The History of China - #261 - Qing 6: Taiwan Incognita, Pt. 2

Episode Date: November 22, 2023

Events on the high seas and islands alike reach a fevered pitch as the Dutch, Japan, China, and Portugal all vie for profit and supremacy over Taiwan and its lucrative trade. Meanwhile - call them what you will (because it's hard to keep track - but the "independent merchants" or "pirate lords" ... sometimes even turned government agents keep looking to exploit every opportunity to enrich themselves while avoiding the noose. Take what you can, give nothin' back! Timeframe Covered: ca. 1600-1639 Major Historical Figures: Dutch East India Company/Batavia/Ft. Zeelandia: Capt. Elie Ripon Pieter Nuyts, Governor of Formosa [1598-1655] Catholic Church: Georgius Candidus [1597-1647] Independent Traders/Pirates of Taiwan: Salvador Diaz of Macau Yan Siqi [d. ~1625] Li Dan "Captain China" [d. ~1625] Li Kuiqi ("Quitsicq") Zhong Bin Liu Xiang Ming China: Chen Di, Ming imperial official [1541-1617] Xu Xinsu ("Simpsou"), merchant-contact "Patrolling Admiral" Zheng Zhilong [1604-1661] Shogunate Japan: Toyotomi Hideyoshi, "The Great Unifier" [1537-1598] Suetsugu Heizo Masanao, merchant-lord [1546-1630] Suetsugu Heizo Masafusa, the scion Taiwan Aboriginal Groups: the Sinkan the Mattau Major Sources Cited: Andrade, Tonio (2005). How Taiwan Became Chinese: Dutch, Spanish, and Han Colonization in the Sevententh Century. Andrade, Tonio (2004). "The Company's Chinese Pirates: How the Dutch East India Company Tried to Lead a Coalition of Pirates to War against China, 1621-1662" in Journal of World History, Vol. 15, No. 4 (Dec., 2004). Clements, Jonathan (2004). Coxinga and the Fall of the Ming Dynasty. Ripon, Elie [Leonard Blussé & Jaap de Moor, trans.] (2016). Captain Ripon’s Maritime Adventures in the East Indies: The Diary of a Mercenary Soldier, 1617-1627. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Hello, and welcome to the History of China. Episode 261, Taiwan Incognita, Part 2. In his report to the Portuguese, Salvador Diaz said that there were two Chinese settlements on Taiwan, each of which was filled with pirates. He did not go into further detail, but he could have, because he was in cahoots with them. Shortly after his escape, the Dutch discovered that Diaz had been the pirates' informant, giving them inside information such as where junks leaving Daiyuan might best be captured. He also collected protection money. A Chinese merchant named Xu Shinsu, who was the company's most important link to the silk markets of southern China, complained to Dutch officials that he'd paid 2,000 taels to Diaz to quote-unquote protect his junks against attack. Such protection money, known as water taxes,

had deep roots in the Taiwan Straits. Indeed, around the same time that Diaz's protection racket was discovered, the Dutch discovered that Li Dan's son, Li Guo Zhu, was also selling protection. It's a real nice Merchant Navy you got here. Be a shame if something bad would have happened to it, you know? His customers were Chinese fishermen. For 10% of their catch, they could buy

a signed document guaranteeing their safety from pirates. This discovery prompted the company to enter into the protection business itself. It's nothing personal. It's strictly business. They dispatched three war junks to patrol near a newly arrived fishing fleet of 120 junks. The company's fee was the same as the pirates, 10% of the catch.

And it was one of the first taxes the company had ever levied on its new colony. As a slight aside, sources and I will continually be calling the ships of this region junks. Where does that word come from? Because in modern standard English, it really does sound awful calling a ship a junk. But where the word comes from is a corruption of the Mandarin Chinese word and probably also Cantonese corruption of the word for just ship, which is chuan, can just sort of use your aural imagination. Over a game of telephone, Chuan can become junk fairly easily, if that's a word that you are more expecting to hear. So it is not that these vessels of the era were of subpar quality or not seaworthy or not in any way, shape, or form formidable or comparable to European or other naval vessels of the era. In the 16th and 17th and even into the early 18th century,

Chinese vessels were at least on par with their European counterparts, if not technologically superior. It's only really when we get into the 19th century and beyond that the term junk really does catch up to our modern implication of it in comparison to the European naval counterparts of that era, which we, again, we are nowhere near that right now. The Chinese junks right now are a Portuguese mistranslation or corruption of the Chinese word simply for ship. So please do keep that in mind as I continue saying the word junk. I don't mean it. The discovery of these undercover pirates convinced company officials to keep closer tabs on the Chinese in Taiwan. As of July 1626, the Council of Formosa, the ruling body of the island, passed a new law.

