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Dutch Formosa
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Dutch Formosa
The island of Taiwan, also commonly known as Formosa, was partly under colonial rule by the Dutch Republic from 1624 to 1662 and from 1664 to 1668. In the context of the Age of Discovery, the Dutch East India Company established its presence on Formosa to trade with neighboring Ming China and Tokugawa Japan, and to interdict Portuguese and Spanish trade and colonial activities in East Asia.
The Dutch were not universally welcomed, and uprisings by both aborigines and recent Han arrivals were quelled by the Dutch military on more than one occasion. With the rise of the Manchu-led Qing dynasty in the early 17th century, the Dutch East India Company cut ties with Ming China and allied with the Manchu Qing instead, in exchange for the right to unfettered access to their trade and shipping routes. The colonial period was brought to an end after the 1662 siege of Fort Zeelandia by Koxinga's army who promptly dismantled the Dutch colony, expelled the Dutch and established the Ming loyalist, anti-Qing Kingdom of Tungning.
The Dutch Republic and England came, at the beginning of the 17th century, inevitably in conflict with the forces of Spain and Portugal, in various parts of the world, as they further expanded their area of naval expeditions outside of Europe. In addition to the commercial conflict, the Dutch (and English) had also broken with the Roman Catholic Church in the 16th century, unlike the staunchly-Catholic Iberian powers. The Dutch also fought Spain from the 1560s through the 1640s for formal recognition of their independence and the integrity of their territory in Europe.
The Dutch first attempted to trade with China in 1601 but were rebuffed by the Chinese authorities, who were already engaged in trade with the Portuguese at Macau from 1535.
In a 1604 expedition from Batavia (the central base of the Dutch in Asia), Admiral Wybrand van Warwijk set out to attack Macau, but his force was waylaid by a typhoon, driving them to the Pescadores (Penghu), a group of islands 30 miles (50 km) west of Formosa (Taiwan). Once there, the admiral attempted to negotiate trade terms with the Chinese on the mainland, but was asked to pay an exorbitant fee for the privilege of an interview. Surrounded by a vastly superior Chinese fleet, he left without achieving any of his aims.
The Dutch East India Company tried to use military force to make China open up a port in Fujian to trade and demanded that China expel the Portuguese, whom the Dutch were fighting in the Dutch–Portuguese War, from Macau. The Dutch raided Chinese shipping after 1618 and took junks hostage in an unsuccessful attempt to get China to meet their demands.
In 1622, after another unsuccessful Dutch attack on Macau (trade post of Portugal from 1557) and the failure to set up a trading post in Fat Tong O (present day Hong Kong), the fleet sailed to the Pescadores, this time intentionally, and proceeded to set up a base there at Makung to disrupt trade with Manila. They built a fort with forced labour recruited from the local Chinese population. Their oversight was reportedly so severe and rations so short that 1,300 of the 1,500 Chinese enslaved died in the process of construction.
The Dutch threatened Ming China with raids on Chinese ports and shipping unless the Chinese allowed trading on the Pescadores or Taiwan. They declared that merchants would be given Dutch passes for trips to Batavia and maybe Siam and Cambodia, but not to Manila, which would be subject to seizure by the Dutch. They demanded that the Ming open up ports in Fujian (Fukien) to Dutch trade, which the Chinese refused. The governor of Fujian, Shang Zhouzuo, proposed that the Dutch leave the Pescadores in favor of Formosa, where the Chinese would then authorize them to engage in trade. This led to a series of clashes between the Dutch and China from 1622 to 1624. After Shang's proposal on 19 September 1622, the Dutch raided Amoy in October and November. The Dutch intended to "induce the Chinese to trade by force or from fear." by raiding Fujian and Chinese shipping from the Pescadores. Long artillery batteries were erected at Amoy in March 1622 by Colonel Li-kung-hwa as a defence against the Dutch. Although the Dutch officers on site realized that the Ming would not be bullied into trading with them, the command in Batavia were slow to catch on, as they commanded repeated violence against the Chinese with whom they intended to trade.
