sixteen native Formosans
Taiwanese aborigines
Taiwanese aborigines is the term commonly applied in reference to the indigenous peoples of Taiwan. Although Taiwanese indigenous groups hold a variety of creation myths, recent research suggests their ancestors may have been living on the islands for approximately 8,000 years before major Han...
to Japan and had them pose as rulers of Formosa. His plan was to have the Formosans grant sovereignty over Taiwan to the shogun, while Nuyts was in Japan to assert rival Dutch claims on the island. Both embassies were refused an audience with the shogun (the Dutch failure being variously attributed to Nuyts's "haughty demeanour and the antics of his travel companions" and "Hamada's machinations at the court").
Governor of Formosa
Governor of Formosa
The Governor of Formosa was the head of government during the Dutch colonial period in Taiwan, which lasted from 1624 to 1662. Appointed by the Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies in Batavia , the Governor of Formosa was empowered to legislate, collect taxes, wage war and declare peace on...
, with his residence in Fort Zeelandia
Fort Zeelandia (Taiwan)
Fort Zeelandia was a fortress built over ten years from 1624–1634 by the Dutch Verenigde Oostindische Compagnie, in the town of Anping on the island of Formosa, present day Taiwan, during their 38-year rule over the western part of it...
in Tayouan (modern-day Anping). One of his early aims was to force an opening for the Dutch to trade in China — something which had eluded them since they arrived in East Asia in the early 17th century. To further this goal, he took the Chinese trade negotiator Zheng Zhilong
Zheng Zhilong
Zheng Zhilong also known as Nicholas Iquan Gaspard, a native of Nan'an, Fujian, China. He was a Chinese merchant, pirate and admiral for the Ming Empire. He was the father of Zheng Chenggong , also a military leader. Under the Qing Dynasty, Zheng was elevated to the rank of Count of the Second Rank...
hostage and refused to release him until he agreed to give the Dutch trading privileges. More than thirty years later it was to be Zheng's son Koxinga
Koxinga
Koxinga is the customary Western spelling of the popular appellation of Zheng Chenggong , a military leader who was born in 1624 in Hirado, Japan to Zheng Zhilong, a Chinese merchant/pirate, and his Japanese wife and died in 1662 on the island of Formosa .A Ming loyalist and the arch commander of...
who ended the reign of the Dutch on Formosa.
His handling of relations with the natives of Formosa too was a cause for concern, with the residents of Sinkan contrasting his harsh treatment with the "generous hospitality of the Japanese". Nuyts had a low opinion of the natives, writing that they were "a simple, ignorant people, who know neither good nor evil". In 1629 he narrowly escaped death when after being feted at the aboriginal village of Mattau, the locals took advantage of the relaxed and convivial atmosphere to slaughter sixty off-guard Dutch soldiers — Nuyts was spared by having left early to return to Zeelandia. This incident was later used as a justification for the Pacification Campaign
Dutch pacification campaign on Formosa
The Dutch Pacification Campaign on Formosa was a series of military actions and diplomatic moves undertaken in 1635 and 1636 by Dutch colonial authorities in Formosa , aimed at subduing hostile aboriginal villages in the south-western region of the island...
of 1635–36.
It was during Nuyts' tenure as Governor that the Spanish
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
established their presence on Formosa
Spanish Formosa
Spanish Formosa was a Spanish colony established in the north of Taiwan from 1626 to 1642...
in 1629. He 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
Keelung
Keelung City is a major port city situated in the northeastern part of Taiwan. It borders New Taipei and forms the Taipei–Keelung metropolitan area, along with the Taipei and New Taipei. Nicknamed the Rainy Port for its frequent rain and maritime role, the city is Taiwan's second largest seaport...
. In his letter he stressed the potential for the Spanish to interfere with Dutch activities and the trade benefits the Dutch could gain by taking the north of the island. The colonial authorities ignored his request, and took no action against the Spanish until 1641.
Hostage crisis
Omura, Nagasaki
is a city located in Nagasaki Prefecture, Japan. As of January 1, 2009, the city has an estimated population of 89,891. The total area is 126.33 km², and includes Nagasaki Airport.-History:...
prison on 29 December 1631. During the Japanese era
Taiwan under Japanese rule
Between 1895 and 1945, Taiwan was a dependency of the Empire of Japan. The expansion into Taiwan was a part of Imperial Japan's general policy of southward expansion during the late 19th century....
in Taiwan (1895–1945), school history textbooks retold the hostage-taking as the , portraying the Dutchman as a "typical arrogant western bully who slighted Japanese trading rights and trod on the rights of the native inhabitants".
Extradition to Japan
The Dutch were very keen to resume the lucrative trade with Japan which had been choked off in the wake of the dispute between Nuyts and Hamada at the behest of the Japanese authorities in EdoEdo
, also romanized as Yedo or Yeddo, is the former name of the Japanese capital Tokyo, and was the seat of power for the Tokugawa shogunate which ruled Japan from 1603 to 1868...
. All their overtures to the Japanese court failed, until they decided to extradite Pieter Nuyts to Japan for the shogun to punish him as he saw fit. This was a unprecedented step, and was representative of both the extreme official displeasure with Nuyts in the Dutch hierarchy and the strong desire to recommence Japanese trade.
