Dutch role on Taiwan

Dialog from the H-Asia List, November 1995xo

I would appreciate help with the following:

Any information in Chinese or English on Dutch rule in Taiwan (1624-1662).

I have already read Campbell’s Formosa Under the Dutch and Coyett et Soscii’s Neglected Formosa (Inez de Beauclair’s trans. of Het Verwardloosd’ Formosa). Information on Dutch missionaries and clergy, especially Anthonius Hambroek, would also be welcome.

Peter J. Herz
613 S. Glenview Dr.
Carbondale, IL 62901

pjherz@midwest.net
Peter Jeffrey Herz

For articles about Dutch rule and its impact on Taiwan, Leonard Blusse, Nakamura Takashi and Ts’ao Yung-ho contribute most to this picture. Followings are some of the articles or books in English that deal with this subject.

Blusse, Leonard (1984) Dutch Protestant Missionaries as Protagonists of the Territorial Expansion of the VOC on Formosa, in Dick Kooiman, Otto van den Muizenberg and Peter van der Veer (eds.) Conversion, Competition and Conflict, essays on the role of religion in Asia. Amsterdam: Free University Press, pp. 155-84.

Hollman, Thomas O. (1991) Formosa and the Trade in Venison and Deer Skins, in Roderich Ptak and Dietmar Rothermund (eds.) Emporia, Commobities, and Entrepreneurs in Asian Maritime Trade, c. 1400-1750. Beitrage zur Sudasienforschung, Sudasien-Institut, Universitat Heidelberg, no. 141. Sttuttgrat: Franz Steiner, pp. 263-90.

Huber, Johannes (1990), Chinese Settlers against the Dutch East India Company: the rebellion led by Kuo-Huai-i on Taiwan in 1652, in Eduard B. Vermeer (ed.) Development and Decline of Fukien Province in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries Leiden: E. J. Brill, pp. 265-96.

Kuepers, J. J. A. M. (1978) The Dutch Reformed Church in Formosa 1627-1662: mission in a colonial context Nouvelle Revue de science missionnaire CH-6450 Immensee.

Oosterhof, J. L. (1985) Zeelandia, A Dutch Colonial City in Formosa (1624-1662), in Robert Ross and Gerard J. Telkamp (eds.) Colonial Cities: essays on urbanism in a colonial context. Dordrecht: Nijhoff, pp. 51-63.

Shepherd, John Robert (1993) Statecraft and Political Economy on the Taiwan Frontier, 1600-1800. Stanford: Stanford University Press.

For articles/books in Chinese (in Wade-Giles spelling),

Ts’ao Yung-ho (1979) T’ai-wan tsao ch’i li shih yen chiu. Taipei: Lien-Ching.

Weng Chia-in (1992) Pei i wang ti T’ai-wan yuan-chu-min shih, Quata (Ta-tu fan wang), T’ai-wan feng-wu 42.4: 145-88.

Iwao Seiichi, Murakami Naojiro and Nakamura Takashi also contribute a lot to the history of Dutch rule in Taiwan. Most of their works have been translated into Chinese. Please check T’ai-wan wen hsien and T’ai-wan feng-wu.

For a clear reproduction of seventh-century Dutch maps on Taiwan, please refer to:

Vertente, Christine, Hsueh-chi Hsu and Mi-ch’a Wu (1991) The Authentic Story of Taiwan-An illustrated history, based on ancient maps, manuscripts and Prints. Knokke: Mappamund.

For information on Dutch missionaries and its social impact, W. A. Ginsel’s (1931) De Gereformeerde Kerk op Formosa of de Lotgevallen eener Handelsterk onder de Oost Indische Compagnie, 1627-1662 is also helpful. One chapter from the book has been translated into Chinese and published in recent issue of T’ai-wan feng-wu.

Peter Kang
Department of Geography
University of Minnesota

In reponse to Peter J. Herz’ query about English and Chinese sources on Dutch Taiwan.

I have put together a selected bibliography of 17th century Taiwan which is intended to be a supplement to John Shepherd’s Statecraft and Political Economy on the Taiwan Frontier. The bibliography in his book would be the first place to begin for Chinese and English sources. My bibliography expands on the Chinese and English sources and includes some major Dutch, Portuguese, Spanish, French, and Japanese sources as well.

For the cost of copying and postage (I’m a poor graduate student) I would be happy to send a copy to anyone who is interested.

Paul Van Dyke
University of Southern California
vandyke@chaph.usc.edu

A useful recent source on Taiwan in the 17th century is John R. Shepherd, <Statecraft and Political Economy on the Taiwan Frontier, 1600-1800> Stanford UP, 1993.

This will tell you more about the aborigines than the Dutch, but it should have enough material on the Dutch administration and missions to be worth a look.

Donald R. DeGlopper
Library of Congress
(202) 707-9831

The bibliography to look at with respect to Dutch colonialism in general is the annual final issue of ITINERARIO, usually numbered 3/4. Leonard Blusse at the Institute for European Expansion History Doelensteeg 16 P.O. Box 9515 2300 RA Leiden, The Netherlands, is heading up a group of scholars editing the Daghregisters of Taiwan for publication, and I believe the first may be out already. You should also check the place indexes in the various collections of letters from the governors general and councils of the Indies in the Rijksgeschied- kundige Publicatien. That is, if you’re looking for primary sources. The RGP is a huge set of giant green annual publications from (I believe) The Hague, and your best bet is just to go look at it yourself and identify the ones that say Overgekomen Brieven, since my experience is that it’s usually catalogued only under the series name and not under the titles of the individual volumes. I always have to walk with our local librarians into the closed stacks to identify the volumes I want, since no one at Cleveland Public reads Dutch and none of the librarians want to try to guess which might be the right volumes.

Pamela McVay
gq342@cleveland.freenet.edu