Quote, In order to distinguish the pirates from the traders and workers, we have resolved that all Chinese who live or trade inland among the natives must appear here and obtain a license permitting them to reside in the land. They shall not be charged for this license. End quote. This is the first mention in Dutch sources of an institution that would become a key feature of Dutch rule, the residence permit, which became known as the head tax. Later, the company would begin charging for this permit, which eventually became an important source of income. But in the early years of Dutch rule, the residency

permit was intended merely to distinguish pirates from non-pirates. Knowing who was a pirate was not easy, because the pirates of Taiwan were, of course, linked into larger pirate merchant networks and, of course, wouldn't simply out themselves. They had other contacts and relationships outside of their illicit trade networks. The most important of these networks, however, was led by none other than Zheng Zilong, a key figure in the history of Taiwan altogether. Born in Nan'an in 1604, Zheng Zilong was by all accounts a handsome and talented fellow, who possibly, after a fight with his father, left home to seek his fortune in Macau. Whilst in Macau, he converted to Christianity and received the baptismal name of Nicholas Gaspard.

After stays in Manila, where he also appears to have had trouble with the law, go figure, and Nagasaki, he went to Taiwan and joined Yansachi's gang. He also, and probably concurrently, served as a translator for the Dutch East India Company under his Christian name of, again, Nicholas Gaspard. If, as it does seem likely, Zilong worked for the pirates from within the Dutch administration, the Dutch never did find out about it. In any case, soon he found himself presented with much bigger opportunities. After the deaths of Yan Se-Chi and Li Dan in 1625,

Zheng Zilong sought to become the new head of operations of the entire pirate thing. Some East Asian sources indicate that the other pirate chiefs elected him as leader thanks to divine intervention. But in fact, he won out only after a pitted struggle. He'd developed close ties to Li Dan, becoming one of his trading agents in Southeast Asia. And according to one account, Zheng had just arrived in Cambodia with two of Li Dan's richly laden ships when news arrived that his mentor had died, and then he wasted no time in declaring himself the sole owner of the junk's cargo. Whether or not this is true, there's no doubt that after Li Dan's death, Zheng vied with Li Dan's son for control over the trading empire. Obviously, Zheng is the one who won out.

Zheng's ties with the Dutch helped him, for the Dutch allowed him to pillage under their flag. In early 1626, for example, he sailed into the bay of Daiyuan aboard a large junk with a leaky hull and a broken mast. He told Dutch officials that he'd come from the north where he'd been patrolling with 40 or so companion junks. From his junk, the governor of Taiwan reported, the company received for its half, as we had agreed with him, about 960 rials. On another occasion of the same year, Jung delivered to the company nine captured junks and their cargos, whose total value was more than 20,000 taels. Dutch patronage was only one factor in Jung's success. He was also a charismatic leader. He cultivated the image of the noble robber, a seaborne Robin Hood who robbed from the rich to give to the poor, or a jiefu jipin, as the stories generously abounded. He appears to have been rather careful to avoid violence amongst the common people, preventing even his followers from pillaging those who cooperated,

especially those near his homeland in Nan'an. This image went over well, and thousands of men joined his fleets. Others joined because of drought, famine, or few other alternatives left to them. Chinese officials began to worry about this growing power. In a report to the Board of War in Beijing, the Governor General of Guangdong and Guangxi provinces wrote that the pirate was, quote, unusually cunning and practiced in sea warfare. His ships are built like those of foreign barbarians, tall and sturdy. His cannons are very effective, shooting from a distance of 10 li and smashing

their targets. Our ships, on the other hand, although numerous, are scattered along the coastline. They are always on guard, but always too few, end quote. Fijianese officials actually asked the Dutch for help against Zheng, using trading rights as an incentive. Company officials were told that if they refused their help, their main Chinese trading partner, Xu Shiansu, would no longer be permitted to trade with the company, but would instead, quote, be destroyed along with his entire family, end quote. The company agreed to help, and a month later, the Dutch lieutenant governor went in person to China to inform officials in Fujian that, quote, Chinese authorities agreed to the deal, but the Dutch did not act quickly enough.

