Janus Henricus Donker Curtius
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Janus Henricus Donker Curtius (1813-1879) was the last Dutch commissioner for the island of Dejima in Japan. He studied law at Leiden University.
He arrived in Dejima in 1852, and was contemporary with the forcible opening of Japan by Commodore Matthew Perry in 1853.
Donker Curtius arranged the 1855 delivery to Japan her its first steam warship, the Dutch Soembing, renamed Kankō Maru, which became the nation's first step in establishing a modern navy.
He established a format treaty between the Netherlands and Japan in 1856, and, in 1858 was the last Dutch chief ("opperhoofd") to make the ceremonial visit to Edo to pay tribute to the Shogun. During that last trip, he acquired a collection of 111 books on Rangaku, which are today preserved at Leiden University Library.
