Editing Dutch Formosa (section)

==History==
[[File:Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie spiegelretourschip Amsterdam replica.jpg|thumb|Replica of an [[East Indiaman]] of the [[Dutch East India Company]]/[[United East Indies Company]] (VOC).]]

===Background===
{{main|Sino–Dutch conflicts|Dutch–Portuguese War}}
[[File:Dutch-pescadores.png|thumb|upright=1.5|Dutch map of the [[Pescadores]] from circa 1726.]]
The [[Dutch Republic]] and [[Kingdom of England|England]] came, at the beginning of the 17th century, inevitably in conflict with the forces of [[Habsburg Spain|Spain]] and [[Kingdom of Portugal|Portugal]], in various parts of the world, as they further expanded their area of naval expeditions outside of Europe. In addition to the commercial conflict, the Dutch (and English) had also broken with the Roman Catholic Church in the 16th century, unlike the staunchly-Catholic Iberian powers. The Dutch also [[Eighty Years' War|fought Spain from the 1560s through the 1640s]] for formal recognition of their independence and the integrity of their territory in Europe.

The Dutch first attempted to trade with China in 1601{{sfnb|Ts'ao|2006|p=28}} but were rebuffed by the Chinese authorities, who were already engaged in trade with the Portuguese at [[Portuguese Macau|Macau]] from 1535.

In a 1604 expedition from [[Batavia, Dutch East Indies|Batavia]] (the central base of the Dutch in Asia), Admiral Wybrand van Warwijk set out to attack Macau, but his force was waylaid by a [[typhoon]], driving them to the [[Pescadores]] ([[Penghu]]), a group of islands {{convert|30|mi|km|sigfig=1}} west of Formosa (Taiwan). Once there, the admiral attempted to negotiate trade terms with the Chinese on the mainland, but was asked to pay an exorbitant fee for the privilege of an interview. Surrounded by a vastly superior Chinese fleet, he left without achieving any of his aims.{{sfnb|Davidson|1903|p=10}}<ref>{{cite news |author1=Han Cheung |title=Taiwan in Time: When the Dutch were twice kicked out of Penghu |url=https://www.taipeitimes.com/News/feat/archives/2022/07/31/2003782707 |access-date=31 July 2022 |work=Taipei Times |date=31 July 2022 |archive-date=July 30, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220730195831/https://www.taipeitimes.com/News/feat/archives/2022/07/31/2003782707 |url-status=live }}</ref>

The Dutch East India Company tried to use military force to make China open up a port in Fujian to trade and demanded that China expel the Portuguese, whom the Dutch were fighting in the [[Dutch–Portuguese War]], from Macau. The Dutch raided Chinese shipping after 1618 and took junks hostage in an unsuccessful attempt to get China to meet their demands.{{sfnb|Cooper|1979|p=658}}{{sfnb|Freeman|2003|p=132}}{{sfnb|Thomson|1996|p=39}}

In 1622, after another unsuccessful [[Battle of Macau|Dutch attack on Macau]] ([[trade post]] of [[Portugal]] from 1557) and the failure to set up a trading post in Fat Tong O (present day [[Hong Kong]]), the fleet sailed to the Pescadores, this time intentionally, and proceeded to set up a base there at [[Makung]] to disrupt trade with Manila. They built a [[Fengguiwei Fort|fort]] with [[forced labour]] recruited from the local Chinese population. Their oversight was reportedly so severe and rations so short that 1,300 of the 1,500 Chinese enslaved died in the process of construction.{{sfnb|Davidson|1903|p=11}}

