I The Era of Global NavigationIhla Formosa: A New Name For centuries, Taiwan had little contact or involvement with the countries surrounding it and was in total isolation from the western world. It appeared in Chinese records from the Sui Dynasty on but the mention was not one of territorial claim. Taiwan was seen as one of many islands in the Taiwan Strait and a place for potential exploration. Mainlanders fleeing the takeover of China by the Mongols (Yuan Dynasty, 1263─1368) could have retreated there but that is difficult to prove by historical records. Otherwise it had been a home for fisherman, traders, and aborigines. Its isolation, however, came to an abrupt end in the period of Global Navigation by the European powers (15th to 17th Centuries). During that time, the maritime European powers were pushing their sea- going vessels to their limits. They pursued a course of exploration , colonization, trade linkage and religious proselytization of regions of the world hitherto unvisited. The first to enter Asian waters were the Portuguese. In 1497 Vasco da Gama had led an expedition around the Cape of Storms at the southern tip of Africa, and renamed it the Cape of Good Hope. With this name he expressed European expectations of the opening sea routes to India. On this same expedition, da Gama also reached and landed at present day Macau. By 1511, the Portuguese were in control of trade routes between Lisbon, Goa (India) and Malacca (Malaysia) . With Malacca as a trading and missionary base, the Portuguese expand ed their influence into southern and eastern Asia. Their ultimate goal was to establish trade with China and Japan. They accomplished this with a route linking Macau (officially colonized in 1557) and Hirato in Japan. In the mid-1500's as one of the Portuguese ships was en route to Tanegashima, an island of southern Japan , it discovered Taiwan and gave it the name "Ihla Formosa--the beautiful island." Formosa would be the name the island would maintain in the western world until mid 20th Century. In this text we will use the names Taiwan and Formosa interchangeably. A Pirate Base While certainly a beautiful island, Formosa was also a pirate base. Pirates from Japan as well as China had found the island a relatively unprotected refuge as they plied their trade. The Japanese pirates had their primary bases in Kyushu and Shikoku and formed armed trading groups with Chinese and Korean members. They used Portuguese as a lingua franca in the slave trade. These pirate groups constantly tormented the Ming Dynasty (1368─1644) and were given the name "Wokou" (倭寇) which is translated as "Japanese raiders or bandits." Formosa provided them with an excellent place for retreat, fresh water and supplies after they had attacked Ming vessels and coastal cities. The farthest place the government officials of the Ming pursued these pirates was the Penghu Archipelago (the Pescadores) in the Taiwan Strait. Because of the pirates, the Ming had severely restricted travel and trade abroad. An Aboriginal Nation? Long before the presence of the international pirate groups, numerous aboriginal tribes were already present on the island. The aborigines were of two types, the mountain people and the plains people. In the mountains were the Atayal, Saisiyat, Tsou, Bunun, Rukai, Paiwan, Ami, Puyuma and Yami, now considered the nine major tribes of Taiwan. On the plains were numerous Pingpu groups but these would eventually become extinct through intermarriage and assimilation with the Chinese. In looking for their origins, many theories abound. Some consider that the aborigines are of Malay-Polynesian stock and had migrated from the south when lower ocean levels allowed land connections between Indonesia, the Philippines and Taiwan. Other theories have linked them with the Japanese living on the Ryukyu Islands, and others try to trace them to what is now called Fukien Province in mainland China. HLA testing has demonstrated that some aborigines are related to the Polynesian peoples in New Zealand; but it is unproved that all are so related. The fact that the various tribes operated independently from each other gives credence to the position that their origins may be of more than one source. While each group had a unique culture and language, the aborigines were first mistakenly viewed as one nation and called the "Takasago" or High Mountain People" by the Japanese. It was an appropriate name since the central mountain range of Taiwan has 200 peaks over 3,0 00 meters. In 1593, the Japanese king, Toyotomi Hideyoshi (豐臣秀吉) dispatched Harada Magoshitiro (原田孫七郎) as an