Cornelia van Nijenroode

Born as a daughter of the Dutch merchant in Japan and geisha, Cornelia van Nijenroode became known as an example of wealthy and independent Eurasian women of the Dutch colonial empire.

As a daughter of Cornelis van Nijenroode, the manager of the Dutch trade station at Hirado, Cornelia was born and raised in Japan. After her father's death, she settled at Batavia where she married Pieter Cnoll, junior merchant and later first senior merchant of the company in Asia. She became a successful businesswoman and wealthy merchant herself. Four years later after Pieter passed she remarried Joan Bitter, a lawyer who used his legal knowledge to seize her wealth.

That caused a severe conflict and such a public scandal that they were both exiled from the colony in 1688, and sent to Holland to settle the case at the court. At the time of her death in 1692, the matter regarding the control of her property had not yet been resolved.