Lost Colony

September 5, 2011
Few readers probably know that the Dutch ruled Taiwan in the 17th century. Andrade, associate professor of history at Emory University (How Taiwan Became Chinese: Dutch, Spanish, and Han Colonization in the Seventeenth Century), delivers a lively history of an occupation that ended after the greatest war between European and Chinese forces until the Opium War of the 19th century. Although a backwater in 1624 when the Dutch arrived, Taiwan had become a prosperous commercial center by the time China’s Ming dynasty fell in 1644. Defeated by the new Manchu rulers, Koxinga, a Chinese general and Ming loyalist, turned his attention to the island. Andrade, having discovered a number of original documents, concentrates on Koxinga’s successful 1661 invasion. The result is a surprisingly detailed history of a brutal campaign in which the author repeatedly emphasizes that Koxinga (and Chinese leaders before him) had studied and adopted Western military advances. In this original and illuminating account, Andrade thus casts doubt on the traditional view that Europe surged to global dominance after 1500 because Asian nations ignored its superior organization and technology. Illus.; maps.

September 1, 2011

In this page-turning historical narrative, Andrade (history, Emory Univ.; How Taiwan Became Chinese) chronicles the 1661-62 battle for Taiwan in what is often seen as the first modern conflict between an Eastern and Western power. While historians have traditionally viewed Europeans then as more advanced in science, technology, and political infrastructures than their Eastern counterparts, Andrade reveals that Chinese warfare tactics based on ancient texts and military philosophy, built up over a millennia of a rich cultural heritage, actually allowed for the enigmatic leader Koxinga and his Chinese generals to neutralize any European superiority in weaponry and defeat the Dutch and thus the Dutch East India Company's hold on Taiwan. Although the Dutch had created the world's most dynamic colonial empire, even outcompeting the rival British, Spanish, and Portuguese at the time, their defeat on Taiwan tells a story of the relative strengths and weaknesses of European and Chinese military techniques, offering a new perspective on long-held assumptions about Western colonialism in Asia and the volatile nature of war. VERDICT For the global and military history enthusiast, this book is exceptionally insightful about the early-modern history of European contact in Asia.--Allan Cho, Univ. of British Columbia Lib., Vancouver

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