The Demise of Zeelandia

In the mid-16^th century European colonial missions were becoming commonplace on the Asian coast lines in an effort to secure profitable control of Asian trade routes (Spice Trade, 2015).  The drive was led by the Portuguese and Spanish, and later followed by the Dutch who joined the battle for territory.  The Dutch established the port of Batavia in 1619, which was to serve as the new headquarters of the Dutch East India Company; VOC (Fitzsimons, 2011).  In pursuing more territory, they tried unsuccessfully to take the established Spanish and Portuguese trading post at Macau (Oosterhoff, 1984). In retreat, they established a post on a small island sand bar named Tayouan on the south west island of Formosa (now Taiwan) subsequently establishing the Castle of Zeelandia in 1624.  J.L. Oosterhoff in his work Zeelandia, a Dutch Colonial City on Formosa (1624-1662) tells the story of the foundation and eventual demise of the VOC colony.  This paper will attempt to deconstruct the failures of Zeelandia whilst drawing comparison to the colonising methods of other “successful” colonies.

Figure 1: Fort Zeelandia [painting on parchment]. (1625 - 1660). Anonymous.  Retrieved from Atlas of Mutual Heritage, http://www.atlasofmutualheritage.nl/en/View-fort-Zeelandia.5657.

Most often colonial cities are grouped into two categories. The first type consists of an outside administration becoming established in an area that had no prior settlement.  Here, the colonizers most often outnumber existing populations.  An example of this is the British settlement of Australia.  The second type of colony is established by an outside administration in an existing settlement, often assuming a control of a geographically advantaged site with an ample supply of available labour (Knox & Marston, 2009).  The settlement of Formosa is somewhat of an anomaly.  It suits the first category in the sense that it was only sparsely populated by indigenous peoples and Chinese fisherman, allowing the Dutch to create the new colony ex nihilio, out of nothing.  However the Formosan settlement strays from this category in its sourcing of the ample supply of “poor laborious people” from the Chinese empire to serve its colony (Oosterhoff 1984, p.54).  Imported slave labour was not a novel idea in colonialism although African slaves of course were crucial to the colonization of the Americas (Bernstein, 2000).  Where the Formosan experience differs is that the Chinese labourers were not persuaded by force.  

It is important to distinguish that this colony was valuable to the Dutch primarily for its prime geographical location between Japan, China and the Philippines (Oosterhoff, 1984). Of course, the need for subsistence farming was a necessity on any colony, but it was only after early successes of sugar and rice crops that the Dutch saw the opportunity to cultivate the land for profit.  Working in association with Chinese businessmen, they posted signs to attract the Chinese, guaranteeing land for farming, payment for sugar and rice crops, and exemption from taxes for four years (Andrade, 2006).  The Chinese settled the island in great numbers, and a city was established next to the castle.  By 1648, over 20,000 Chinese residents lived on Formosa.  At first the Dutch worked with Chinese merchants to facilitate tax collection, but over time the traditional Chinese system of rural organization emerged and cabessas, men of wealth and authority, were appointed from within the farming community.  These cabessas were responsible for the welfare of their people as well as tax collection to be remitted to the Dutch.  The collection of real estate taxes, duties on fishing, rice and sugar, and poll taxes proved profitable to both the Chinese merchants and the Dutch, who amassed their profits with little direct involvement in the management of the land (Oosterhoff, 1984).  It is this Chinese organisation of people on Dutch controlled territory by which Tonio Andrade (2006) argues that Formosa developed a system of “cooperative colonisation”, a Chinese colony held under Dutch rule.

