Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
nately for it, the company was very late in the game and to become a serious player it
had to first break the Spanish and Portuguese monopolies.
In the style of the age, the VOC fleets launched indiscriminate attacks on Portuguese
and Spanish ships. By 1622, realising they needed a secure base in the region, the VOC
sailed to Penghu (aka the Pescadores), an island group they had explored earlier, and
built a small fortress.
From Penghu, the Dutch launched raids off the Fujian coast and disrupted Chinese
trade with Manila (under Spanish control). The exasperated Chinese offered the Dutch
permission to trade from Taiwan proper. The VOC caught the veiled threat, and left
Penghu for Tayouan (what is now the Anping area of Tainan) where they established Fort
Zeelandia.
The Dutch initially considered using Taiwan as an entrepot but quickly realised they
would not be safe from aboriginal and Chinese attacks, and also trade rivals Spain and
Japan, unless they could control the island. With this in mind they set out to pacify Plains
aboriginals, import Chinese labour and destroy rival Spain. They also began the first
modernisation program of Taiwan, establishing schools, missions (to convert aboriginals)
and kilns, as well as issuing licences to Chinese fisherman and taxes on the deer meat
trade. Their work was noted, and not always favourably.
In the early 17th century, Spain controlled the trade route between Fujian and Manila.
The new Dutch presence on Taiwan, an island separated from Fujian by a narrow strait,
was perceived as a major threat. In 1626 the Spanish landed and occupied the northern
area of Taiwan around what is now Keelung and Tamsui. Over a 10-year period they es-
tablished four forts, including Fort Santo Domingo in Tamsui, which remains intact to
this day.
Though the Spanish engaged in military actions as far down the coast as Yilan and Hu-
alien, their presence was always small. When the Manila governor, unimpressed with
trade, further reduced troops, aboriginal groups attacked outposts. The Spanish withdrew
to Keelung where they were then hit by the Dutch. By 1642 they had withdrawn from
Taiwan entirely, giving the Dutch control from north to south.
In the 1640s instability in China (the Ming dynasty lost its capital to the Qing in 1644)
was causing a wave of immigration from Fujian province into Taiwan. The new settlers
chafed at European colonial rule and staged a revolt in 1652. Though the Dutch were
successful in quelling that uprising, 10 years later they would be defeated and driven off
Taiwan by a Chinese admiral and Ming Loyalist called Cheng Cheng-kung.
Cheng Cheng-kung, known in the west as Koxinga, was a colourful character, the son
of a pirate turned admiral and his Japanese concubine. When Qing forces began to con-
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