Junk attacked the city of Xiamen, destroying hundreds of Zhengs and setting fires to buildings and houses. The Ming court decided that Zheng was too powerful to subdue with military force. It resolved, therefore, to instead woo him with a summon-and-appease policy. Thus it was that in early 1628, the Emperor of China offered Zheng an official title, an imperial rank, and an opportunity to prove his loyalty. Zheng was named the Patrolling Admiral, or Youji Zhangjun, and ordered to clear the coast of all other pirates. This assignment suited him well. He now had a legitimate excuse to destroy his competitors, and his title made it easy to gather supplies for his growing fleets. He established himself in the port of Yuegang, and worked to expand from there his trading

networks. The Dutch, too, found opportunities in Zheng's official status. That October, the governor of Taiwan took advantage of Zheng's visit aboard a Dutch ship and forced him to sign a three-year trade accord, within which Zheng would supply silks, sugar, ginger, and other goods in exchange for silver and spices at a fixed rate. Yet, although Zheng had turned legal, his underlings most certainly had not. They still wanted booty. So a series of new pirate leaders inevitably emerged. First came Li Kuiqi, one of Zheng's former subcommanders, who Zheng had put down with the help of the Dutch.

Then came Zheng Bin, one of Li Kuei-Chi's sub-commanders, who himself became so powerful that Chinese officials decided to give him Zheng's official position. Zheng, however, attacked and defeated him anyway. It was then, however, that the Dutch themselves got angry at Zheng. They grew convinced that he was trying to monopolize trade to Taiwan, feeling that his promises always disappeared into smoke. In the summer of 1633, a Dutch fleet, in alliance with a pirate named Liu Xiang, carried out a devastating sneak attack. Zheng was under the impression that he and the Dutch were on good terms and was therefore caught off guard.

He'd been building a special new fleet inspired by European ships. It is said, wrote the Dutch governor, that such an armada of beautiful, big, well-armed junks has never before been seen in China. This surprise attack managed to destroy the fleet before it ever set sail. Yet Zheng persisted. He immediately began preparing a new fleet. When it was finished, he led it to victory against the Dutch Armada,

forcing the company to come to terms with him. Fortunately for the Dutch, he was conciliatory in these peace negotiations. He arranged for three Chinese traders to receive licenses to trade in Taiwan. Thereafter, four or five large junks and eight or so other smaller junks arrived in Taiwan each year, laden with silks and other Chinese products for the Dutch. The governor of Taiwan believed that the favorable terms could be attributed to Zheng's and other officials' fear of piracy, without which China would become arrogant and less willing to deal with the company itself. Thus it was that by 1634,

the Dutch had reached a modus vivendi with Zheng Zilong, who knew that the Dutch must be kept appeased with trade goods, or they would make trouble again. These interminable pirate wars, however, were not yet over. The pirate Liu Xiang still fought against Zheng. He tried to get the Dutch to ally with him, and when they demurred, he asked that they at least allow his fleet to rest in Taiwan. To this, the Dutch also refused.

In response, Liu Shang captured a Dutch junk and distributed its 30-man crew throughout his fleet as what amounted to human shields. Not long thereafter, Liu Shang sent a force to attack Fort Zealandia. Some Chinese residents of Taiwan warned the Dutch East India Company, which as a result had little trouble in repelling that assault. By 1637, Zhang had defeated Liu Shang and other rivals and was solidifying his position as master of the Fujinese trading world. His ships sailed freely throughout East and Southeast Asia, from Japan to Malacca. Private traders paid to fly his flag for both prestige and protection.

