Leopold Willem Ras

Leopold Willem Ras (died 1847) was a Dutch merchant-trader and diplomat.

Life

Ras travelled from Europe to work in East Asia with the Dutch East Indies Company (or Verenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie or VOC in Dutch).

Ras was sent to Japan as a records keeper/bookkeepr or warehouseman.^[1] At this point in Japanese history, the sole VOC outpost (or "factory") was situated on Dejima island in the harbor of Nagasaki on the southern island of Kyushu.

Ras became acting Opperhoofd or chief negotiant and officer of the VOC trading post. His role had to change after the death of Dejima's chief official, Gijsbert Hemmij.^[2] In 1798, Hemmij died at Kanegawa near Edo during the return journey to Nagasaki after a formal audience at the shogun's court in Edo.^[3]

The difficulties Ras confronted were exacerbated by a fire which destroyed the VOC warehouse and other structures on Dejima.^[2]

In 1847, Ras died in the Banda Islands, which are part of the Dutch East Indies.^[4]

See also

• VOC Opperhoofden in Japan
• William Robert Stewart

Notes

1. National Archives of the Netherlands: "Inventaris van de archieven van de Nederlandse Factorij in Japan te Hirado en te Deshima, 1609-1860," p. 19.
2. Janetta, Ann Bowman. (2007). The Vaccinators: Smallpox, Medical Knowledge, and the "Opening" of Japan, p. 209 n. 13., p. 209, at Google Books
3. Historiographical Institute. (1963). Historical documents relating to Japan in foreign countries, pp. 57-58.
4. Kwartierstaat van Jeanne Antoinette Lewis (Genealogy of ....)

References

• Gourlay, Walter E. (2008). "A Camel for the Shogun: William Robert Stewart and the Deshima Connection" (abstract;paper). ASPAC 2008. Centre for Asia-Pacific Initiatives, University of Victoria University of Victoria, British Columbia
• Historiographical Institute, the University of Tokyo (東京大学史料編纂所 Tokyo daigaku shiryō hensan-jo). (1963). Historical documents relating to Japan in foreign countries: an inventory of microfilm acquisitions in the library of the Historiographical Institute, the University of Tokyo. OCLC 450710
• Janetta, Ann Bowman. (2007). The Vaccinators: Smallpox, Medical Knowledge, and the "Opening" of Japan. Stanford: Stanford University Press. ISBN 9780804754897; OCLC 260125877
• Vialle, Cynthia and Ton Vermeulen. (1997). The Deshima Dagregisters: Their Original Tables of Contents, Vol. 10, 1790-1800. Leiden: Institute for the History of European Expansion. OCLC 634570173

External links

• De VOC site: Dejima history, opperhoofden (Dutch)