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Dutch Formosa
The island of Taiwan, also commonly known as Formosa, was partly under colonial rule by the Dutch Republic from 1624 to 1662 and from 1664 to 1668. In the context of the Age of Discovery, the Dutch East India Company established its presence on Formosa to trade with neighboring Ming China and Tokugawa Japan, and to interdict Portuguese and Spanish trade and colonial activities in East Asia.
The Dutch were not universally welcomed, and uprisings by both aborigines and recent Han arrivals were quelled by the Dutch military on more than one occasion. With the rise of the Manchu-led Qing dynasty in the early 17th century, the Dutch East India Company cut ties with Ming China and allied with the Manchu Qing instead, in exchange for the right to unfettered access to their trade and shipping routes. The colonial period was brought to an end after the 1662 siege of Fort Zeelandia by Koxinga's army who promptly dismantled the Dutch colony, expelled the Dutch and established the Ming loyalist, anti-Qing Kingdom of Tungning.
The Dutch Republic and England came, at the beginning of the 17th century, inevitably in conflict with the forces of Spain and Portugal, in various parts of the world, as they further expanded their area of naval expeditions outside of Europe. In addition to the commercial conflict, the Dutch (and English) had also broken with the Roman Catholic Church in the 16th century, unlike the staunchly-Catholic Iberian powers. The Dutch also fought Spain from the 1560s through the 1640s for formal recognition of their independence and the integrity of their territory in Europe.
The Dutch first attempted to trade with China in 1601 but were rebuffed by the Chinese authorities, who were already engaged in trade with the Portuguese at Macau from 1535.
In a 1604 expedition from Batavia (the central base of the Dutch in Asia), Admiral Wybrand van Warwijk set out to attack Macau, but his force was waylaid by a typhoon, driving them to the Pescadores (Penghu), a group of islands 30 miles (50 km) west of Formosa (Taiwan). Once there, the admiral attempted to negotiate trade terms with the Chinese on the mainland, but was asked to pay an exorbitant fee for the privilege of an interview. Surrounded by a vastly superior Chinese fleet, he left without achieving any of his aims.
The Dutch East India Company tried to use military force to make China open up a port in Fujian to trade and demanded that China expel the Portuguese, whom the Dutch were fighting in the Dutch–Portuguese War, from Macau. The Dutch raided Chinese shipping after 1618 and took junks hostage in an unsuccessful attempt to get China to meet their demands.
In 1622, after another unsuccessful Dutch attack on Macau (trade post of Portugal from 1557) and the failure to set up a trading post in Fat Tong O (present day Hong Kong), the fleet sailed to the Pescadores, this time intentionally, and proceeded to set up a base there at Makung to disrupt trade with Manila. They built a fort with forced labour recruited from the local Chinese population. Their oversight was reportedly so severe and rations so short that 1,300 of the 1,500 Chinese enslaved died in the process of construction.
The Dutch threatened Ming China with raids on Chinese ports and shipping unless the Chinese allowed trading on the Pescadores or Taiwan. They declared that merchants would be given Dutch passes for trips to Batavia and maybe Siam and Cambodia, but not to Manila, which would be subject to seizure by the Dutch. They demanded that the Ming open up ports in Fujian (Fukien) to Dutch trade, which the Chinese refused. The governor of Fujian, Shang Zhouzuo, proposed that the Dutch leave the Pescadores in favor of Formosa, where the Chinese would then authorize them to engage in trade. This led to a series of clashes between the Dutch and China from 1622 to 1624. After Shang's proposal on 19 September 1622, the Dutch raided Amoy in October and November. The Dutch intended to "induce the Chinese to trade by force or from fear." by raiding Fujian and Chinese shipping from the Pescadores. Long artillery batteries were erected at Amoy in March 1622 by Colonel Li-kung-hwa as a defence against the Dutch. Although the Dutch officers on site realized that the Ming would not be bullied into trading with them, the command in Batavia were slow to catch on, as they commanded repeated violence against the Chinese with whom they intended to trade.
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