ALMOST HERE - The English Translation of: A Tale of Three Tribes in Dutch Formosa by Dr. Chen Yao-chang 陳耀昌

TAIWAN HISTORY - Formosa Files Episodes

Aug. 22, 2024

S4-E20 – Democracy Fighter and Taiwan History Professor Gerrit van de…

Did you know that all the water buffalo in Taiwan are the descendants of a group of these bovines from Indonesia (formerly the Dutch East Indies)? These poor water buffalo were put on a sailing ship by the Dutch in …

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April 27, 2023

S3-E10 - Lord of Formosa - Part Two: Coyett VS. Koxinga

Joyce Bergvelt's book Lord of Formosa is a novel, but she's an author who has extensively studied the Dutch colonial period and the main characters involved. Lord of Formosa, therefore, might be closer to a history book than fiction. Listen …

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March 30, 2023

S3-E7 - Lord of Formosa and the VOC - Part One

Arguably the single most important event in Taiwan’s history – and certainly the most dramatic story – was the arrival in 1661 of warlord and Ming loyalist Koxinga (鄭成功 Zheng Chenggong). After a fierce struggle, Koxinga evicted the Dutch, who …

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March 16, 2023

S3-E5 - Local Language Loanwords: A Lovely Hot Pot of Fujianese, Mand…

All languages borrow words from other languages. These “loanwords” often come with fascinating historical backstories, their adoption the result of encounters by traders, scholars, and adventurers; and the result of colonialization, as was the case with Taiwan, 1895 to 1945, …

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March 9, 2023

S3-E4 - Madou, Tainan 麻豆: Pomelos and Priestesses

Today, the district of Madou (麻豆區) in Tainan City is home to about 43,000 people. It has a pleasant small-town feel, an economy mainly based on agriculture, in particular, a citrus fruit called the pomelo ( 柚子). Back in the …

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March 24, 2022

S2-E3 - The Lamey Island Massacre

In 1622 and then again in 1631, crew members (including foraging parties and shipwreck survivors) from Dutch ships were killed by the aboriginal people on Lamey Island, what is today’s Pingtung County’s Xiao Liuqiu (小琉球). The Dutch East India Company’s …

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Feb. 7, 2022

S1-E26 - Bonus Episode - What Were the Dutch Doing in Formosa Anyway?

The Dutch were expelled from southwestern Taiwan by a pirate warlord and Ming loyalist Koxinga in 1662. Their relatively brief stay of 38 years was marked by impressive achievements and lasting impacts. But why they were there in the first …

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Sept. 11, 2021

S1-E3 - The Fall of Fort Zeelandia

The Dutch put up a good fight... but a traitor seals their fate. Here's the end of the story of how the Dutch lost Taiwan.

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Sept. 11, 2021

S1-E2 - Koxinga VS. The Dutch - Round One

Pirate Warlord Koxinga's successful invasion of Taiwan changed everything. Here's part one of the tale of an epic, nine-month struggle with the Dutch in Anping, modern-day Tainan.

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