He built for himself an opulent castle, connected by a canal directly to the sea. And from there, he continued to have a hand in all trade to and from Taiwan. Few junks dared call there without his consent, for which they usually had to pay. For the most part, he and the company maintained cordial relations, but there's little doubt that he kept a secret hand in more or less all affairs of Taiwan. There's evidence that he even abetted the growth of the Chinese colony there. On one occasion, he and a Chinese official made a plan to relocate victims of a severe drought to Taiwan, providing, quote,

for each person three tails of silver, and for each three people, one ox. End quote. The plan was never carried out, but he maintained an interest in Taiwan. His son would inherit his interest, with devastating consequences for the Dutch. But that remains in the future. For now, the Dutch were more preoccupied with other rivals, such as the samurai. over ten generations, or take a deep dive into the Iron Age or the Hellenistic era, then check out the Ancient World Podcast. Available on all podcasting platforms,

or go to ancientworldpodcast.com. That's the Ancient World Podcast. Japanese traders had for decades been using the Bay of Daoyuan as a way station to buy Chinese silk when the Dutch arrived in 1624. Yet, Japanese interest in Taiwan went beyond peaceful commerce. In 1593, the great unifier, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, planned to incorporate Taiwan into his empire and even sent an envoy with a letter demanding tribute. Since there was no authority to which to deliver the letter, it never arrived as such. As it was, in 1616, Japanese merchant adventurer Murayama Talan sent 13 vessels to conquer the island. However, the indigenous headhunters ambushed one junk in a creek, after which the expedition turned around and instead decided to pillage the Chinese coasts.

Seven years after the Dutch had arrived at the Bay of Daiyuan, influential Japanese merchants still somehow, for whatever reason, harbored ambitions of annexing Taiwan. Moreover, Japanese junks carried powerful soldiers. This combination of ambition and military might made the Japanese an important threat to Dutch control, especially given that aboriginal groups were eager to find whatever allies might give them the best leverage, no matter who they might be or represent. Dutch East India officials knew that Japanese merchants had cheap silver and could therefore undercut the company's trade. In 1625, Batavia ordered the governor of Taiwan to prevent the Japanese from trading at all. This, however,

proved to be foolhardy. The company's position in East Asia depended on Japan. The company's office in Hirado, established in 1609, was one of the most profitable, yet it was constantly menaced because of Portuguese and Spanish influence in the shogun's court. If the company tried to restrict Japanese commerce in Taiwan, it risked angering its Japanese merchants. The most important of these traders was the regent of Nagasaki, Suetsugu Heizo Masanao, a powerful man with close connections to ruling circles in the shogun's court. Suetsugu had for several years been sending junks to Daiyuan to trade silver for silk and saw no reason to put up with the pretensions of these new European arrivals. Fortunately for the Dutch, officials in Taiwan

did not receive Batavia's foolish orders right away. So, when two Japanese junks arrived at the bay of Dayuan and prepared to trade their rich silver cargos for silk and deerskins, officials in Dayuan resolved not to prohibit their trade altogether, but rather, quote, to make them pay a duty of 10% of all products exported from the island, end quote. The Japanese, nonetheless, protested, quote, saying that they had come with the emperor's license, and that the lords of Nagasaki were their masters, that with the emperor's pass they were allowed to trade anywhere in the Indies without paying tolls, and that their lords would be very displeased, end quote. While the Dutch and the Japanese were negotiating, the letter from Batavia arrived,

and the Japanese traders were informed that they would not be allowed to trade at all, information which provoked still more protests. Yet even when forbidden to trade, the presence of Japanese traders hurt the economy. Chinese silk merchants refused to sell their wares to the company, convinced that the Japanese could be convinced to pay yet more. The Japanese insisted that the shogun would be upset, for they carried his red seal. Company officials in Taiwan wisely decided to moderate their policy. They decided that the Japanese would be allowed to trade the silver they had brought this year without tolls, but henceforth, quote, they would not be allowed to trade in Formosa

with any silver, but could only sell directly to the company goods or provisions it might find useful, end quote. The Japanese, no surprise here, were not especially pleased with the idea of future restrictions, but they began trading their current cargo with Verve, with dramatic consequences for the Dutch East India Company. The Japanese traders complained company officials, quote, have caused the price of silk to go up so quickly that the Chinese sold no silk to us for three weeks. If this were to happen every year, the company would be greatly damaged and the Japanese would dominate the trade, end quote. After having spent 70,000 tails on silks and deer hides, the Japanese at long last departed. But they said that if they had realized

