Ilha Formosa: Taiwan before 1895

[ramones1986]

A Ilha Formosa: Taiwan before 1895

This timeline is originally a post in my first TL "Filipinas: La Gloriosa y Más Allá" as the back story of Taiwan (and Penghu) before its annexation to Japan in the year 1895 as the result of the Sino-Japanese War.

This is also dedicated to fellow AH.com mosodake and his TL "Wall of Skulls", a well-written TL that was, unfortunately, discontinued.

Ilha Formosa
Taiwan before 1895

When Japan annexed the islands of Taiwan and Penghu in the year 1895, as provisioned in the Treaty of Shimonoseki, the island has already developed a culture more or less distinct from the people living in the other side of the Strait. At that time, Taiwan was culturally divided into five distinct cultural regions: The central area, the Christianized regions (north and southwest), the southern area, and the interior and eastern areas; the region around the capital Taoyuan was considered the "melting pot" of the island.

The central part, also known as the Middag after the kingdom, was ,inhabited by mixed Han Chinese-Austronesian population, divided by language (Baboza, Popora, Hoanza, Pazeh). The Middag was well-known its interesting mix of Chinese traditional religion and animism; while worshiping Matzu, the chief deity of the Southern Chinese, the priests and shamans offered prayers to the lesser gods and spirits of the ancestors, who served as intermediaries between the goddess and the mortal world, both living and dead. This tradition was started among the Baboza in the mid-15th century.

A statue of the goddess Matsu​

The Ketagalans and the Sirayas, the people who respectively lived in the north and the southwest, were Christianized in a different manner: The Ketagalans belonged to the Roman Catholic Church, thanks to the efforts of the Spanish (later Japanese and Dutch Catholic) priests; the first texts in the Ketagalan tongue was a catechism book written by the Jesuits. The Sirayas, meanwhile, were Calvinists due to the influence of the Dutch. Subsequently, the Chinese (and Ryukyuan, in case of the north), men who intermarried with Siraya/Ketagalan women not just adopted the latter's language, but also the religious beliefs of their wives.

Bible in Dutch and Siraya languages​

The southern part of the island, first inhabited by the Makatao, a branch of the Siraya, was predominantly populated by the people speaking Southern Chinese languages, especially Hokkien and Hakka; while these people were mostly product of the intermarriage between the Han Chinese migrants and the Makatao, others bought their whole families to Fengshan; the west were settled by the Hoklo, while the east were inhabited by the Hakka, whose economic and cultural life centered in the towns of Meinong, Pingtung and Dongxiang.

 

[ramones1986]

The Timeline: Chapter 1

Early Years and Colonization

Map of Taiwan (then called Formosa), made by the Dutch​

Early 1400s:

More than a hundred villagers from Southern Fujian escaping the devastation resulted from the plague arrived in the Babuza coast[1]. They bought new technology, animals and plants, as well as customs such as filial piety, the worship of Matzu and ancestor worship to the population. The villagers, mostly male, intermarried with the tribe. This specific part of history was told through a legend:

"Long time ago, a race of strangers from a distant land arrived in the coast; their robes amazed our ancestors. The strangers bought some of the things that we used today, including the plow, improving and enriching the lives of our ancestors that we enjoyed today. The ancestors thought that they were the emissaries of Matzu, as they introduced worshiping the Mother Goddess.

Late 1400s:

As a result of acquiring skills (rice cultivation, technology, oxen, metallurgy and ceramics), cultural values and religion from the Chinese, the Babuza population increased dramatically, as the traditions of late marriages and abortion were eroded and abandoned. Consequently, neighboring tribes such as Papora, Bazeh and Hoanya began to adapt the technology, either through the Babuzas or the Chinese who migrated to their territories and intermarried.​

1500s:

The tribes of the central plains (Babuza, Popora, Pazeh and Hoanya) formed a confederation of 17 towns; this was called the Confederation (later the Kingdom) of Middag, after the town that served as the capital. The government was a semi-monarchy, inspired by the government of the Chinese; the title "King of Middag" was hereditary,but unlike their counterparts across the strait, both male and female members can inherit the throne. The kingdom operated as a tribute system,where important products such as crops and deer hides were given as a tribute for the monarch, redistributed to each village according to population and need.​

1510s:

Having already adapted the Chinese technologies, Siraya villages formed a confederacy of their own; Moatau/Mattou[2] was chosen as the chief village of the confederacy. Unified by common language, culture and trade, the Sirayas were governed by a "Great Chief", selected by the council composed by the chiefs of all villages; when the Great Chief died, the council will convene in Moatau and choose his successor; usually, the most senior among them.​

A modern-day Siraya girl​

1544:

The island of Taiwan was spotted by the Portuguese sailors, naming it as Ilha Formosa. It was said that the population in the lowlands were estimated 350,000, half of them were Siraya. The highland tribes adapted some of the technology such as metallurgy, but not rice farming, as they preferred millet as their staple. Their population was believed to be about 80,000.​

1547:

The shamans of the Taoka villages went to Middag to show their support to the government of the Kingdom. Already adapted the technologies bought by Babuza through trade (and the intermarriage with the Chinese and Japanese merchants and traders in the coast), the Taokas were the northernmost tribe to join the kingdom.[3]​

1549:

A writing system was invented by a man named Malihan, a product of an intermarriage between a Chinese man and a Thao woman. Based on the texts left behind by his paternal grandfather, the writing system consisted of a syllabary which he transcribed the myths and legends of his people. Due to the relative isolation of Thao, who live within the Sun Moon Lake, Malihan's writing never spread beyond the neighboring Atayal and Bunun tribes.​

1550:

Gold was discovered in the north, near the present-day city of Keelung[4]. Traders from the Ryukyu archipelago landed in the northern coast and encountered Basay tribesmen wearing gold jewelry. Consequently, the Ryukyu Kingdom set up a minor trade route with the tribes, exchanging clothes and tools for deer hides, gold and camphor; firearms were added a decade later.​

1557:

Skirmishes between the Sirayas and the Middag kingdom erupted over deer hunting, one accused the other of trespassing over each other's territory. The said conflict ended with a temporary truce between the two, mediated by Kamachat Gamataman[5]. Nevertheless, the skirmishes paved the way for more conflict between the two.​

Formosan sika deer​

1560s-1570s

Deer herding farms began to form in some of the villages in the Middag kingdom; the herders themselves were former hunters, who domesticated fawns and saw its potential, especially for its milk and hides. These farms were slowly changing the deer trade in the kingdom.​

1609:

The Ryukyu Islands were invaded by the forces of the Shimazu clan from Satsuma, in Japan. As a result, the archipelago became a vassal state. The invasion seriously affected the trade with the Ketagalan people in the island's north, causing its disruption. Nevertheless, the trade resumed after the Shimazu learned the importance of trading with the tribesmen.​

The mon (crest) of the Shimazu clan.​

1614-17:

Tensions escalate between Middag and the Siraya over deer over-hunting erupted into a war between the two. The Middag warriors have the superior advantage over their Siraya counterparts due to their pledge of not raiding each other's villages. However, the Siraya fought back due to their larger population, despite their internal conflict. In the end, deer hunting ended abruptly, after the wild deer population had severely collapsed, replaced by deer herding to both Sirayas and Middag people.​

1617:

Village chiefs from all over the Siraya lands gathered in the chief village of Moatau to pledge their loyalty to the Great Chief Kamalaligan[6], starting the transformation of the ethnic group from a confederation of villages to a unified nation, with a government now patterned on their Middag neighbors in the north, with the title Great Chief was now hereditary; Kamalilagan, a member of the influential Alid-Talavan[6] clan, will pass his title to his son Kamadarungan once he died.​

1624:

The Dutch East India Company, having been rebuffed by the Imperial Government from settling in the Chinese soil, sailed across the Strait and landed at the island of Tayouan[6], in the middle of the Siraya territory; their intention was to set up a base for Japanese trade.​

5 May, 1626:

The Spaniards established themselves in the north of the island by establishing forts around the present-day city of Keelung, especially in its harbor. They were accompanied by the Roman Catholic priests, mostly belonged to the Agustinian, Franciscan and Jesuit orders, whose mission was to evangelize the native Ketagalan tribes. The soldiers and priests came from the Spanish colony of the Philippines as they compete with the Dutch for trade and additional colonies.​

1626 Spanish map​

14 February,1627:

George Candidius, a Calvinist missionary, arrived in the Fort Zeelandia in Tayuoan. Candidius was sent by the Dutch East Indies Company from to help his fellow missionaries to convert and educate the Siraya people. His previous assignment was in the island of Ternate in Moluccas.​

Fort Zeelandia​

1628:

Spain sent more priests to Northern Taiwan to help the missionaries evangelize the Ketagalan and Kavalan people. All of the new priests came from the Spanish Netherlands, mostly from Flanders and Brabant. The authorities in Keelung allowed the Ryukyuans to continue their trade with the people of their territory, even allowed some to intermarry with the Ketagalan and Kavalan women.​

1629:

In the north, the Spanish set up another base near Hoba[7], centered in Fort Santo Domingo. They established the base to consolidate their rule in the north of Taiwan. Their rivals in the south, the Dutch, begun to notice the presence of the Spanish in the north.​

Fort Santo Domingo​

1634:

A group of Han Chinese were shipwrecked in the coast of present-day Luzhu Town. Mostly came from northern coast of Nanzhili[8], they established a community by intermarrying with the Kulon women and building fortified villages, as well as establishing trade. The men will be known in the Taiwanese history as the "The Jiangbei Men", often considered as the role model for the youth.​

31 August,1637:

Representatives of the Kingdom of Middag went to Fort Zeelandia to met with Governor Johan van der Burg and to sign a treaty, in which stated that the two entities will respect each other's borders and allowing the traders from Middag and the Siraya lands to move freely across their respective boundaries.​

1641-42:

Tensions between the Spaniards and the Dutch over the control of the island boiled into a full-scale. The reason: the simple fact that the Dutch was irritated at their presence in the north. An exchange of letters between between the Dutch Governor and his Spanish counterpart never helped to ease it.​

18-24 August 1642:

The Spaniards surrendered Fort Santo Domingo to the Dutch after the six-day siege of their stronghold. Their racially-combined troops (Spaniards, Ketagalan natives, mestizos and Kapampangans from the Philippines), despite their effort to defend the fort, proved no match to the invading Dutch. Back in Manila, Governor-General Sebastián Hurtado de Corcuera was blamed for the said loss.​

Sebastián Hurtado de Corcuera​

27 August,1642:

In Fort Zeelandia, Governor Paulus Traudenius met with the representatives of the missionaries who stayed in the island's north (mostly Japanese and Flemings). The governor promised the monks that they will respect their activities, as long as it kept as "private", as they're now under the laws of the Dutch East India Company.​

NOTES:
[1]OTL Lukang, Changhua County
[2]OTL Madou District, Tainan
[3]In OTL, the Middag Kingdom never really expanded.
[4]In OTL Ruifang District.
[5]Fictional name.
[6]Fictional surname, inspired by the surname Wan (萬), which is a Chinese transliteration of Talavan.
[7]OTL Tamsui, New Taipei.
[8]OTL Anhui and north Jiangsu province.

 

[ramones1986]

Expect semi-regular updates on this thread, as I mostly concentrated in my other TL.

 

[mosodake]

Great start I'm hoping you can take the idea much further than I could.

 

[ramones1986]

Great start I'm hoping you can take the idea much further than I could.

Thank you so much.

 

[ramones1986]

The Timeline: Chapter 1

Early Years and Colonization

​

15 September, 1642:

The Dutch authorities decided to develop the port of Takau[1] by constructing Fort Utrecht in the northern part of the harbor. A large number of Han Chinese, mostly from Southern Fujian, were involved in the construction of the fortification. They replenished the already existing population who lived in the town nearby; the people of Takau itself were the product of intermarriage between Han Chinese laborers and the remaining Makatao clans who were allowed to stay after their defeat in 1635.​

Fort Cihou, built on the remains of Fort Utrecht​

November 1642:

In the northwest part of Taiwan, the Nanzhili community grew in number as intermarriages between the recently arrived traders from Nanzhili province and local Kulon women increased dramatically. They began to trade with their neighbors in the south, particularly with the people of the Middag Kingdom; some historians, local and foreign, rumored that the Nanzhili community were responsible in the adoption of Mandarin Chinese as lingua franca of the kingdom, although others disputed this.​

February 1643:

The population of the Hakka settlements in the east bank of Gaoping River grew significantly, especially the town of Akau[2]. Originally came from the northeastern parts of Guangdong Province (now Guangbei Province[3]), they were part of the colonization efforts of the Dutch in the east of the Siraya lands; most intermarried with local Makatao women, others were already married and have concubines from the same group.​

The watershed of Gaoping River​

1649:

In the Kingdom of Middag, Kamachat Maloe decreed that he will allow a foreigner to marry his daughter Awasangan[4] and consider their children and descendants as legitimate to inherit the throne. According to the courtiers, the King made the said decree to prevent his brother Malunu[5] and his descendants from usurping the throne once he died; the monarch' brother were exiled to the Dutch-controlled Siraya lands to the south.​

NOTES:
[1]OTL Kaohsiung
[2]OTL Pingtung
[3]Fictional modern Chinese province
[4]Fictional daughter
[5]Fictional brother

 

[ramones1986]

The Timeline: Chapter 1

Early Years and Colonization

​

13 July, 1652:

Rebels led by Guo Huaiyi captured Fort Utrecht and made the Dutch and Siraya troops stationed there prisoners. Based in the Hokkien-dominated settlement of Takau, Guo, originally a sugarcane farmer who came from Quanzhou in the southern part of Fujian province, led a rebellion against the Dutch colonial administration for heavy taxation and excessive extortion against the Chinese who worked in the island.​

5-7 September, 1652:

Somebody had warned the Dutch colonial administration in Tayouan that a group of Hoklo[1] militia led by Guo Huaiyi planned for an invasion[2], Governor Nicolas Verburg alerted the soldiers stationed in both Fort Zeelandia and Fort Provintia to reinforce their defense once the insurgents decided to attack it. The Governor also informed the Calvinist missionaries to evacuate the documents stored in the library of Fort Provintia to the Siraya capital of Moatau.​

7 September, 1652:

In Port Provintia, the Calvinist priests and their Siraya subordinates began to evacuate the documents stored in its library. The documents, mostly dictionaries and business transactions, will be transferred to Moatau. Originally, the evacuation of the documents was regarded as a precautionary measure by the Calvinist priests, was proved to be a premonition: later that night, rebels led by Guo Huaiyi managed to storm the fortification.​

8-11 September, 1652:

Reinforcements from Fort Zeelandia came to rescue their besieged colleagues in Fort Provintia, killing hundreds of Chinese rebels. In the next three days, combined Dutch and Siraya forces fought the rebels with an advantage; while the insurgents fought with just only bamboo spears and swords, the colonial soldiers used firearms. As a result, it was estimated that a thousand Chinese perished their lives, including the leader, Guo Huaiyi.​

A painting depicting Guo Huaiyi rebellion​

12 September,1652:

Colonial troops recaptured Fort Utrecht after the rebels who held the said fortification for more or less than two months finally surrendered themselves. Immediately after their surrender, the head of the colonial forces, Gerard van Rompuy[3] issued an order to his soldiers to use to fort not just to defend the harbor, but also monitor the town of Takau, mostly settled by the Chinese.​

13 September,1652:

In Fort Zeelandia, Governor Nicolas Verbung issued an order to reinforce the defense of Fort Provintia by building brick walls; before the invasion of the rebels, the walls of the said fortifications were made of bamboo. Also, the Governor recognized the request of Calvinist priests that the documents shall stay in Moatau.​

A replica of Fort Provintia​

November 1652:

In the Kingdom of Middag, Kamachat Maloe received the delegation sent by the Chinese Emperor to his court. The said delegtion, mostly government officials, who hailed from the capital Beijing, was amazed at the appearance of the royal court. As Zhu Xingzhin[4], the head of the delegation, remarked in his journal:

The court of the king was remarkable and breathtaking because I felt that we were in the capital...
...The king, dressed in yellow, was speaking to us in the official language, although he spoke with an accent; he said that some merchants from the north taught him to speak it. Immediately suspected that the merchants came from the northern coast of Nanzhili....

The delegation went to the capital to ask the king about giving a tribute to the Emperor in Beijing in exchange for economic and political relationship with China; if Kamachat Maloe accepted it, he'll choose emissaries to Beijing to meet the Emperor.​

December 1652- March 1653:

Isolated from the colonial administration in the south, Roman Catholic priests continued their work in evangelizing the Ketagalan and Kavalan people in the north. Meanwhile, Ryukyuans from neighboring islands began to settle in their lands, converting to Roman Catholicism and intermarrying with the two ethnic groups. At this time, the two languages were both written in hiragana, already introduced by the Ryukyuans a century ago, and Latin script.​

16 March 1653:

Worried by the Ryukyuan/Shimazu influence in the north of the island, Governor Nicolas Verburg issued an order, sending troops and officials to Keelung to reinforce Dutch colonial rule. This decree was his very last before his recall back to Batavia.​

NOTES:
[1] Another term for Min Nan-speaking people.
[2] In OTL, an insurrection.
[3] Fictional name.
[4] Fictional name.

