Aboriginal Taiwan

How could we get a Taiwan that is not significantly settled by Han Chinese, and instead grows into an independent country with an indigenous majority and culture?
 
Oh, wow, that would be really cool. Sadly, it also seems like it would be pretty tough. Maybe have China stay perpetually in a Warring States type era, while some other culture preempts the Taiwanese Austronesians in the South Pacific, limiting their expansion options in that direction. Now, the Taiwanese have all of this sophisticated naval technology and nowhere to go with it...so they take off to Japan, and OTLs Austronesians become ATL Boronesians. Of course, in order to make Japan a decent colonization target, we'd also have to disrupt the Yayoi-era influx of Chinese and Korean technologies and agricultural practices. Hm...
 
How could we get a Taiwan that is not significantly settled by Han Chinese, and instead grows into an independent country with an indigenous majority and culture?

The Dutch conquer the whole island in the 17th and 18th century. China tries to drive them out but the Dutch fleet wins. The Chinese population on Formosa rises up against the Dutch and are crushed. The fighting is so bitter that most of the Chinese are killed or flee the island.

You may have 50 odd years of no Chinese immigrants. The aboriginal population is able to gain some power under the Dutch and are able to grow in numbers.

The island is taken by the British in the Napoleonic wars. But you need the Britsh to leave because they will bring in large numbers of Chinese workers for plantation work and construction. So you need to have the island returned to the Dutch after 1815.

The Chinese may retake the island but even if they do the Japanese will come in 1895 before the Chinese become too numerous. You get Japanese colonization but that ends in 1945. You could then have Formosa as an American trusteeship for about 10 years because delegates from Formosa would be able to convince the Americans that they are not Chinese.

You can then get an Aboriginal dominated independant Formosa. It will have a Chinese and Eurasian minority with some Indonesians and Japanese. It will be about 70% Christian some muslims and the rest various animistic faiths.
 
Oh, wow, that would be really cool. Sadly, it also seems like it would be pretty tough. Maybe have China stay perpetually in a Warring States type era, while some other culture preempts the Taiwanese Austronesians in the South Pacific, limiting their expansion options in that direction. Now, the Taiwanese have all of this sophisticated naval technology and nowhere to go with it...so they take off to Japan, and OTLs Austronesians become ATL Boronesians. Of course, in order to make Japan a decent colonization target, we'd also have to disrupt the Yayoi-era influx of Chinese and Korean technologies and agricultural practices. Hm...

Actually, the Taiwanese Aborigines need to adapt Confucianism like the people of the island of Manila did in OTL.

Please stop assuming that the people of the Island of Manila are like the Taiwanese Aborigines the people of the Island of Manila are in the same level of the Malays of Malacca in fact the people of the Island of Manila and the people of Sumatra had an ancient relationship majority of people who make TL's about or involves the Philippines don't know about this...

The Strategy of the Spanish in colonizing the Philippines was the same as the one employed in India..

I should know this because I am more knowledgeable about the history of the Philippines because I researched about the annals of China and Brunei about the my own country, the Philippines...
 
Last edited:
Actually, the Taiwanese Aborigines need to adapt Confucianism like the people of the island of Manila did in OTL.

Please stop assuming that the people of the Island of Manila are like the Taiwanese Aborigines the people of the Island of Manila are in the same level of the Malays of Malacca in fact the people of the Island of Manila and the people of Sumatra had an ancient relationship majority of people who make TL's about or involves the Philippines don't know about this...

The Strategy of the Spanish in colonizing the Philippines was the same as the one employed in India..

I should know this because I am more knowledgeable about the history of the Philippines because I am a Filipino...

Just coming from a country doesn't make you an expert in your country's history.
 
It just seems so odd to me that the entire Austronesian language family is believed by many scholars to have originated on Taiwan, and yet despite being "the original Austronesians" the Taiwanese representatives have been nearly drowned out in their home turf.