the extent of trade possibilities in Taiwan, quote, they would have sent much more silver this year, end quote. Japanese traders returned the following year, this time with a huge cargo of about 300,000 tails of silver. Again, they asked that the Dutch allow them to trade freely. Company officials, however, stood by their decision to forbid Japanese trades, saying that unless further orders arrived from Batavia, the Japanese would not be allowed to trade in Taiwan or even send their capital on to China directly. The Japanese petitioned company officials daily, with a semblance of great friendship, as if there was no disagreement in the world. No new orders arrived from Batavia, and the Japanese began getting impatient.

They asked to send a small convoy to the Chinese coast. The council of Formosa refused, saying that Chinese officials would be gravely displeased if the company allowed the Japanese, who are their enemies, to cross the Taiwan Straits. Eventually, Dutch officials said that they would allow the Japanese to cross the straits, but under two conditions. First, the company would write a letter to Chinese officials to inform them of the Japanese junks and absolve himself of responsibility. And second, the Japanese would be allowed to use only three small junks, rather than the heavily armed war or convoy junks. The Japanese knew that sending silver across the pirate-infested seas without a convoy was foolhardy, so they asked permission to rent one or two armed junks belonging to the Chinese merchant Xu Shansu,

which would attract less attention than the armed Japanese ships. The Dachishzendia Company, however, refused, on the grounds that Chinese officials might find out and revoke Xu Shanshu's permission to trade on Taiwan. The Japanese found little contentment in this and decided to wait for orders to arrive from Batavia. But no orders came. Under increasing Japanese pressure, the Council of Formosa ultimately resolved to allow the Japanese to cross the strait and trade their silver on the coasts of China, provided that they used no Japanese war junks.

To protect themselves from pirates, they might instead, quote, mend their junks with many Chinese and weapons, as Xu Shinsu does, since they should in any case be satisfied to trade in the same way as the company, sending no war junks. The company even provided them with an old junk to fit out as they wished, and they, quote, appeared to be fairly content with this arrangement, end quote. But by then, the monsoon winds had changed, and the Japanese were forced to winter in Daiyuan. It doesn't take a surfeit of imagination to understand that they were getting a little bit verklempt and even angry with this whole running series of charades and ridiculousness. Officials in Batavia had warned Taiwan that you should by

no means trust the Japanese. If they were powerful enough and saw an opportunity, they would have no compunction about making themselves masters of the fort and the land, not just in order to get free trade, but also to lay claim to the island itself. End quote. And these words would prove very prescient indeed. As winter turned to spring, the Japanese grew ever bolder. With a hint of defiance, they requested that the company use its own junks to convoy their goods from China to Taiwan,

since they would otherwise, due to the multitude of pirates, run a great risk. Company officials refused. Indeed, they said, the Japanese themselves would not be allowed to go to China. The Japanese response was audacious. Many of them had trading relationships with a nearby aboriginal village named Sinkan. They secretly took on board 16 inhabitants of the village and then left for Japan. Shocked, members of the Dutch Council of Formosa mused, We presume that the Japanese may undertake something that might cause great problems and prejudice for the company in Japan.

End quote. This was, if anything, an understatement. The Sengon expedition to Japan sparked a series of events that nearly ended the company's rule over Taiwan, and indeed the company's East Asian operations overall. It's not incredibly clear whether the action had been planned beforehand or whether it was just some sort of an ad hoc measure that had been worked out by the junk captains and the Synganders themselves. In any case, the Synganders arrived at the headquarters of the rich Japanese merchant, Suetsugu Hezo Masano, in Nagasaki.

Suetsugu was furious about Dutch attempts to hinder his trade in Taiwan. Not long after the Senganders had arrived in Nagasaki, Suetsugu had presented a remonstrance in their name to the governor of the city, charging that the Dutch had tried in all ways to hinder the Japanese trade on Taiwan. Not only had the Dutch aided Chinese pirates, and themselves engaged in piracy, but they had also forbidden Chinese merchants to trade with Japan on Taiwan, and had confiscated silk belonging to the Japanese, and then sold it in Hirado. So Esugu lodged the Sinkanders in his house and gave them clothing and gifts of deerskins. He was preparing to present them at the Shogun's court as ambassadors of Formosa.

