Quick Facts
Biography
Renier van Tzum also known as Tzom or Reijnjer van't Zum, (c. 1600/1606 in Tzum – September 21, 1670 in IJlst), was a merchant/trader and official of the Dutch East India Company (Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie or VOC).
Life
Van Tzum was born in the Frisian village Tzum or Tzom. He was the son of Marten Jansz (1575?-1624), a captain in the Admiralty of Friesland. His mother died in 1622; two brothers in 1628. It is not known when Van Tzum began working for the VOC. Van Tzum was sent to Siam in 1629. In 1636 he went on a boatride on Chao Phraya River with his colleagues. When Jeremias van Vliet left the factory in 1641, Van Tzum was nominated to succeed him, but first in 1643 he was appointed chief factor. He collaborated with Anthonie van Diemen in Batavia, Johan van Twist in Dutch Malacca, Maximiliaan le Maire and François Caron in Formosa, Jan van Elseracq on Deshima and the factors in Persia and at the Coromandel Coast. Van Tzum pretended to be sick when invited by the king.
Japan
On 29 September 1645 Van Tzum arrived on Deshima,starting as the VOC opperhoofd or chief factor on 24 November 1645. As head of the Dutch trading post, he traveled to Edo.
He departed from Nagasaki on December 31, on a ship with six fellow Dutchmen. They reached the capital on February 7. As presents Van Tzum handed over spectacles, magnifying glasses, optical lenses, also ones that could be used in a darkroom, and medicines. On February 12 he met with Inoue Masashige.
In Edo, Van Tzum was asked if he had come to Edo with gifts to thank the shōgun for the release of the Dutch prisoners or if he had come to pay his respects in the usual manner. Van Tzum answered that he had come to do both, but this answer did not satisfy the bakufu. On March 8, Inoue informed van Tzum that the Dutch did not appear to adequately value the release of the Dutch prisoners.
Upon his return to Nagasaki, the chief factor was informed by the interpreters that Nanking had been occupied by the Ching Dynasty and that Ikkan had sent a request for military support to the bakufu.Two junks arrived in Nagasaki from Nanking.The crew members of these junks had been forced to wear pigtails.The bakufu prohibited any dealings with ships from Nanking.
Van Tzum succeeding in getting permission to export copper. He handed over the factory to his successor, Verstegen, on October 7, 1646. Three weeks later on 27 October 1646 he left Japan.
Return
In January 1647 he left Batavia on the Haerlem. The ship was lost in storm near Table Bay in March. Sixty men settled for one year on the mainland, but Van Tzum had sailed back earlier on one of the other two ships. Back in the Dutch republic he settled in Cornjum where he married in 1648. In 1654 he moved to IJlst and became a member of the vroedschap. His appointment as burgomaster by William Frederick, Prince of Nassau-Dietz was not without trouble. The next year he was elected as deputee to the States of Friesland and in 1658 in a board, checking the provincial finances.