ambassador to this "High Mountain Nation." Hideyoshi sought to invade China and had two routes available; one through Korea and the other through Formosa. Finding that no one tribe in Formosa could representatively speak for all, he chose the route of Korea. It was a bad choice and got Japan involved in an eventual quagmire on that peninsula. When he died in 1598, his campaign was abandoned. If he had gone through Formosa, perhaps Hideyoshi would have fared no better. Regardless, this was the first experience where Formosa was viewed or treated as an independent country by an outsider. The Name Taiwan The origins of the name of Taiwan are disputed. Some interpret it as a corruption of the name of the locale (Taoyuan) where the earliest settlements were made. Others see it as the aborigines' name for aliens. When Chinese, Japanese or other aliens came to Formosa, the aborigines people would talk of them as "Taian, or Taiyan" both words which meant "aliens." As often happens in the misunderstanding of language, Dutch traders who later heard these words, associated them with the island and gave Formosa the name Taiwan from these utterances. That same name also appears in the Ming Court's agreement to the occupation of Taiwan by the Dutch. The Spanish Flag Ferdinand Magellan, a Portuguese explorer in the service of Spain left there in 1519 in a bold and adventurous attempt to sail around the world. He reached and died in the Philippines in 1521; but one of his five ships would complete this unprecedented adventure by 1523. Encouraged by this voyage, the Spanish returned and by 1565 conquered the Philippines. Spanish interest in Formosa soon developed; they saw it as a midway point between their Philippines settlements and Japan. By occupying Taiwan, they could provide security for the Bashi Channel, share or snatch the Formosan trade from the Dutch and more easily dominate trade routes to Japan. In 1626 , despite setbacks in Japan, Spanish fleets from Manila landed on the northeastern coast of Formosa and named the place Santiago. They also entered Keelung and established Fort San Salvador. Two years later they occupied Tamsui on the northwestern coast and established Fort Santo Domingo. Spanish influence was limited to the northern portion of the island. But after seventeen years, they withdrew. Their reasons were many. In addition to being attacked by the Dutch and by the aborigines, many of their soldiers also died of illness. But their main reason for withdrawal was that the samurai government in Japan continued to refuse the Spanish the right to trade and proselytize. As the Japanese continued to persecute Christians there was little hope that this position would be reversed. Defending Formosa lost its value and the Spanish returned to the Philippines. The Dutch Flag While the Spanish were in the Philippines, the Dutch had come to Indonesia in the early 1600's and founded Batavia (Jakarta) in 1619. The Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie (VOC) or United Dutch East India Company, formed in 1602, managed their colonial businesses and trade. In search of a mid-station for their Asian trade, the Dutch traders had already been to the Penghu archipelago (Pescadores) located in the Taiwan Strait in 1603. They had also made repeated attempts to dislodge the Portuguese from Macau but were unsuccessful. When the Dutch decided to settle in Penghu, their actions drew a quick response from the Ming regime in China. The Ming government had maintained its restrictions on travel abroad and saw this as a threat. They attacked the Dutch on Penghu in 1624. After eight months both sides signed a truce agreement. This agreement had three main points. The Dutch would abandon Penghu; the Ming would not oppose the Dutch occupation of Formosa ; and trade would be maintained between the Ming and the Dutch. Since the Ming government did not claim sovereignty over Formosa, this was an easy arrangement for them to make. Following the treaty, the Dutch developed settlements at Anping near Tainan in southwest Taiwan. Soon however they were conscious of the Spanish presence on the north of the island. They also experienced Japanese attempts to establish firm trading bases in Formosa. As a result of this, the Dutch replaced the governor in Batavia and reassigned him as governor of Formosa. From there he could consistently look after Dutch trade activities and interests with both China and Japan. The Dutch quickly established two forts in the Tainan area. One located at Anping was first called Fort Orange and then Zeelandia. The other, located nearby was called