Through translators, they would complain about Dutch rule and ask the Shogun to take Taiwan under his protection. Officials in Batavia were, in the meantime, worried about relations with Japan. They did not know about this encounters, but they knew that Japanese merchants were complaining about trade restrictions. To smooth things over with the Shogun, they decided to send a special envoy to Japan. A man named Pieter Neutz was to lead it, after which he would take over duties as governor of Formosa. His mission was to persuade the Shogun that the Dutch had not been mistreating Japanese traders or otherwise hindering their

activities. Most importantly, he was to ask the Shogun to forbid Japanese junks to sail to Taiwan, or, failing that, to ask him to at least refrain for a few years from issuing Red Seal passes to Taiwan. But when Nguyen arrived in Japan and learned about the Senganders, he was furious. He wrote a letter to Taiwan, excoriating officials there for failing to inspect the Japanese junks before their departure from Dayuan. Due to Suetsugu's machinations, the shogun declined to receive Nuit's embassy. To make matters worse, the shogun had decided to grant an audience to the Senganders. Fortunately for the Dutch, he declined to accept Formosa for Japan, but he did give the Sinkanders gifts, telling Suetsugu to see to it that the ambassadors were returned safely

to Formosa. Newets arrived in Taiwan before the Sinkanders. When they arrived aboard two Japanese junks, Newets refused to allow them or anyone aboard the junks to land or even to take in provisions. He justified these measures on the grounds that the Japanese were planning to attack the Dutch. Indeed, when company soldiers inspected the junks, they found them highly armed. They carried 470 men and only 40,000 tails of silver. This did not appear to be merely a trading mission. Nguyen ordered the junks to be disarmed, and then he clapped the Sin Ganders into irons

and confiscated the gifts that they'd received from the Shogun. The Japanese asked to return to Japan, but Nguyen refused to allow them to leave until he had helped them exchange their silver for silk in China. He hoped that if the junks returned to Japan laden with silks, the company would avoid complaints in Japan. The Japanese, however, were suspicious. They began to hatch a plot. The Japanese captain, along with 15 of his companions, called on Governor Newitz in his own house. They found him at home with his son. They said that they had come to bid their departure in goodbyes. Governor Nunes replied that goodbyes were premature because the Japanese were not yet allowed to leave.

The Japanese captain said that, well, he intended to leave anyway. Nunes insisted that, quote, left up, seized the governor by his head, and tied him up in the Japanese manner, end quote. They then chased the governor's guards out of the house and secured the premises. In the meantime, other Japanese soldiers had surrounded the house and begun fighting with company soldiers. Gunners in Fort Zelandia fired their cannons, hitting a Japanese boat, but Newitz was able to order the Dutch military commander to cease fire. By the time the smoke cleared, 150 Japanese had barricaded themselves in the governor's house. After three days of parlays, the Council of Formosa acceded to five demands in exchange for which the Japanese would release Newitz.

First, both sides would have five hostages. Among the Dutch hostages would be Newitz's own son. Second, the eleven Senganders, who remained in captivity, would be released. Third, the Senganders would have their gifts restored to them. Fourth, the Dutch would give the Japanese 200 peacles of raw silk, which, according to the Japanese, the Dutch had prevented them from collecting in China and which had thereafter been stolen by the Chinese pirate Zheng Zilong. And fifth, and finally, the rudders would be removed from the Dutch ships in Daiyuan to prevent them from chasing the Japanese as they retreated. After the Dutch commander accepted the demands, notes went free. As company officials began gathering the 200 peacles of silk and removing the rudders from their ships, a group of Japanese escorted

the Shinganders back to their village. The party arrived in Shingon in triumph and celebrated and made merry, praising and glorifying the Japanese as those who treated them magnificently and generously, both in Japan during their journey, having received from them many gifts, money, and goods. In contrast, they denigrated the Hollanders, painting them in ugly colors as those who treated them badly and impolitely, and took away that which the Japanese had given." End quote. Shortly thereafter, the Japanese sailed for Nagasaki. A Dutch ship was dispatched shortly thereafter to try to repair relations with Japan, but upon arrival, its crew was seized and then imprisoned. In fact, all Dutch ships in Japan were detained.