The Dutch threatened Ming China with raids on Chinese ports and shipping unless the Chinese allowed trading on the Pescadores or Taiwan. They declared that merchants would be given Dutch passes for trips to Batavia and maybe Siam and Cambodia, but not to Manila, which would be subject to seizure by the Dutch.{{sfnb|Twitchett|Mote|1998|p=368}} They demanded that the Ming open up ports in Fujian (Fukien) to Dutch trade, which the Chinese refused. The governor of Fujian, Shang Zhouzuo, proposed that the Dutch leave the Pescadores in favor of Formosa, where the Chinese would then authorize them to engage in trade. This led to a series of clashes between the Dutch and China from 1622 to 1624.{{sfnb|Covell|1998|p=70}}{{sfnb|Wright|1908|p=817}} After Shang's proposal on 19 September 1622, the Dutch raided Amoy in October and November.{{sfnb|Twitchett|Mote|1998|p=368}} The Dutch intended to "induce the Chinese to trade by force or from fear." by raiding Fujian and Chinese shipping from the Pescadores.{{sfnb|Shepherd|1993|p=49}} Long artillery batteries were erected at Amoy in March 1622 by Colonel Li-kung-hwa as a defence against the Dutch.{{sfnb|Hughes|1872|p=25}} Although the Dutch officers on site realized that the Ming would not be bullied into trading with them, the command in Batavia were slow to catch on, as they commanded repeated violence against the Chinese with whom they intended to trade.{{sfnb|Twitchett|Mote|1998|p=368}}

On the Dutch attempt in 1623 to force China to open up a port, five Dutch ships were sent to [[Liu'ao, Zhangpu County|Liu-ao]] and the mission ended in failure for the Dutch, with a number of Dutch sailors taken prisoner and one of their ships lost. In response to the Dutch using captured Chinese for forced labor and strengthening their garrison in the Pescadores with five more ships in addition to the six already there, the new governor of Fujian, Nan Juyi, was permitted by China to begin preparations to attack the Dutch forces in July 1623. A Dutch raid was defeated by the Chinese at Amoy in October 1623, with the Chinese taking the Dutch commander Christian Francs prisoner and burning one of the four Dutch ships. [[Yu Zigao]] began an offensive in February 1624 with warships and troops against the Dutch in the Pescadores with the intent of expelling them.{{sfnb|Goodrich|Fang|1976|p=1086}} The Chinese offensive reached the Dutch fort on 30 July 1624, with 5,000 Chinese troops (or 10,000) and 40-50 warships under Yu and General [[Wang Mengxiong]] surrounding the fort commanded by [[Martinus Sonck|Marten Sonck]], and the Dutch were forced to sue for peace on 3 August and folded before the Chinese demands, withdrawing from the Pescadores to Formosa. The Dutch admitted that their attempt at military force to coerce China into trading with them had failed with their defeat in the Pescadores. At the Chinese victory celebrations over the "red-haired barbarians," as the Dutch were called by the Chinese, Nan Juyi paraded twelve Dutch soldiers who were captured before the Emperor in Beijing.{{sfnb|Goodrich|Fang|1976|p=1087}}{{sfnb|Twitchett|Mote|1998|p=369}}{{sfnb|Deng|1999|p=191}}{{sfnb|Parker|1917|p=92}} The Dutch were astonished that their violence did not intimidate the Chinese and at the subsequent Chinese attack on their fort in the Pescadores, since they thought them as timid and a "faint-hearted troupe," based on their experience with them in Southeast Asia.{{sfnb|Idema|1981|p=93}}

=== Colonization ===
{{main|Lamey Island Massacre|Dutch pacification campaign on Formosa}}
When the Dutch arrived in Taiwan, they found the southwest already frequented by a mostly transient Chinese population numbering close to 1,500.{{sfnp|Andrade|2008|loc=chapter 6, note 5}} On deciding to set up in Taiwan and in common with standard practice at the time, the Dutch built a defensive fort to act as a base of operations. This was built on the sandy peninsula of ''Taoyuan''{{sfnp|Valentijn|1903|p=52|ps=: quoting [[Pieter Nuyts|Nuyts, Pieter]] (10 February 1629)}} (now part of mainland Taiwan, in current-day [[Anping District]]). This temporary fort was replaced four years later by the more substantial [[Fort Zeelandia (Taiwan)|Fort Zeelandia]].{{sfnp|Davidson|1903|p=13}} By 1626 there were 404 soldiers and 46 artillery specialists manning the fort. According to Salvador Diaz, a Portuguese man working with Chinese pirates to undermine the Dutch presence in favor of the Portuguese, there were only 320 Dutch soldiers and they were "short, miserable, and very dirty."{{sfn|Andrade|2008b}}