Provintia. Both were capable of defense. Zeelandia housed their trading functions while Provintia housed the administrative, sleeping and warehouse functions. From these solid bases, the Dutch gradually expanded their influence on the island. Both aborigines and Chinese dwelt near the area where the Dutch settled but they offered little or no opposition. However as the Dutch began to confiscate more land and levy taxes, resentment and resistance slowly built up. In the meantime, the Dutch used missionaries to try to convert the aborigines and using Roman characters translated the Bible into their language. For those who refused to become Christians, the Dutch resorted to military force to drive them from the area. The Dutch also levied a 10% customs duty on all trading in Formosa whether import or export. This 10% duty was opposed by Japanese traders who had been used to trading with the Chinese on Formosa. In 1625, a Japanese sea captain named Hamada Yahiyoue (濱田彌兵衛) refused to pay these taxes and declared himself exempt. This declaration would sour the trade between the Dutch commercial firm in Hirato and the Japanese samurai government. In 1627 , Japanese traders brought aborigines leaders to be presented to the Japanese Shogun, but hopes of an alliance were unsuccessful. Finally, trade would temporarily break off when in 1628, Hamada led some aborigines in a failed attempt to assassinate the Dutch governor. An international conflict loomed between the Dutch and Japanese but it dissipated when in 16 35 the Tokugawa shogun began a policy of isolationism (sakoku). They forbade trade and then outlawed shipbuilding of ocean going vessels and other ships from 1633─1636. In 1639 they formally entered into a self-imposed isolation policy that would last until 1853 when the " black ships" of Admiral Perry would force their way into Tokyo Bay. With trade down to a trickle and with ship-building hampered, even the Japanese pirate groups lost their influence in the Taiwan Strait. Dutch Colonial Profit Using the labor of the aborigines and the Chinese immigrants, the Dutch were quick to gain profit from Formosa. Trade increased. The Dutch could get spices, amber, kapok and opium from Southeast Asia through Batavia. They also got silver from Japan and silk, pottery, Chinese medicine and gold from China. All this was exchanged for sugar, venison and deer hides from Formosa. Formosa was proving valuable to them. The pirates who surrounded Formosa still existed but the Dutch made a treaty with Cheng Chih-lung (鄭芝龍), a pirate leader, to guarantee the safety of their vessels at sea. The Dutch could now spend time developing agriculture in Formosa. Farmland belonging to the Dutch East India Company was established and immigration encouraged. Immigrants had to pay 5─10% of the profit they made in renting land from the company. The Dutch successfully improved the spice crop and introduced several new crops to the island such as cabbages, garden peas, tomatoes, mangos, capsicum, rice and especially sugarcane. They also brought in the Indian buffalo. Revolts During the Dutch rule of the island, there were revolts from the aborigines and Chinese, but the Dutch were able to employ a policy of divide and conquer. The aborigines rose up in the Mattau incident (麻豆事 件) in 1635 and the Xiaolung incident (蕭壟事件) in 1636. As these revolts were crushed, the Dutch increased their hold on the island. The Chinese whose immigration had been openly encouraged also became dissatisfied. In 1652, Guo Huai-i (郭懷一) a subordinate of the pirate Cheng Chih-lung gathered the people together to resist the Dutch. Unfortunately Guo' s brother leaked information of the planned revolt to the Dutch and the Dutch with 2000 Christian aborigines met and defeated them. Lacking appropriate weapons, Guo and 4,000 of his men were routed and hunted down. But this and the other revolts indicated a growing tendency of the various groups on the island to seek their own freedom. They did not look to be united with either China or Japan but simply to be left alone to make a living. In the meantime, the practice of the Dutch to play one side against the other to maintain power, would become a practice among each incoming regime. Cheng Ch'eng-kung and the Ming Flight In 1628, the Ming Dynasty found itself with far greater matters of concern than what was happening on Formosa, which had been left to the Dutch. The Manchus in the northeast were expanding their influence and threatening the very existence of the Ming. Seeking both military and capital support, the Ming regime called upon the pirate leader Cheng Chih-lung