Soetsugu had complained to the shogun, not much of a surprise there, who had thereafter frozen company activity in Japan. Soetsugu's aims were clear. He ordered his Dutch prisoners to write to Batavia and demand that the company abandon its post on Taiwan. The council of the Indies in Batavia responded by sending another special envoy to Japan. This envoy went again in vain, obtaining only a letter from Soetsugu demanding that Fort Zealandia be abandoned. The loss of the trade of Japan was a serious blow to the Dutch East India Company. As the Governor General of Batavia wrote, the highest Dutch official in Asia, it should be said, quote, the pantry is closed, end quote. Officials reflected seriously on their options. On the one hand, they felt that the company had a legal right to collect tolls from

the Japanese who traded in Taiwan. On the other, without trading privileges in Japan, the Dutch colony in Taiwan wasn't even worth the cost of upkeep. The governor of Formosa and his council members wrote to Batavia, urging the Council of the Andes to retain the Taiwan factory. They argued that if Taiwan was abandoned, the Portuguese and Spanish would simply come in and take over. After some back and forth, Batavia decided not to dismantle its colony, but instead decrease the funds going to Daiyo-an, telling the officials there to cut costs and cease building projects until the trade with Japan could be restored. But as luck would have it, in June of 1630, the Dutch had a stroke of luck. Soetsugu died. His son, Soetsugu Heizo Masafusa, was a little bit better disposed toward them.

Whereas his father had kept company officials from appearing in the shogun's court, his son now allowed the Dutch to re-establish dialogue with the shogun directly. How would the Dutch make their case? Perhaps a scapegoat would do the trick. Peter Newitz soon found himself on a second voyage to Japan, but this time he wore no ambassador's finery. He was now far more effective as a prisoner than as a leader. The Shogun ordered the Dutch prisoners to be freed. At least, those who were left as it happened, many of them had already died, including Neuwitsch's own son. Ouch. And the Dutch were once again allowed to trade in Japan. Neuwitsch remained imprisoned in Japan until 1636, after which he was allowed to return to the Netherlands.

The company's lucky streak continued. In 1635, the Shogun forbade Japanese to go abroad at all, and required that all Japanese who were currently abroad return to Japan or else lose their citizenship. In a flash, the Japanese threat to Taiwan was lifted. Not only had the company weathered a severe threat to its sovereignty on Taiwan, but henceforth they would face no competition from Japanese traders whatsoever. It's worth noting that the removal of Japanese competition did not just affect Taiwan, it also allowed the Dutch to expand into other formerly Japanese markets all over Southeast Asia. In 1639, the Shogun ended all

contact with the Portuguese. Once again, the decision was of tremendous help to the Dutch. The Portuguese, their company's major competitor for the silk for silver trade, was in a stroke, no longer a threat in Japan. Taiwan was therefore set to become a flourishing colony. Batavia opened its purses again, allowing and even encouraging investments in the colony. However, the colony would not be able to prosper until the company established authority over its aboriginal neighbors, especially the powerful and recalcitrant village of Mata'ao. And that is where we will conclude today's episode on the early history of Taiwan, almost right up to the Changming Con conquest in the 1640s.

Next time we're going to continue along this storyline in order to catch the island up to our main narrative stroke in the conquest and colonization of a certain Koxinga. So please do tune in next time

as well if you've enjoyed this episode. This has been a really fun researching project for me who knew relatively little about the history of Taiwan, especially its pre-Chinese history and the overall Dutch-Portuguese and Chinese interactions all over the island, of course, and the indigenous peoples alike. So this has been a real treat for me to be able to research. I hope that you are enjoying it as much as me. And as always, thanks for listening. The Civil War and Reconstruction was a pivotal era in American history. When a war was fought to save the Union and to free the slaves.

And when the work to rebuild the nation after that war was over turned into a struggle to guarantee liberty and justice for all Americans. I'm Tracy. And I'm Rich. And we want to invite you to join us as we take an in-depth look at this pivotal era in American history. Look for The Civil War and Reconstruction wherever you find your podcasts.