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Taiwan: Taiwan Aboriginal
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Taiwan's aboriginal peoples, who originated in Austronesia and southern Asia, have lived on Taiwan for 12,000 to 15,000 years. Significant migration to Taiwan from the Chinese mainland began as early as A.D. 500. Dutch traders first claimed the island in 1624 as a base for Dutch commerce with Japan and the China coast. Two years later, the Spanish established a settlement on the northwest coast of Taiwan, which they occupied until 1642 when they were driven out by the Dutch. Dutch colonists administered the island and its predominantly aboriginal population until 1661. The first major influx of migrants from the Chinese mainland came during the Dutch period, sparked by the political and economic chaos on the China coast during the Manchu invasion and the end of the Ming Dynasty.
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Biopiracy against Taiwan's Aboriginal Peoples Taiwan's Aboriginal Peoples are now becoming a target of biopiracy. Capitalism's latest tools for exploitation of indigenous peoples are the high tech tools of biotechnology. Taiwan's Aboriginal Peoples are a 'prime genetic resource' for these pirates in lab coats.
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Taiwan's aboriginal inhabitants arrived in around 1500BC, apparently from the Pacific islands. Chinese settlement began in the 12th century but not in any numbers until the 17th. Many of the Chinese immigrants were from Fujian province, which is just across the straits from Taiwan and whose Min-Nan dialect became what is known as Taiwanese (a dialect of spoken Chinese). The first Europeans to visit were the Portuguese, in 1517, who called Taiwan 'Formosa' (beautiful island). Later, the Spanish and Dutch contested control of the island until the Dutch expelled the Spanish in 1641. The Ming Dynasty loyalist, Cheng Cheng-kung (... known as Koxinga) expelled the Dutch in 1662.
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Taiwan has been populated for thousands of years by more than a dozen aboriginal tribes. Written history begins with the partial colonization of Taiwan by the Dutch and then the Spaniards in the early 17th century. (The old name of Taiwan, Formosa, comes from the Portuguese Ilha Formosa for "beautiful island".) Han Chinese immigrants who had trickled in since the end of the Yuan dynasty (1300s) arrived in larger numbers during the domestic turmoil surrounding the decline of the Ming Dynasty. Although controlled by the Dutch, the Ming loyalist Koxinga defeated the Dutch garrisons and set up Taiwan as a rump Ming Empire with the hope of reconquering Qing China. His son surrendered to the Qing in the late 1600s. Although contact between China and Taiwan dates back thousands of years, it was not until larger numbers of Han residents arrived during the Ming and Qing dynasties that Taiwan was formally integrated into China as part of Fujian province.
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Rich with culture and history, Taiwan (formerly called Formosa by Portuguese colonists) offers an incomparable east-meets-west setting. Here, Chinese, Taiwanese and aboriginal cultures blend with a hyperactive consumer's society and an intense curiosity towards foreign values and lifestyles. This, along with Taiwan's economic miracle and island-wide demand for better English education, provides a unique setting for visitors seeking a first-hand experience of Asia.
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Taiwan's people reflect the complex history of the island. The earliest inhabitants were various aboriginal tribes that migrated to Taiwan from Southeast Asia several thousand years ago. These peoples practiced hunting and gathering and shifting cultivation. Today, about 250,000 aborigines live on the island, most of them in the mountainous interior.
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