 

[ramones1986]

The Timeline: Chapter 1

Early Years and Colonization

​

15-16 April 1653:

In the Kingdom of Middag, Kamachat Maloe chose twelve men to represent the nation before the Emperor in Beijing, a sign that the kingdom was now a tributary state of the Chinese Empire. The monarch presented the delegates deer hides, textiles, rice and deer cheese as his personal gifts to the Emperor.​

26 May 1653:

In Tayouan, emissaries sent by Ryukyu King Sho Shitsu met with Governor Cornelis Caesar in his office in Fort Zeelandia, the seat of the colonial administration. They were sent by the Ryukyuan monarch to tell the Governor that the intentions of the traders in northern Taiwan were still the same: exchanging goods and maintaining ties between the two places. For his part, Caesar told the delegates that he understood the ties that bind between the north and the islands. Their statements were translated by a Calvinist priest, who also served as their common interpreter.​

Sho Shitsu
King of Ryukyu​

1654-57:

The General History of the Kingdom of Middag was published. Written by a group of court historians led by Parahau Lematakan (Ji Rijian/槿日健)[1], the said book was actually a compilation of histories of each tribes, legends and myth, and chronicles of the kings of Middag. Written primarily in Classical Chinese, with some parts written in Phagspa, which were used to transcribe the tribal languages, written and compliling the book took three years to complete.​

July-November 1654:

Throughout the whole Siraya territory, Calvinist priests began to compile folktales and legends from every village, writing every detail of the stories with the help of their younger colleagues, mostly Sirayas. If their story gathering completed, they'll go to the town of Mattau to compile the tales and publish a book.​

An illustration of the Siraya people​

15 November 1654:

The book "El libro de los cuentos de los pueblos del la Isla Hermosa septentrional" was published in the town of Hoba[2]. Written and compiled by the Roman Catholic priests from their visits to Ketagalan and Kavalan villages, the said book was a compilation of folk tales and legends of the two ethnic groups; in this case, the tales were written in the original language in Latin script, provided with a Dutch and Spanish translation at the right page.​

8 January 1655:

After months of gathering and compiling folk tales and legends from every village in the Siraya territory, the Calvinist priests published a book entitled Het verhalenboek van de Siraya (The Siraya storybook). The said book contained the best of the Siraya folklore, printed in the original Siraya-language text accompanied by a translation in Dutch language.[3]​

NOTES:
[1] Invented name.
[2] OTL Keelung.
[3] Think of the Sinckan Manuscripts.

 

[ramones1986]

So far, I'm now approaching the end of the first chapter of this timeline. Don't forget to comment once I finished the events occurred in this era. Till then.

 

[ramones1986]

The Timeline: Chapter 1

Early Years and Colonization

​

18 May, 1657:

In Middag, Kamachat Maloe received a letter from its embassy in Beijing. The said letter, written in Classical Chinese, informed the monarch that the Qing Emperor was already grateful to receive such "exotic" gifts, especially deer hides and cheese made from deer milk. Aside from the gifts, the letter continued, he was amazed by the tales told by the Babuza members of the embassy, narrated in "the tongue spoken by the mandarins with an accent of the coast of Jiangbei province".​

26 June-3 July, 1657:

Ten families from the coast of Takau arrived in Lamay Island[1] to settle and form a community. Mostly traders and speaking Hoklo, they reinvigorated the island twenty-one years after the massacre of the island's first inhabitants by the Dutch colonial authorities. The survived members, mostly women and children, ended up as either as servants in Dutch homes in Fort Zeelandia or settled in the major settlements across the Siraya mainland, married into either Dutch soldiers stationed there or elder Siraya widowers.​

31 August-3 September, 1657:

Middag warriors fought Atayal headhunters after a series of attacks on Saisiyat villages. By using bows and arrows, as well as cannons, the warriors soundly defeated their highland tribe adversaries. According to the historians, more than three hundred Atayals had been killed in the battle in the central part of present-day Wufeng Town. The captured Atayal women were married subsequently to the Saisiyat, mostly middle-aged widowers and as concubines of the chiefs. As a result, the Saisiyat chiefs agreed that their villages will become a formal part of the kingdom, with a special task assigned to their warriors of protecting the border from the mountain tribes​

A modern-day Saisiyat couple of Nanzhuang County[2]​

October-December 1657:

Roman Catholic priests from the town of Hoba, mostly Jesuits and Dominicans, went to the Atayal territory nearby to convert much people as they can. For two months, they toured the villages in the coastal part of what is now Nan-ao Town in Heping County[3], translated the Bible and catechisms into their tongue using both the native and the Latin script, and taught Christian moral values. In return, some Atayal youths expressed their desire to become priests, a demand that the missionaries responded by establishing a seminary.​

February-May 1658:

In the eastern coast, Puyuma fishermen found an island called by their neighboring Amis as Sanasai[4]. There, yey encountered a very beautiful island, unexploited yet by any tribe or even foreign explorers. As they explored the island, they were accompanied by their families,thus they established communities there.​

NOTES:
[1] In OTL, Lamay Island is part of Pingtung County.
[2] OTL Nanzhang Township, Miaoli County and Wufeng Township, Hsinchu County
[3] OTL Nan-ao is part of Yilan County and Heping is part of Taichung.
[4] OTL Green Island.

 

[ramones1986]

Trivia: Clothing of the Taiwanese

The traditional Han Chinese clothing (Hanfu) has a profound influence on the way the Austronesian-speaking Taiwanese wear their clothes, especially in the Middag area. Instead of replacing the way their headhunting ancestors dress, they incorporated it into their designs and even combining it with Hanfu, especially the Saisiyat people.

 

[ramones1986]

The Timeline: Chapter 1

Early Years and Colonization

​

1659:

In Amoy[1], a man named He Bin (何斌) presented a map of Taiwan to Koxinga (Zheng Chenggong/鄭成功). Zheng, the leader of the Ming loyalists, felt the island was the perfect base for his operations; he's searching a suitable base after his defeat at the hands of the Qing troops in Nanjing, realizing that their power was too entrenched in the mainland.​

Zheng Chenggong
鄭成功​

March 1660:

In the Kingdom of Middag, new guns were introduced by the visiting military officers from Beijing to Kamachat Maloe and his royal court in the capital of the same name. However, courtesan rumors said that the guns that the Qing generals bought to the court were actually sold from the Ryukyuan traders in Canton, Hangzhou, Quanzhou and even from their home country itself.​

April-May 1660:

The warriors of the Kingdom of Middag were now equipped by firearms, as gunpowder were stocked in a closely-guarded sections of the garrisons across the nation, especially the Saisiyat troops who guarded the northeastern borders. At the same time, the visiting Qing generals, mostly Han Chinese, taught their counterparts military science.​

23-30 March, 1661:

Zheng Chenggong and his fleet saile from Kinmen. Composed of hundred junks and ships of various size, his fleet composed of estimated 25,000 soldiers and sailors, mostly came from Southern Fujian and Guangdong. The following day, they arrived in the Pescadores; within six days, Koxinga trained his soldier and built a garrison for the defense of the islands. After that, he and most of his fleet sailed to the east.​

2-4 April, 1661:

After three days, Cheng Zhenggong's fleet arrived in Tayouan, and after passing at a shallow waterway, landed at the bay, at Luermen. Immediately, they lay siege to Fort Provintia, surprised the colonial troops stationed there. For two days, Dutch and Siraya troops struggled to defend their positions and resist the bombardments of the Chinse pirate's troops. In the end, the commander of the fort, Valentyn, surrendered the fort to the invaders.​

5 April, 1661:

In Tayouan, Governor Frederick Coyett sent a message to all the soldiers stationed in the north to defend the forts of Zeelandia and Utrecht from the invading soldiers, led by pirate and Ming loyalist leader Cheng Zhenggong. In the said message, the governor reminded the soldiers to use the western coast to avoid being caught by the invaders.​

Frederick Coyett
Governor of Formosa​

6 April, 1661:

In the recaptured Fort Provintia, Cheng Zhenggong ordered some of his subordinates and their troops to lay siege to Fort Utrecht, the fortification that situated in the town of Takau and its port as they're preparing for the siege to Fort Provintia, the center of Dutch colonial government in the island.​

8-10 April,1661:

In the north of the island, flags of both Ryukyu Kingdom and Shimazu clan were raised in both forts of Santo Domingo and Santisima Trinidad as soldiers from the neighboring country arrived to replace the Dutch who went to the south. The soldiers presented a letter from the capital Naha to the Roman Catholic hierarchy in Hoba; it said that the Ryukyuans can take over the main fortifications in case of emergency.​

The flag of the Ryukyu Kingdom​

9-12 April,1661:

The Ming loyalist soldiers attacked Fort Utrecht near the town of Takau. Aided by the local Hoklo rebels, who were already wearied by the abuse they suffered from the lower government officials and soldiers, they fired cannons and guns at the walls of the said fortification. For three years, the Dutch garrison resisted too much to the outside pressure until the commander, Michiel Frederik van der Kamp[2] decided to surrender the fort and join their comrades in Fort Zeelandia.​

NOTES:
[1] Present-day Xiamen,China.
[2] Invented name.