Leonard Blusée (1979, p.211) argues that the “mercantilist policy of the VOC emphasising agricultural development of export crops” led to significant demographic changes in Asia, yet it seems that on Formosa, the Chinese maintained their own sophisticated systems of agricultural management.  With the similarities in the grid plans of Chinese and Dutch towns, both on a chessboard pattern, it would be easy for the Dutch to wrongly assume that the Chinese had similar commercial motivations to themselves.  The Dutch espoused the grid plan as the most ideal form for growth and economic prosperity, and early explorations had revealed thriving commerce within the Chinese grid.  However the Dutch failed to observe the greater role of the Chinese grid as a tool of administrative and political regulation (Kostoff, 1991).
Unlike the Dutch cities where merchants had become the ruling class, the Chinese city was one of unwavering hierarchy focused on sovereign authority.  Trade and commerce were of little concern in the Chinese system, where merchants predominantly held low social rank and were strictly governed by the state (Kostoff, 1991; Oosterhoff, 1984).  The Dutch, in interpreting the commonalities in urban form, may have wrongly assumed a likeness in mercantile motivations of the Chinese people, based on their past knowledge and experiences.  As Kevin Lynch notes, “so various are the individual meanings of a city” (1960, p.9).

For some time the Dutch were under the misconception that they were heading a peaceful colony of obedient peoples (Strydom, 2003).  This is not to imply that there was no use of force or coercion to maintain this peace.  Early on, the local Aborigines had been subdued by military action.  The rule of the Dutch was further imposed on the native Formosans by missionary work and education, and the fabrication of rituals such which served to inflate and assert the Dutch authority.  Through this allegiance, the Dutch were also able to impose a divide between the Aborigines and the Chinese, in an effort to eliminate alliances.  The Dutch had few tools in place to control the Chinese and in 1652 they revolted.  The deaths of 3000 to 4000 Chinese, the colony was brought back under control, but the end of Dutch rule was imminent.  In 1661 when Chinese warrior Zheng Cheng-Zong of the Ming Dynasty came to overthrow Formosa he was strongly supported by the Chinese who had been so long repressed by the Dutch (Strydom, 2003).

Oosterhoff argues that the success of Zeelandia was in part to blame for its failure, and to this point I disagree.  If the colony of Zeelandia was successful, the Dutch would have asserted control over their colonized populations.  But rather than becoming a captive and submissive workforce, the Chinese maintained strong family relations, and an ongoing connection to their homeland.  In the end, the Dutch did not have sufficient military defence or control over their colonized people to prevent them from supporting an alternative ruler.

Reference List

Andrade, T. (2006). The Rise and Fall of Dutch Taiwan, 1624-1662: Cooperative

Colonization and the Statist Model of European Expansion. Journal of World History, 17(4), 429-450.

Bernstein, H. (2000). ‘Colonialism, capitalism, development’ in (Eds.) T. Allen & A.

Thomas, Poverty and Development into the 21st Century, Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Blusee, L. (1979). The Source Publications of the Daghregisters (Journals) of Zeelandia

Castle at Taiwan (Formosa) 1629 - 1662: An Interim Report. Cina 2, pp. 204-212.

Fitzsimons, P. (2011). Batavia: Betrayal, Shipwreck, Murder, Sexual Slavery, Courage: a

Spine-Chilling Chapter in Australian History. North Sydney, N.S.W.: William

Heinemann.

Fort Zeelandia [painting on parchment]. (1625 - 1660). Anonymous.  Retrieved from

Atlas of Mutual Heritage, http://www.atlasofmutualheritage.nl/en/View-fort-Zeelandia.5657.

Knox, P.L. & Marston S.A. (2009). Urbanisation. In P.L. Knox & S.A. Marston Human

Geography: Places and Regions in a Global Context (pp. 389-421). New Jersey:

Prentice Hall.

Kostoff, S. (1991). The Grid. In S. Kostoff, The City Shaped (pp. 95-123). London:

Thames and Hudson.

Oosterhoff, J.L. (1984). Zeelandia, a Dutch Colonial City on Formosa (1624 - 1662). In

R. R. Ross and G.J. Telkamp (eds) Colonial Cities Dordrecht (pp. 51 - 63). Netherlands: Springer.

Spice Trade. Encyclopaedia Britannica. (2015). Retrieved from

http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/559803/spice-trade.

Strydom, M. (2003). Pride and Prejudice: The Role of Policy and Perception Creation in

the Chinese Revolt of 1652 on Dutch Formosa. Itinerario, 27(2), 17-36.