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Taiwanese history would have been very different except for a few pivotal moments. “Sure,” you might be thinking, “that's true everywhere.” However, the “what ifs” Michael Turton and Eryk Michael Smith talk about today are especially fascinating because of Taiwan’s strategic location. The Spanish and Dutch had short-lived settlements here in the 17th century, but either could easily have lasted for centuries. Later would-be colonizers included the UK (they considered using the east coast as a penal colony à la Australia), the US, and Germany. Turton lays out an interesting list of “what ifs” to support his argument that Taiwan being in the sphere of “Chinese” influence is an anomaly of history -- and was never inevitable.
Check out formosafiles.com for links to articles by Michael Turton, pics, images, and more.
Cover: A screenshot from a YouTube channel positing an alterative history: "A What if scenario where the VOC maintains a tight grip of Taiwan even after Koxinga's expulsion. Taiwan develops as a Dutch colony and is eventually overthrown by Han and Aborigine revolts to become an independent Republic, known as Greater Liuqiu or Dai Ryuku." Via The Zhuangzi Academy.
Below: Michael Turton taking a break from cycling, one of his other passions.
LINKS to articles by Michael Turton:
Blog post: The Rover Incident of 1867
Below: "The Attack of the United States marines and sailors on the pirates of the island of Formosa, East Indies." Via Wikimedia Commons.
Blog post: Paper on Parade: The US annexation of Formosa in the 1850s
Below: Around June 13, 1854, U.S. Lt. George Henry Preble was sent to Keelung to assess the quality of the area's coal. The image below is Lt. Preble's map of Keelung and its environs.
Taipei Times Article: A history populated in might-have-beens: The sordid tale of two British ships wrecked off the coast of Taiwan during the First Opium War reminds us that the nation has always been the plaything of imperial powers. Below: A granary where sailors from the ships Nerbudda and Ann were imprisoned before execution in what is today’s Tainan in 1842. Via Wikimedia Commons.
Taipei Times Article: Imaginings of another Taiwan: The nation could have gone the way of Vietnam and Korea and been recognized by the ROC as an independent state, if not for Nationalist expansionist fantasies. Below: The red line in this 1933 Republic of China map show the nation’s “old borders.” Via Wikimedia Commons.
Taipei Times Article: Formosa in German colonial dreams: Germany’s far east policy highlights a simple fact of the 19th century: Imperial holdings were there to be seized from other powers, or traded back and forth to settle wars, tokens in the great game. Below: A photograph of explorer, diplomat, geologist and ethnographer Ferdinand Freiherr von Richthofen, who was involved with Prussian ventures in the Far East and who coined the term “Silk Road.” Richthofen was sent to Formosa to evaluate its potential as a "German Hong Kong." Via Wikimedia Commons.
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Check our very first episode, the story of a very white man who showed up in London in 1703... and claimed to be from Formosa. Or try a foodie episode from Season 3. Or, for those who want some harder-core history, hear the tale of the Lockheed U-2 pilot Wang Hsi-chueh 王錫爵, who became famous for defecting to the PRC by hijacking China Airlines Flight 334 on May 3, 1986.
