FORMOSA FILES PODCAST S4-The Dutch Kill or Capture Every Lamay Islander [ENCORE]
Today, the small island roughly 13 kilometers off the coast of Pingtung County is called Xiaoliuqiu 琉球嶼. Some 400 years ago, however, many called it Lamay Island. Shipwrecks in the seas around Formosa were common, and survivors who made it ashore often found the native peoples tolerated no incursions. After a few such incidents involving the killing of people from Dutch ships by Lamay Islanders, the Dutch East India Company (VOC) HQ in Batavia (Jakarta) gave the Dutch colonists in Taiwan an order: Completely depopulate Lamay Island. The Dutch in Taiwan - not without reservations - followed this order, and committed the worst atrocity against the indigenous people during the Dutch colonial period in Formosa.
Note: This episode was originally published on 22 March, 2022
Cover images are, right: The (second) Gouden Leeuw or Golden Lion ship was built in 1666. It could be called the Gouden Leeuw as a previous Dutch ship with the same name had been wrecked on the coral reefs of Liuqiu Island, then known to the Dutch as Lamay, in 1622. The crewmembers were killed by the native inhabitants of the island, which ultimately led to a planned massacre and depopulation in 1636, sanctioned by the Dutch East Indies' colonial government. This 2nd De Gouden Leeuw (The Golden Lion) played a major role in the Third Anglo-Dutch War (1672 - 1674), with the ship serving as the flagship of Lieutenant Admiral Cornelis Tromp. The painting of the 2nd Golden Lion is by Willem van de Velde the Elder and called, "The Dutch Ship Gouden Leeuw salutes English Ship Prince. (1689)" All info above via Wikimedia Commons.
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The Formosa Files podcast is sponsored by the FRANK CHEN FOUNDATION (陳啟川先生文教基金會)
Website: https://www.frank-chen.org.tw/
This top-rated history podcast tells stories from the history of Formosa (Taiwan) from circa 1600 C.E. - 2000 C.E., via interesting, lesser-known short stories presented in a non-chronological order.
HOSTS: John Ross is an author and co-founder of publisher Camphor Press, which specializes in books on Taiwan and China in English, while Eryk Michael Smith has worked as a writer and journalist for multiple media outlets in Taiwan, including the island's only English-language radio station ICRT (FM 100.7). Both Ross and Smith have lived in Taiwan for well over 20 years and call the island home.
