ABSTRACT
The island of Taiwan (formerly known as “Formosa”) was mainly inhabited by Taiwanese aborigines until the Dutch and Spanish settlement during the Age of Discovery in the 17th century, when Han Chinese began immigrating to the island. In 1624, the Dutch East India Company established a stronghold called Fort Zeelandia at Anping, Tainan. Subsequently in 1626, the Spanish Empire landed on and occupied northern Taiwan, at the ports of Keelung and Tamsui, as a base to extend their trading. This colonial period lasted 16 years until 1642, when the last Spanish fortress fell to Dutch forces. In 1662, the Dutch were expelled by the Qing dynasty which annexed Taiwan (Kelly & Brown, 2010; Wikipedia, 2016f). Eventually Taiwan was ceded to the Great Japanese Empire in 1895 because of Japan’s success in the First Sino-Japanese War; however, Taiwan was taken over by the Chinese because of Japan’s failure in World War II in 1945, and separated from mainland China in 1949 due to the Chinese Civil War (Kelly & Brown, 2010; Wikipedia, 2016f).