for help. Chih-lung had been based in Hirato, Japan and had taken a Japanese wife, Tagawa. Chih-lung, who operated both as an opportunistic trader and pirate, was also a mercenary leader with a strong army of followers . The Manchus began their conquest of China in earnest in 1646. They sought to conquer both by using force and enticement. The high officials of the Ming court who had fled south were offered similar positions in the Ch'ing court if they ceased resistance. Chih-lung who posed a military threat was also offered the opportunity to switch sides for a court appointment. Chih-lung's family suspiciously opposed this exchange, but Chih-lung decided to go for the bait and received a comfortable place in Beijing. When Chih-lung later failed to bring his forces along with him, the Manchus placed him under house arrest. Chih- lung's wife Tagawa then committed suicide. Ch'eng-kung (成功), Chih-lung's son (b. 1624) by Tagawa was away pursuing studies when news of this reached him. He abandoned his studies and having inherited the pirate enterprise from his father he became a scourge to the coastal cities on the east. Ch'eng-kung pledged himself to try to re-establish the Ming rule in China, despite the fact that by not joining his father Chih-lung, he would hasten Chih- lung's execution in 1661. In 1660, the Manchus ordered all inhabitants of China's east coastal region to move inland 1.728 kilometers, in effect eliminating ports of refuge and supplies for pirates or Ming loyalists. Soon, there were few places on the mainland coast where Ch'eng-kung and his pirates could take refuge except for Kinmen (Quemoy) and the Amoy Islands. It was there that Ch'eng-kung met Ho-Bin (何斌) a translator who had been working for the Dutch East India Company. Ho-Bin told him of the advantages of the island of Formosa. Formosa, the Ming Invasion Armed with maps of Formosa supplied by Ho-Bin, Ch'eng-kung set out with a fleet of 400 ships and 25,000 men to take the island. Penghu (the Pescadores) was their first stop. They quickly occupied Penghu and made plans to invade Formosa where the Chinese immigrants who had just suffered defeat in the rebellion of Guo Huai-i were sympathetic to a savior. Upon landing Ch'eng-kung first seized food supplies for his troops. Then he attacked Fort Provintia because it had fewer defenses. Finally he laid siege to Fort Zeelandia. The Dutch were put in a predicament. They were outnumbered and supplies began to run low. They cried to the governor in Batavia for assistance and to the aborigines, but the distances were too great for sufficient help from Batavia and the aborigines could not muster a strong enough force to break the siege. Eventually after a siege of nine months, they surrendered in 1662. The Dutch had ruled Formosa for 38 years. After driving out the Dutch, Cheng Ch'eng-kung or Koxinga (Koxinya) as he is called in the West began to plan administrative districts. Though the Dutch had made some divisions of territory, this is the first time that a Chinese system of administration was applied to the island. Ch' eng-kung deliberately chose names to reflect his relationship to the Ming regime. Formosa was called Dueng-Du (東都), that is the eastern capital of the Ming Regime. Zeelandia was destroyed and the area re-named Anping. The surrounding region (now Tainan) was called Cheng-tien Fu (承天 府), which means a government connecting God to his people. To the north, the land was called Tien-sieng (天興縣, flourishing) County, and to the south, Uan-nian (萬年縣, long life) County. A defense bureau named "An-fu" (安撫司, placating) was established in the Pescadore Islands. Ch'eng-kung had used names that reflected the Ming regime's extension. An immediate problem that Cheng had faced was insufficient food. The population of Formosa during the Dutch rule was one hundred thousand people; Cheng had brought an additional thirty thousand including the soldiers and their families. This rapid increase of population strained the food supply. To resolve this, Cheng confiscated all of the land previously possessed by the Dutch East India Company and transferred it to his regime. These lands were divided among his trusted staff and relatives; and in addition the development of farmland in southern Formosa was aggressively pursued. Cheng unwisely invaded the land that belonged to the aborigines and destroyed any opportunities of peaceful co-existence with them. With the development of the land divided among his staff and relatives, the private land system that has existed into the present was introduced and Cheng's influence expanded from the sea to