In 1624, the Dutch ship ''Golden Lion'' (Dutch: ''Gouden Leeuw'') crashed into the coral reefs of [[Hsiao Liuchiu|Lamey]] and its crew was killed by the natives. In 1631, another ship wrecked on the reefs and its survivors were also killed by the inhabitants of Liuqiu Island.{{sfn|Blussé|2000|p=144–145}} In 1633, an expedition consisting of 250 Dutch soldiers, 40 Chinese pirates, and 250 Taiwanese natives were sent against Liuqiu Island but met with little success.{{sfn|Blussé|2000}}

The Dutch allied with Sinkan, a small village that provided them with firewood, venison and fish.{{sfnp|van Veen|2003|p=142}} In 1625, they bought a piece of land from the Sinkanders and built the town of [[Fort Provintia|Sakam]] for Dutch and Chinese merchants.{{sfnp|Shepherd|1993|p=37}} Initially the other villages maintained peace with the Dutch but a series of events from 1625 to 1629 eroded this peace. In 1625, the Dutch attacked 170 Chinese pirates in Wankan but were driven off, damaging their reputation. Encouraged by the Dutch failure, Mattau warriors raided Sinkan, believing that the Dutch could not defend them. The Dutch returned with their ships and drove off the pirates later, restoring their reputation. Mattau was then forced to return the property stolen from Sinkan and make reparation. The people of Sinkan then attacked Mattau and Baccluan before seeking the Dutch for protection. Feeling that the Dutch could not sufficiently protect them, the people of Sinkan went to Japan for protection. In 1629, [[Pieter Nuyts]] visited Sinkan with 60 musketeers. After leaving the next morning, the musketeers were killed in an ambush by Mattau and Soulang warriors while crossing a stream. Nuyts avoided the ambush since he left the evening prior.{{sfn|Andrade|2008b}}

On 23 November 1629, an expedition set out and burned most of Baccluan, killing many of its people, who the Dutch believed harbored proponents of the previous massacre. Baccluan, Mattau, and Soulang people continued to harass company employees in the following years. This changed in late 1633 when Mattau and Soulang went to war with each other. Mattau won the fight but the Dutch were able to exploit the division.{{sfn|Andrade|2008b}}

In 1634, Batavia sent reinforcements. In 1635, 475 soldiers from Batavia arrived in Taiwan.{{sfnp|van Veen|2003|p=149}} By this point even Sinkan was on bad terms with the Dutch. Soldiers were sent into the village and arrested those who plotted rebellion. In the winter of 1635 the Dutch defeated Mattau, who had been troubling them since 1623. Baccluan, north of the town of Sakam, was also defeated. In 1636, a large expedition was sent against Liuqiu Island. The Dutch and their allies chased about 300 inhabitants into caves, sealed the entrances, and killed them with poisonous fumes over eight days. The native population of 1100 was removed from the island.{{sfnp|Blussé|Everts|2000}} They were enslaved with the men sent to Batavia while the women and children became servants and wives for the Dutch officers. The Dutch planned to depopulate the outlying islands while working closely with allied natives.{{sfnp|Everts|2000|pp=151–155}} The villages of Taccariang, Soulang, and Tevorang were also pacified.{{sfn|Andrade|2008b}} In 1642, the Dutch massacred the people of Liuqiu island again.<ref name=LeeYuchung>{{cite web |last=Lee |first=Yuchung |title=荷西時期總論 (Dutch and Spanish period of Taiwan) |url=http://taiwanpedia.culture.tw/en/content?ID=1214 |publisher=Council for Cultural Affairs |access-date=29 September 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131203002944/http://taiwanpedia.culture.tw/en/content?ID=1214 |archive-date=3 December 2013 |df=mdy-all}}</ref>

