There is a certain part of Dutch-Japanese history that is not brought up as often: a treaty between the Kingdom of the Netherlands and the Kingdom of Ryūkyū (modern-day Okinawa), signed on the 6th...Show moreThere is a certain part of Dutch-Japanese history that is not brought up as often: a treaty between the Kingdom of the Netherlands and the Kingdom of Ryūkyū (modern-day Okinawa), signed on the 6th of July 1859 at Naha on Ryūkyū’s main island; a treaty that was signed after the Van Bosse shipwrecked near Ryūkyū in 1857 and shipwrecked passengers and sailors employed by a Dutch trading company were rescued and given shelter by Ryūkyūans. In fact, at least as far as English scholarship is concerned, this document appears to be ignored or forgotten by virtually everyone. This thesis contains historical context to the treaty and several related documents, a reflection on digital editions and encoding, a link to TEI-encoded versions of aforementioned archival material, and an analysis of the part of the corpus housed in the Leiden University Library. It closes with a promising lead for those wishing to continue researching this treaty.Show less