A measure of the upset he caused to the Dutch authorities can be gauged by the contents of a letter from VOC Governor-General
Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies
The Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies represented the Dutch rule in the Dutch East Indies between 1610 and Dutch recognition of the independence of Indonesia in 1949.The first Governors-General were appointed by the Dutch East India Company...
Anthony van Diemen
Anthony van Diemen
Anthony van Diemen , Dutch colonial governor, was born in Culemborg in the Netherlands, the son of Meeus Anthonisz van Diemen and Christina Hoevenaar. In 1616 he moved to Amsterdam, in hope of improving his fortune as a merchant; in this he failed and was declared bankrupt...
to VOC headquarters in Amsterdam in 1636, expressing his concern about plans to send a highly-paid lawyer to Batavia to draw up a legal code: Nuyts was held under house arrest by the Japanese from 1632 until 1636, when he was released and sent back to Batavia. During this period he passed the time by mining his collection of classical Latin texts by writers such as Cicero
Cicero
Marcus Tullius Cicero , was a Roman philosopher, statesman, lawyer, political theorist, and Roman constitutionalist. He came from a wealthy municipal family of the equestrian order, and is widely considered one of Rome's greatest orators and prose stylists.He introduced the Romans to the chief...
, Seneca
Seneca the Younger
Lucius Annaeus Seneca was a Roman Stoic philosopher, statesman, dramatist, and in one work humorist, of the Silver Age of Latin literature. He was tutor and later advisor to emperor Nero...
, and Tacitus
Tacitus
Publius Cornelius Tacitus was a senator and a historian of the Roman Empire. The surviving portions of his two major works—the Annals and the Histories—examine the reigns of the Roman Emperors Tiberius, Claudius, Nero and those who reigned in the Year of the Four Emperors...
to write treatises on subjects such as the elephant
Elephant
Elephants are large land mammals in two extant genera of the family Elephantidae: Elephas and Loxodonta, with the third genus Mammuthus extinct...
and the Nile Delta
Nile Delta
The Nile Delta is the delta formed in Northern Egypt where the Nile River spreads out and drains into the Mediterranean Sea. It is one of the world's largest river deltas—from Alexandria in the west to Port Said in the east, it covers some 240 km of Mediterranean coastline—and is a rich...
, exercises which were designed to display rhetorical flair and high style. He also further annoyed Dutch authorities by spending lavish sums on clothing and food, things for which the VOC had to foot the bill.
Nuyts was released from captivity in 1636, most likely due to the efforts of François Caron
François Caron
François Caron was a French Huguenot refugee to the Netherlands who served the Dutch East India Company for 30 years, rising from cabin boy to Director-General at Batavia , only one grade below Governor-General...
, who knew Nuyts from serving as his interpreter during the unsuccessful Japanese embassy of 1627. On returning from Japan, Nuyts was fined by the VOC, before being dishonorably dismissed from the company and sent back to the Netherlands.
Return to the Dutch Republic
Middelburg
Middelburg is a municipality and a city in the south-western Netherlands and the capital of the province of Zeeland. It is situated in the Midden-Zeeland region. It has a population of about 48,000.- History of Middelburg :...
, before starting a career as a local administrator in Zeelandic Flanders, and settling in Hulst
Hulst
Hulst is a municipality and a city in southwestern Netherlands in the east of Zeelandic Flanders.- History :Hulst received city rights in the 12th century....
shortly after the town had been wrested from the Spanish
Siege of Hulst
The Siege of Hulst was the last major siege of the Eighty Years' War. The heavily fortified town of Hulst was conquered by Dutch troops commanded by Frederick Henry after only 28 days. The Spanish were informed of the siege only two days before it started. The Spanish army compromised 2,500...
in 1645. He eventually rose to be three times mayor of Hulster Ambacht and twice mayor of Hulst. Thanks to powerful allies in the Middelburg chamber of the VOC he was able to successfully appeal for the cancellation of the fines placed on him, and the money was returned. In 1640 he married Anna van Driel, who died that same year while giving birth to Nuyts' third son, also called Pieter
Pieter Nuyts (writer)
Pieter Nuyts was a Dutch poet and dramatist. The youngest son of the third Governor of Formosa , the younger Pieter was born into a comfortable situation, probably in Middelburg, before his family moved to the city of Hulst, where his father became mayor.He authored several books of poetry and...
. In 1649 he married his third (or perhaps fourth) and final wife, Agnes Granier, who was to outlive him.
Death
Nuyts died on 11 December 1655 and was buried in a churchyard in Hulst. The tombstone remained until 1983, when it was destroyed during renovations of the church. After his funeral it was discovered that he had collected more taxes from his estates than he had handed over to the authorities; his son Pieter eventually repaid his father's debts. It was the younger Pieter who also arranged the posthumous publication of his father's treatise Lof des Elephants, in 1670 — a single known copy of which still exists, in the Koninklijke Bibliotheek in The HagueThe Hague
The Hague is the capital city of the province of South Holland in the Netherlands. With a population of 500,000 inhabitants , it is the third largest city of the Netherlands, after Amsterdam and Rotterdam...
.