Some Dutch [[missionaries]] were killed by aboriginals whom they had tried to convert: "The catechist, Daniel Hendrickx, whose name has been often mentioned, accompanied this expedition to the south, as his great knowledge of the Formosa language and his familiar intercourse with the natives, rendered his services very valuable. On reaching the island of Pangsuy, he ventured—perhaps with overweening confidence in himself— too far away from the others, and was suddenly surrounded by a great number of armed natives, who, after killing him, carried away in triumph his head, arms, legs, and other members, even his entrails, leaving the mutilated trunk behind."<ref>{{cite book |title=An account of missionary success in the island of Formosa: translated from the original Dutch version by Caspar Sibelius, published in London in 1650 and now reprinted with copious appendices |volume=1 |year=1889 |first=William |last=Campbell |author-link=William Campbell (missionary) |publisher=Trübner & Co |location=London |pages=[https://archive.org/details/anaccountofmissi01campuoft/page/197 197]–198 |url=https://archive.org/details/anaccountofmissi01campuoft |access-date=June 15, 2023 |ol=25396942M |oclc=607710307 |quote=20 November. – The catechist, Daniel Hendrickx, whose name has been often mentioned, accompanied this expedition to the south, as his great knowledge of the Formosa language and his familiar intercourse with the natives, rendered his services very valuable. On reaching the island of Pangsuy, he ventured—perhaps with overweening confidence in himself— too far away from the others, and was suddenly surrounded by a great number of armed natives, who, after killing him, carried away in triumph his head, arms, legs, and other members, even his entrails, leaving the mutilated trunk behind.}}</ref>

===Japanese trade===
[[File:Capture of Nuyts by the Japanese in 1629.jpg|thumb|Capture of [[Pieter Nuyts]]]]
The Japanese had been trading for Chinese products in Taiwan since before the Dutch arrived in 1624. In 1593, [[Toyotomi Hideyoshi]] planned to incorporate Taiwan into his empire and sent an envoy with a letter demanding tribute. The letter was never delivered since there was no authority to receive it. In 1609, the [[Tokugawa shogunate]] sent [[Harunobu Arima]] on an exploratory mission of the island.{{sfnp|Wills|2006}} In 1616, [[Nagasaki, Nagasaki|Nagasaki]] official [[Murayama Tōan]] sent 13 vessels to conquer Taiwan. The fleet was dispersed by a typhoon and the one junk that reached Taiwan was ambushed by headhunters, after which the expedition left and raided the Chinese coast instead.{{sfnp|Huang|2005|loc=Chapter 3}}<ref>{{cite book | title=Theories and Methods in Japanese Studies: Current State and Future Developments (Papers in Honor of Josef Kreiner) | editor-first=Hans Dieter | editor-last=Ölschleger | location=Göttingen | publisher=Bonn University Press via V&R Unipress | year=2007 | isbn=978-3-89971-355-8 | chapter=Recent Trends in Scholarship on the History of Ryukyu's Relations with China and Japan | chapter-url=http://www.personal.psu.edu/faculty/g/j/gjs4/Smits_bonn06_Revised.pdf | first=Gregory | last=Smits | pages=215–228 | access-date=July 6, 2023 | archive-date=March 2, 2012 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120302074408/http://www.personal.psu.edu/faculty/g/j/gjs4/Smits_bonn06_Revised.pdf | url-status=dead }}</ref>

