The Colonial 'Civilizing Process' in Dutch Formosa, 1624-1662

The island of Taiwan, named Formosa by the Portuguese, was first colonized by the Dutch East India Company in 1624. Chiu (history National Tsing Hua University, Hsinchu, Taiwan) has combed both Taiwanese and Dutch records to create a multifold history of the Dutch settlement, the native culture that it disrupted and the resultant changes to the island culture. The original inhabitants of Taiwan were Australasian, not Chinese, speaking several different languages and practicing a variety of local religions. Chiu examines the goals and administration of the Dutch which did not involve the destruction of Taiwanese culture but exploitation of natural resources and the use of the island as a base for the expansion of their Asian influence. However, the missionaries of the Dutch Reformed Church were strenuous in their efforts, so much so that traces of Christianity remained throughout the more than two hundred years of Chinese occupation. Chiu also stresses the ways in which the native Formosans processed the invasions and incorporated the Dutch experience into their corporate history. Modern companies doing business in Taiwan should make this required reading. Annotation c2009 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

H. H. Chiu (1967) is an Assistant Professor at the Institute of History, National Tsing Hua University, Hsinchu, Taiwan. She obtained her MA degree in Anthropology at National Taiwan University (NTU) and received her doctorate in History at Leiden University in 2007. Her main interests are historical and anthropological Austronesian studies.