 

[ramones1986]

Announcement

Regular updates will be resumed this weekend. Comments are very much welcome.

 

[ramones1986]

The Timeline: Chapter 1

Early Years and Colonization

​

15 April, 1661:

A ship from the northern part of the island arrived in Fort Utrecht. Originally sent to reinforce the defense of the fortification, the soldiers aboard were shocked when they found out that their colleagues surrendered to the rebels after a long resistance. Eventually, the soldiers who formerly defended Fort Utrecht joined the soldiers aboard on their way to Fort Zeelandia.​

17-18 April,1661:

The rebels were surprised when they found out that the locals of Takau already destroyed Fort Utrecht, claiming that the said fortification as a symbol of oppression and abuse of the Dutch and their Siraya collaborators. One of their leaders, Zhu Yaoxiang[1], sent a message to Zheng Chenggong about the said event and added that if they can use another fortification, Fort Antwerp[2], to serve as their headquarters. The said fort, build to protect the southern entrance of the port of Takau, was recently abandoned when the invasions occurred.​

19 April,1661:

In the Kingdom of Middag, the troops who defended the southern border were reinforced by receiving more of their colleagues from the rest of the country, including some members of the well-known Saisiyat Brigade. The kingdom was reinforcing their forces in its southern border due to the conflict between the Ming loyalists and the Dutch colonial authorities.​

20 April,1661:

In the northern part of the island, after the priests learned that the Shimazu clan never allowed the possible Ryukyuan annexation of the said area, they suggested through a letter that the area should be returned to Spanish rule. They explained that although the Dutch allowed them to practice their religion, they were actually practiced it privately. The Shimazu clan, the lord of the Ryukyuan Kingdom, rejected the annexation because they fear of a possible repercussion from the Shogun and bakufu in Edo.​

Shimazu mon​

22 April,1661:

In Fort Provintia, the headquarters of the Ming loyalists, Zheng Chenggong received the letter written by Zhu Yaoxiang, one of his subordinates, who was based in the town of Takau. The general responded that they can use the abandoned Fort Antwerp as their headquarters; he added that if the conflict ended, Fort Utrecht will be rebuilt.​

24 April,1661:

In the Qing capital of Beijing, the Emperor asked one of the members of the Ryukyuan embassy about the northern part of island of Formosa, considered at the moment as part of their kingdom. When he responded that the kingdom just assumed its responsibility of protecting the said area after the Dutch abandoned it, Emperor Kangxi said that he's interested on the island's north. The Ryukyuan Kingdom was also a vassal state of the Qing Empire.​

Kangxi Emperor​

26 April:

In Manila in the Philippines, the Governor-General responded to the letter sent by the priests stationed in the northern part of Formosa. Sabiniano Manrique de Lara said that he'll write to the Viceroy in the city of Mexico in New Spain if he'll be allowed to send additional troops to reconquer the said region. The island's north were under Spanish rule for sixteen years, in which Roman Catholicism became the dominant religion of the population, mostly Ketagalan and Kavalan peoples, as well as the Ryukyuans who intermarried with them.​

NOTES:
[1] Fictional name.
[2] Fictional port in OTL Kaohsiung.

 

[Emperor-of-New-Zealand]

I really don't know why this is getting much more attention. It might not be as large or detailed as other timelines, but it's certainly interesting!

 

[ramones1986]

I really don't know why this is getting much more attention. It might not be as large or detailed as other timelines, but it's certainly interesting!

Thanks for visiting my other TL.
I apologized if I rarely updated here due to the lack of proper time as I focused more on my Philippine TL, but I'll make sure that this TL will continue.

 

[ramones1986]

Announcement

As I wrote in this thread earlier, it's confirmed that this TL is now on hiatus. Nevertheless, the possibility of posting new updates on the future is still open, as well as possible collaboration with some of you guys.

Seeyah!