In 1625, Batavia ordered the governor of Taiwan to prevent the Japanese from trading. The Chinese silk merchants refused to sell to the company because the Japanese paid more. The Dutch also restricted Japanese trade with the Ming dynasty. In response, the Japanese took on board 16 inhabitants from the aboriginal village of Sinkan and returned to Japan. Suetsugu Heizō Masanao housed the Sinkanders in Nagasaki. Batavia sent a man named [[Peter Nuyts]] to Japan where he learned about the Sinkanders. The shogun declined to meet the Dutch and gave the Sinkanders gifts. Nuyts arrived in Taiwan before the Sinkanders and refused to allow them to land before the Sinkanders were jailed and their gifts confiscated. The Japanese took Nuyts hostage and only released him in return for their safe passage back to Japan with 200 picols of silk as well as the Sinkanders' freedom and the return of their gifts.{{sfn|Andrade|2008b}} The Dutch blamed the Chinese for instigating the Sinkanders.{{sfn|Andrade|2008c}}

The Dutch dispatched a ship to repair relations with Japan but it was seized and its crew imprisoned upon arrival. The loss of the Japanese trade made the Taiwanese colony far less profitable and the authorities in Batavia considered abandoning it before the Council of Formosa urged them to keep it unless they wanted the Portuguese and Spanish to take over. In June 1630, Suetsugu died and his son, Masafusa, allowed the company officials to reestablish communication with the shogun. Nuyts was sent to Japan as a prisoner and remained there until 1636 when he returned to the Netherlands. After 1635, the shogun forbade Japanese from going abroad and eliminated the Japanese threat to the company. The VOC expanded into previous Japanese markets in Southeast Asia. In 1639, the shogun ended all contact with the Portuguese, the company's major silver trade competitor.{{sfn|Andrade|2008b}}

===Piracy (1620s-1630s)===
The Europeans worked with and also fought against Chinese pirates. The pirate Li Dan was the mediator between Ming Chinese forces and the Dutch at Penghu. In 1625, VOC officials learned that he had kept gifts they had entrusted him with giving to Chinese officials. His men also tried pillaging junks on their way to trade in Taiwan. One Salvador Diaz acted as the pirates' informant and gave them inside information on where junks leaving Tayouan could be captured. Diaz collected protection money as well. A Chinese merchant named Xu Xinsu complained to Dutch officials that he was forced to pay 2,000 taels to Diaz. Li Dan's son, Li Guozhu, also collected collection money, known as "water taxes". Chinese fishermen paid 10 percent of their catch for a document guaranteeing their safety from pirates. This caused the VOC to also enter the protection business. They sent three junks to patrol a fishing fleet charging the same fee as the pirates, 10 percent of the catch. This was one of the first taxes the company levied on the colony.{{sfn|Andrade|2008b}}

In July 1626, the Council of Formosa ordered all Chinese individuals living or trading in Taiwan to obtain a license to "distinguish the pirates from the traders and workers".{{sfn|Andrade|2008b}} This residence permit eventually became a head tax and major source of income for the Dutch.{{sfn|Andrade|2008b}}

After Li Dan died in 1625, [[Zheng Zhilong]] became the new pirate chief. The Dutch allowed him to pillage under their flag. In 1626, he sold a large junk to the company, and on another occasion he delivered nine captured junks as well as their cargos worth more than 20,000 taels. Chinese officials asked the Dutch for help against Zheng in return for trading rights. Company officials were told that if they refused their help, their main Chinese trading partner, Xu Xinsu, would no longer be permitted to trade with the company but would instead "be destroyed along with his entire family." The company agreed and the Dutch lieutenant governor visited the officials in Fujian to inform them that the Dutch would drive Zheng from the coast. However, the Dutch were too late, and Zheng attacked the city of Xiamen, destroying hundreds of junks and setting fire to buildings and houses. Considering Zheng too strong to fight, in 1628 the Chinese authorities awarded him with an official title and imperial rank to appease him. Zheng became the "Patrolling Admiral" responsible for clearing the coast of pirates. He used his official position to destroy his competitors and established himself in the port of Yuegang. In October 1628, Zheng agreed to supply silks, sugar, ginger, and other goods to the company in return for silver and spices at a fixed rate. Then the Dutch got angry at Zheng, who they were convinced was trying to monopolize trade to Taiwan. His promised "disappeared into smoke".{{sfn|Andrade|2008b}} In the summer of 1633, a Dutch fleet and the pirate Liu Xiang carried out a successful [[Battle of Liaoluo Bay#Dutch surprise attack|sneak attack]] on Zheng's fleet. Zheng believed that he and the Dutch were on good terms and was caught off guard; his fleet was destroyed.{{sfn|Andrade|2008b}}

