Editing Matthijs Quast (section)

{{Short description|Dutch merchant and explorer (?-1641)}}
'''Matthijs Hendrikszoon Quast''' (died 6 October 1641), [[anglicization|anglicized]] as '''Matthys'''{{sfnp|Kublin|1953|p=39}} and '''Matthew Quast''', was a [[Dutch Empire|Dutch]] merchant and [[History of Dutch exploration|explorer]] in the service of the [[Dutch East India Company]] (VOC). Quast made several voyages on the VOC's behalf to [[Tokugawa Japan]], the [[Qing Empire]] ([[China]]), and [[Ayutthaya Kingdom]] ("[[Siam]]"){{sfnp|Engels|2004}} but is primarily remembered for his failed 1639 expedition in search of the [[phantom island]]s of [[Rica de Oro]] and [[Rica de Plata]] previously reported by [[Spanish Empire|Spanish]] mariners. He is sometimes credited with the first recorded discovery of the [[Bonin Islands]] during the voyage, although the VOC did nothing with the information and they remained unimportant and sparsely settled until the 19th century.