Already under the first governor-general, Pieter Both, permission was obtained from the Shogun for the Dutch, under close restrictions, to trade with Japan, a permission which was still continued, after the expulsion of the Portuguese and the bloody persecution of the Christian converts (1637-42), though under somewhat humiliating conditions.

But, with the Dutch, trade was trade, and under the able conduct of Francis Caron it became of thriving proportions.

During the next century no other Europeans had any access to the Japanese market except the agents of the Dutch East India Company.
Among the governors-general of this early period the name of Antony van Diemen (1636-45) deserves special recognition.

If Koen laid the firm foundations of Dutch rule in the East, Van Diemen built wisely and ably on the work of Koen.

Carpentier's rule had been noteworthy for several voyages of discovery along the coasts of New Guinea and of the adjoining shore of Australia, but the spirit of exploration reached its height in the days of Van Diemen.