Zheng immediately began preparing a new fleet. On 22 October 1633, the Zheng forces lured the Dutch fleet and their pirate allies into an ambush and [[Battle of Liaoluo Bay#Chinese counterattack|defeated them]].{{sfn|Wong|2017|p=50}}{{sfn|Onnekink|2019|p=79}} The Dutch reconciled with Zheng, who offered them favorable terms, and he arranged for more Chinese trade in Taiwan. The Dutch believed this was because of Chinese fears of piracy. The pirate Liu Xiang still fought against Zheng, and when the Dutch refused to help him, Liu captured a Dutch junk and used its 30-man crew as human shields. Liu attacked Fort Zeelandia but some Chinese residents warned the company and they fought off the pirates without any trouble. In 1637, Liu was defeated by Zheng, who established primacy over the Fujianese trading world. He continued to have a hand in the affairs of Taiwan and aided the growth of the Chinese population there. He made plans with a Chinese official to relocate drought victims to Taiwan and to provide each person three silver taels and an ox for every three people. The plan was never carried out.{{sfn|Andrade|2008b}}

===Pax Hollandica and the ousting of the Spanish (1636–1642)===
{{see also|Spanish Formosa}}

Following the pacification campaigns of 1635–1636, more and more villages came to the Dutch to swear allegiance, sometimes out of fear of Dutch military action, and sometimes for the benefits which Dutch protection could bring (food and security). These villages stretched from [[Hengchun|Longkiau]] in the south (125&nbsp;km from the Dutch base at [[Fort Zeelandia (Taiwan)|Fort Zeelandia]]) to [[Huwei|Favorlang]] in central Taiwan, 90&nbsp;km to the north of Fort Zeelandia. The relative calm of this period has been called the ''Pax Hollandica'' (Dutch Peace) by some commentators{{sfnb|Andrade|2008|loc=chapter 3}} (a reference to the [[Pax Romana]]).

One area not under their control was the north of the island, which from 1626 had been under Spanish sway, with their two settlements at [[Danshui|Tamsui]] and [[Keelung]]. The fortification at Keelung was abandoned because the Spanish lacked the resources to maintain it, but [[Fort Santo Domingo]] in Tamsui was seen as a major obstacle to Dutch ambitions on the island and the region in general.

After failing to drive out the Spanish in 1641, the Dutch returned in 1642 with reinforcements of Dutch soldiers and aboriginal warriors in ships, managing to dislodge the small Spanish-Filipino contingent from their fortress and drive them from the island. Following this victory, the Dutch set about bringing the northern villages under their banner in a similar way to the pacification campaign carried out in the previous decade in the south.

=== Guo Huaiyi rebellion (1652)===
{{main|Guo Huaiyi rebellion}}

In 1644 a Manchu army entered Beijing, setting off nearly forty years of civil war in China. This greatly upset the profitable silk trade between China, Formosa and Japan, causing the Dutch to implement new taxes in order to recoup lost profits. Some of the tolls were to be collected by the same people that helped establish the colony; Chinese entrepreneurs, to whom the Dutch sold the rights to collect certain taxes. An exception to this was ''hoofdgeld'', a residency tax of a quarter real for the Chinese settlers, now estimated at 10% of a laborer's monthly take-home pay. Despite this being lower than the traditional Chinese tax rate of 12%, other conditions on the frontier might have made the burden unbearable for some. The residency tax also came with a residency permit called ''hoofdbrief'', which the Chinese were required to hold and show to any Dutchman who asked. This system was widely abused by company soldiers, demanding to see documents as an excuse to extort money. The governor-general in Batavia himself wrote a letter to Taiwan about the issue, saying: ''"It is no good policy to treat so badly [China], which has come over to us through lack of a better alternative."'' Despite some efforts to mitigate the ''hoofdbrief'' abuse, tensions continued to rise.{{sfn|Andrade|2008h}}

