Tracing Dutch footprints, Vol 2

Dutch traders built Fort Anping then known as Fort Zeelandia

Tags: Dutch Exploration Genealogy HistoryFormer Dutch parliamentarian and cabinet minister Embert van Middelkoop taught the Dutch Second Chamber an important history lesson when he urged them to consider how Dutch colonial history was viewed by many abroad as a positive interaction between the merchandisers from the Lowlands and the indigenous people they traded with. In addition to cannons and fire arms, Dutch merchant ships were also equipped with goose-quill pens and journals to record the observations of scientists and secretaries. Centuries later, Dutch archives are storehouses -in 17th century Dutch prose- of history and knowledge waiting to be explored by researchers. Included is the story of pre-Chinese Taiwan and its interaction with the Dutch trading giant VOC which built forts on the island. To trace Dutch footprints on Taiwan, the place to start would a visit to Fort Zeelandia. In 1624, the United East Indisch Company (VOC) settled there to build a number of strategic forts from where they controlled access to China and Japan for the next 38 years. Fort Zeelandia is now also known as Fort Anping and has been restored to former glory in recent decades.