François Caron

François Caron (1600–1673) was a French Huguenot refugee to the Netherlands who served the Dutch East India Company (VOC) for 30 years, rising from cabin boy to Director-General at Batavia (Jakarta), only one grade below Governor-General. He was later to become Director-General of the French East Indies Company (1667–1673).

He is sometimes considered the first Frenchman to set foot in Japan: he was actually born in Brussels to a family of French Huguenot refugees; but he only became a naturalized citizen of France when he was persuaded by Colbert to become head of the French East Indies Company, which was intended to compete with the Dutch and the English in Asia. He disputes that honour with the French Dominican missionary Guillaume Courtet.

Japan

Caron began as a cook's mate on board the Dutch ship Schiedam bound for Japan, where he arrived in 1619. His language skills had developed; and in 1627, he traveled to Edo as the interpreter for the VOC mission to the shogunal capital. He is not quite the first known instance of Franco-Japanese relations, since he was preceded by the visit of Hasekura Tsunenaga to France in 1615.

François Caron (politician)

François Caron (September 1766 – November 12, 1848) was a farmer and political figure in Lower Canada. He represented Saint-Maurice in the Legislative Assembly of Lower Canada from 1810 to 1814. He signed his name François Caront.

He was born in Saint-Roch-des-Aulnaies, the son of Michel Caron and Marie-Josephte Parent. He moved to Yamachiche with his parents in 1783. In 1791, he married Catherine Lamy. Caron served as a lieutenant in the militia during the War of 1812, later reaching the rank of major. He was part of a group of singers known as the "Chantres de Machiche". Caron did not run for reelection to the assembly in 1814. He was speaker for the Patriote assembly held at Yamachiche in July 1837. Caron died at Rivière-du-Loup at the age of 82.

His brothers Michel and Charles also served in the assembly. His grandson Édouard Caron served in the Quebec assembly.

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