The Taiwanese Aborigines had all of the ingredients helpful for supporting large populations. They had several advantages that the Native Americans did not - metalworking, immunity to Eurasian diseases, and hundreds of years of outside contact with traders and explorers from elsewhere in the Far East being the significant ones. How did they get overtaken by the Han migrants so easily and so quickly?

I guess the Kingdom of Middag would be a good place to start for a native Taiwan.
 
I've been working on a timeline on this as I am part aboriginal and would like to see how history plays out with a non-Chinese Taiwan. I haven't gotten very far though. I have considered the Kingdom of Middag but there are very few English references and the wikipedia page does not have any sources.

The major issue with uniting the aborigines is the fact that there were almost thirty tribes, each with a different language and culture. Many of them were in constant war with each other as well. Devolved's idea of the Dutch providing a unifying force is very good, however, we then run into the second major problem. Taiwan was not fully "conquered" until the Japanese came with modern weapons and aircraft. The island is simply too mountainous to be able to control with 19th century technology. The Dutch could probably get a unified colony on the western plains and possibly, though unlikely, the eastern plains, but control over the mountains would be tenuous at best.

As for why they got taken over by Han migrants so quickly, the answer is that the plains tribes found it easier to merge with the migrants rather than face discrimination and increased taxes under the Qing. Han culture has a long history of eating any cultures it touches (for instance, the Manchus) and becoming the culture of the neighboring societies. Many plains tribe members adopted Han names. As a result, the population of Taiwan grew much faster than immigration from the mainland would provide. Many older Taiwanese families have ancestor records that simply do not extend back to China, as their lineage was the result of a aboriginal ancestor changing his name. One of the greatest myths implemented by the KMT is that the wave of Han Chinese simply pushed the aborigines into the mountains, where they became the current tribes. Not only does this completely marginalize the importance the plains tribes played in the history of Taiwan, but it also disregards the fact that populations in Fujian where most migrants originated did not suddenly suffer a decline when the Taiwanese population grew rapidly.

The Siraya tribe, which had the most dealings with outsiders, had very strict marriage and pregancy laws, resulting in a population much smaller than would be expected. I don't know if other tribes practiced this, but it would be an explanation for why the population was so low.Many of the tribes were/are also matriarchal, with the elder women deciding who marries who. The village matriarchs may well have decided that the strange foreigners with their shiny metal objects and nice clothes were more suitable for their daughters. Remember, most Chinese migrants were male. Once married into Han society, the children's ties to their maternal culture is essentially cut off.

Their technological knowledge was also not as developed as one would think: the most important objects taken during raids on Chinese settlements other than heads were metal implements which implies that either there was a lack of metal ore or that they simply didn't know how to smelt iron. Pa dutch is correct in that most of the ingredients for a much larger and influential culture were present on Taiwan.
 
Last edited:
Oh, wow, that would be really cool. Sadly, it also seems like it would be pretty tough. Maybe have China stay perpetually in a Warring States type era, while some other culture preempts the Taiwanese Austronesians in the South Pacific, limiting their expansion options in that direction. Now, the Taiwanese have all of this sophisticated naval technology and nowhere to go with it...so they take off to Japan, and OTLs Austronesians become ATL Boronesians. Of course, in order to make Japan a decent colonization target, we'd also have to disrupt the Yayoi-era influx of Chinese and Korean technologies and agricultural practices. Hm...
:confused:Why would it be tough? The Chinese didn't really start colonizing the place until after the Europeans arrived, so you don't need any kind of 'warring states' thing at all, you just need neglect of islands across the ocean to continue.

Spain, the Netherlands and Islam are all entirely possible mechanisms for a non-Chinese Taiwan.

I don't know enough about Middag to comment there.

An expansionist, rather than isolationist Japan after 1600 might have a chance, too.
 
The Dutch conquer the whole island in the 17th and 18th century. China tries to drive them out but the Dutch fleet wins. The Chinese population on Formosa rises up against the Dutch and are crushed. The fighting is so bitter that most of the Chinese are killed or flee the island.
What Chinese population?

As I understand it, the first significant Chinese immigrants were brought in by the Dutch.
 
Top