In 1644, a pirate named Kinwang who had been sacking aboriginal villages in Formosa since the previous year, stranded in the Bay of Lonkjauw and the natives captured him, handing him over to the Dutch. Kinwang had proclaimed his rule over the northern parts of the island, as an opposing force to the Dutch in the south. After his capture he was executed, and a document in his possession was found appealing to the Chinese of Formosa, promising to pay them richly and capitalizing on frustrations of Dutch taxes and their restrictions on trading and hunting. The document said the pirates would protect them and kill any natives who sought to harm them.{{sfn|Andrade|2008h}}

The Dutch began to encourage large-scale Han [[immigration]] to the island, mainly from the south of [[Fujian]]. Most of the immigrants were young single males who were discouraged from staying on the island, often referred to by Han as "The Gate of Hell" for its reputation in taking the lives of sailors and explorers.{{sfnb|Keliher|2003|p=32}} After one uprising by Hanin 1640, the [[Guo Huaiyi rebellion]] in 1652 saw an organised [[insurrection]] against the Dutch, fuelled by anger over punitive taxes and corrupt officials. The Dutch again put down the revolt hard, with fully 25% of those participating in the rebellion being killed over a period of a couple of weeks.{{sfnp|Andrade|2008|loc=chapter 9}}

On 7 September 1652, it was reported that a Chinese farmer, [[Guo Huaiyi]], had gathered an army of peasants armed with bamboo spears and harvest knives to attack Sakam. They attacked the next morning. Most of the Dutch were able to find refuge in the company's horse stables but others were captured and executed. A company of 120 Dutch soldiers shot at a peasant army 4,000 strong and scattered them. The Dutch told the natives that they would be rewarded with Indian textiles if they helped fight the Chinese. Over the next two days, native warriors and Dutch warriors killed around 500 Chinese, most of whom were hiding in the sugarcane fields. On 11 September, four or five thousand Chinese rebels clashed with the company soldiers and their native allies. After suffering two thousand casualties, the rebels fled south, only to be killed by a large force of natives. In total some 4,000 Chinese were killed and Guo Huaiyi's head was displayed on a stake.{{sfn|Andrade|2008h}}

Although easily put down, the rebellion and its ensuing massacre of Chinese destroyed the rural labor force since most of the rebels were farmers. Although the crops were fairly unharmed, the company could not obtain the required labor to harvest them, resulting in a below average harvest for 1653. However, thousands of Chinese migrated to Taiwan due to war on the mainland and a modest recovery of agriculture occurred the next year. Measures were taken to suppress the Chinese and anti-Chinese rhetoric increased. Natives were reminded to keep an eye on the Chinese and not to engage in unnecessary contact with them. The Dutch portrayed themselves as protectors of aboriginal land against Chinese encroachment. In terms of military preparations, little was done except to build a small thinly walled fort. The Dutch did not feel threatened because most of the rebels were agriculturalists while the rich Chinese had sided with the Dutch and warned them of the rebellion.{{sfn|Andrade|2008i}}

In May 1654, Fort Zeelandia was afflicted by a swarm of locusts, then a plague that killed thousands of natives, Dutch, and Chinese, and then an earthquake that destroyed homes and buildings with aftershocks lasting seven weeks.{{sfn|Andrade|2008j}}