the land. Cheng's Death Less than a year after the taking of Formosa, Cheng died in 1662. He had not realized his goals but a shrine was erected to him by the Chinese immigrants; he was deified and many myths about his life soon developed and spread throughout East Asia. In 1664, feeling pressure from the Manchu people and the Dutch who still traded with China, Cheng Ching (鄭經), the eldest son of Ch'eng-kung who had been left in charge of Amoy, led seven thousand soldiers and their families to Formosa. This marked the Cheng forces complete abandonment of the mainland. Cheng Ching then proceeded to change and improve the administrative districts set up by his father. He changed "Dueng-du" to "Dueng-nieng" (東寧, peaceful east); and the two counties became "Tien-sieng Prefecture" and "Uan-nian Prefecture ." He further established two more "An-fu" groups on Formosa. "Cheng-tien Fu" was divided into four streets and twenty-four units that were called the "Street Unit System." (坊里制) With this street unit system, Cheng Ching established a census register, which would become the basis of the " Bao-jia System," (保甲制度) a system used for keeping local security. This system is still in use today. Government affairs were given to Chen Yong-hua (陳永華), the father in law of Cheng Ching's elder son. Yong-hua established many policies for farmland development, education and finance, but he also developed a severe tax system that would make the people feel they were no better off than under the Dutch. Summary Thought By 1662, the greater part of Taiwan was still in the hands of the aborigines. Ming loyalists had driven out the Dutch and occupied the south. These loyalists who had chosen Taiwan hoped to use Taiwan as a base to retake the mainland. The Dutch still traded in the area and considered the possibility of retaking the island. The Japanese had become isolationist and retreated to their country. The Spanish had decided to operate from the Philippines. Pirate groups still existed and their chameleon like ability to shift back and forth between pirates and traders made them tolerated. The aborigines begrudgingly shared the island with all as long as the aliens did not encroach too much more on their territory. No one had complete sovereignty over the island. Questions There are many methods of determining sovereignty, de facto possession, de jure agreements, historic tradition, a shared mythic destiny, common ethnicity, self-determination etc. In the 20th and 21st centuries which determinations are the most reliable? Did the Japanese ruler, Toyotomi Hideyoshi view Formosa as a separate kingdom in his invasion of China in 1593 or was he simply seeking to cover his flanks from attack by a third party? Pirate groups have little or loose national loyalty. Did the pirates of the 16th and 17th centuries consider Formosa their territory or open to those who claimed it? When the Ming government made its treaty with the Dutch in 1624, was it stating the Pescadores are a part of China, but Taiwan is not? Therefore the Dutch can have it? How did the Taiwanese aborigines view the Dutch and subsequent presence of other peoples on Taiwan? Did they see each as a tribe occupying the land it could control? When the Japanese contested the Dutch rights to levy taxes on Taiwan trade, did they consider Taiwan as open territory and not subject to Dutch rule or taxes? The Spanish, Dutch and other Europeans often claimed lands in the name of their king or queen. Did they feel that sovereignty was simply a matter of force? When the pirate Koxinga (Koxinya) took Taiwan from the Dutch did he feel he was breaking the previous Ming treaty? Was he simply seeking a port in a storm and a base for regaining the mainland from the Manchus? Additional Readings Anderson, Malcom. Frontiers, Polity Press, 1996, Cambridge. How states are formed and the development of the concepts of boundaries and sovereignty. Campbell, Rev. William. Formosa under the Dutch, SMC Publishing Inc., 1992, Tapiei. Written in 1903 it compiles many Dutch diaries and accounts of their rule. Clough, Ralph N. Island China, Harvard University Press,1978, Harvard. 劉其偉，《台灣原住民文化藝術》，台北，雄獅美術，1997。 潘英，《台灣平埔族史》，台北，南天書局，1996。 曹永和，《台灣早期歷史研究》，台北﹐聯經出版社，1979。 戴天昭，《台灣國際政治史》，台北﹐前衛出版社，1996。 彭明敏、黃昭堂合著，蔡秋雄譯，《台灣在國際法上的地位》，台北，玉山社， 1995。 中村孝志著，吳密察、翁佳音合編，《荷蘭時代台灣史研究》，台北，稻鄉出版 社，1997。 村上直次郎，《新港文書Sinkan Manuscriots》，台北，台北帝國大學理農學部 ，1933；台北，捷幼出版社復刻，1995。 達帕爾著，施博爾、黃典權譯，〈郭懷一事件〉（收錄於《台灣風物》26卷3期， 台北）。 盧千惠，〈郭懷一月夜起義〉（收錄於《新觀念》1998年7月號，台北）。 永積洋子，〈從荷蘭史料來看17世紀的台灣貿易〉（收錄於中央研究院中山人文 社科所主辦「第七屆中國海洋發展史國際研討會」論文集，1997，台北）。 《巴達維亞城日記》，台北，台灣省文獻委員會，1970。 《熱蘭遮城日誌》第1冊，台南，台南市政府，2000。 |