Tainan

Tainan (/ˈtaɪˈnɑːn/), officially Tainan City, is a special municipality in southern Taiwan, facing the Taiwan Strait on its western coast. Tainan is the oldest city on the island and commonly called the "prefectural capital" for its over 260-year history as the capital of Taiwan under Dutch rule, the Kingdom of Tungning and later Qing dynasty rule until 1887. Tainan's complex history of comebacks, redefinitions and renewals inspired its popular nickname "the Phoenix City". Tainan is classified as a "Sufficiency"-level global city by the Globalization and World Cities Research Network.

As Taiwan's oldest urban area with over 400 years of history, Tainan was initially established by the Dutch East India Company (VOC) as a ruling and trading base called Fort Zeelandia during the Dutch colonial rule on the island. After Koxinga seized the Dutch fort in 1662, Tainan remained as the capital of the Tungning Kingdom ruled by House of Koxinga until 1683 and afterwards the capital of Taiwan Prefecture under the Qing dynasty until 1887, when the new provincial capital was first moved to present-day Taichung, and then to Taipei eventually. Following the cession of Taiwan, Tainan became the second capital of the short-lived Republic of Formosa from June to October in 1895 until the Capitulation of Tainan by the invading forces of Japanese empire. Under Japanese rule, the city was the seat of Tainan Prefecture. After the surrender of Japan in World War II, the Republic of China took control of Taiwan in 1945 and reorganized the city as a provincial city in Taiwan Province; a role that would remain in place until 2010 when the city was merged with nearby Tainan County into a new special municipality.

The legacy of Tainan's long history of establishment has left significant impact on Taiwan, and its former name, Tayouan, has been claimed to be the origin of the name "Taiwan". It is also one of Taiwan's cultural capitals, for its rich folk cultures including the famous local street food and traditional cuisine, extensively preserved Taoist rites and other living local traditions covering everything from child birth to funerals. The city houses the first Confucian school–temple in Taiwan, built in 1665, the remains of the Eastern and Southern gates of the old city, and countless other historical monuments. Tainan claims more Buddhist and Taoist temples than any other city in Taiwan.

Archaeological excavations in Zuojhen District suggest that the Tainan region has been inhabited for at least 20,000 to 31,000 years. The indigenous Siraya tribe dominated the region by the 16th century. The Sakam people of the Sinkan sub-tribe inhabited the area of the present-day city. Other Sirayan sub-tribes, including the Soelangh, Mattauw and Baccloangh inhabited the surrounding area.

By the late 16th century, Chinese merchants and fishermen had set up several bases along the west coast of the island, including a sandbar across the Taikang Inner Sea (Chinese: 臺江內海; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Tâi-kang lāi-hái) off the bay of Sakam village (modern-day Fort Provintia). The Chinese adopted Taioan [zh] (modern-day Anping) as the name of the sandbar. Slightly north of Taioan, along the shoreline near Bassemboy (北線尾; Pak-siàn-bóe), Japanese traders established bases for trade with China. The early Chinese and Japanese also traded with the Sirayan people. Salt and food was exchanged for deer hides and dried deer meat. The Siraya people were influenced by both Chinese and Japanese cultures and lifestyles. They started to use Chinese words in their language, use Japanese tantō in ritual events, and also migrated inland due to the influx of newcomers. By the time the Europeans arrived, the influence of Chinese and Japanese traders and fishermen was already prominent.

Early Dutch colonists had attempted but failed to control Macau and the Penghu islands. In July 1622, the Dutch East India Company textile merchant Cornelis Reyersz sailed to Taiwan in search of a suitable location to build a trading post. In 1624 he established a small fort named 'Orange' on the sandy peninsula they called Tayouan (modern-day Anping). The fort was then expanded and renamed Fort Zeelandia. The settlement was initially designed as a base to attack their Spanish rivals and as a trading post between China and Batavia in Indonesia. Later the post became the center of Dutch trade between China, Japan and Europe. During the governorship of Pieter Nuyts (1627–29), there was hostility between the Dutch and Japanese merchants, leading at one point to Nuyts being held hostage by a Japanese trader, Hamada Yahee.

The Dutch pacification campaign on Formosa was a series of military actions and diplomatic moves undertaken in 1635 and 1636. They aimed at subduing hostile aboriginal villages in the south-western region of the island. In 1642 the Dutch seized the Spanish garrison at Santisima Trinidad in Keelung. The Dutch East India Company became the first authority to claim control of the whole of Formosa, with Fort Zeelandia as the seat of government.

Tensions arose between the Dutch and the Chinese inhabitants of Taiwan due to heavy Dutch taxation and Dutch participation in plunder during the collapse of the Ming dynasty. Eventually, this led to the brief, but bloody, Guo Huaiyi Rebellion in 1652. The Dutch crushed the revolt only with the help of the local Sinkanese.