In 1598, a fleet of five ships from the Dutch East India Company sailed to South America with the intention of plundering Spanish treasure ships on the western coast of the New World - before heading across the Pacific to Asia. One of those ships - with 24 men (out of nearly 500) - reached Japan nearly two years later, led by an English Pilot named William Adams. It is the unlikely start of a journey that will see Adams become the first European to be granted the status of Samurai. Adams' story has been popularized with the novel Shogun and two television series of the same name.

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