===Aboriginal rebellions in other areas of Taiwan (1650s)===

Multiple aboriginal villages rebelled against the Dutch in the 1650s because of oppression, such as when the Dutch ordered aboriginal women for sex, deer pelts, and rice be given to them from aborigines in the Taipei basin in Wu-lao-wan village, which sparked a rebellion in December 1652 at the same time as the Chinese rebellion. Two Dutch translators were beheaded by the Wu-lao-wan aborigines, and in a subsequent fight 30 aboriginals and another two Dutch people died. After an embargo of salt and iron on Wu-lao-wan, the aboriginals were forced to sue for peace in February 1653.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=g3oWoSKVnVIC&pg=PA59 Shepherd1993], p. 59.</ref>

===Trade war (1650s)===
[[Zheng Chenggong]], known in Dutch sources as Koxinga, was born in [[Hirado]], Japan to the Fujianese pirate [[Zheng Zhilong]] and his Japanese wife. By 1640, Zhilong had become military commander of [[Fujian Province]]. Chenggong spent the first seven years of his life in Japan with his mother [[Tagawa Matsu]] and then went to school in Fujian, obtaining a county-level licentiate at the age of 15. Afterwards he studied at the Imperial Academy in [[Nanjing]]. When [[Jiashen Incident|Beijing fell]] in 1644 to rebels, Chenggong and his followers declared their loyalty to the [[Ming dynasty]] and he was bestowed the title Guoxingye (Lord of the Imperial surname), pronounced "Kok seng ia" in southern Fujianese. His father Zhilong aided the [[Zhu Yujian|Longwu Emperor]] in a military expedition in 1646, but Longwu was captured and executed. In November 1646, Zhilong declared his loyalty to the Qing. Chenggong continued the resistance against the Qing from [[Xiamen]]. In 1649, Chenggong gained control over [[Quanzhou]] but then lost it. In 1650 he planned a major offensive from [[Guangdong]] in conjunction with a Ming loyalist in [[Guangxi]]. The Qing deployed a large army to the area and Chenggong decided to ferry his army along the coast but a storm hindered his movements. The Qing launched a surprise attack on Xiamen, forcing him to return to protect it. From 1656 to 1658 he planned to take Nanjing. In the summer of 1658 he set sail but a storm turned him back. On July 7, 1659, Chenggong's fleet set sail again and his army encircled Nanjing on 24 August. Qing reinforcements arrived and broke Chenggong's army, forcing them to retreat to Xiamen. In 1660 the Qing embarked on a coastal evacuation policy to starve Chenggong of his source of livelihood.{{sfn|Andrade|2008j}}

Some of the rebels during the Guo Huaiyi rebellion had expected aid from Chenggong and some company officials believed that the rebellion had been incited by him. A Jesuit priest told the Dutch that Chenggong was looking at Taiwan as a new base of operations. In the spring of 1655 no silk junks arrived in Taiwan. Some company officials suspected that this was a plan by Chenggong to harm them. The company sent a junk to Penghu to see whether Chenggong was preparing forces there but they found nothing. In 1655, the governor of Taiwan received a letter from Chenggong insulting the Dutch and referring to the Chinese in Taiwan as his subjects. He commanded them to stop trading with the Spanish. Chenggong directly addressed the Chinese leaders in Taiwan rather than Dutch authorities, stating that he would withhold his junks from trading in Taiwan if the Dutch would not guarantee his junks safety from Dutch depredations in Southeast Asia. Chenggong had increased foreign trade by sending junks to various regions and Batavia was wary of this competition. Batavia sent a small fleet to Southeast Asian ports to intercept Chenggong's junks. One junk was captured but another junk managed to escape.{{sfn|Andrade|2008j}}

The Taiwanese trade slowed and for several months in late 1655 and early 1656 not a single Chinese vessel arrived in Tayouan. Even low-cost goods grew scarce and the value of aboriginal products fell. The system of selling Chinese merchants the right to trade in aboriginal villages fell apart as did many other revenue generating system. On 9 July 1656, a junk flying Chenggong's flag arrived at Fort Zeelandia. Chenggong wrote that he was angry with the Dutch but since Chinese people lived in Taiwan, he would allow them to trade on the Chinese coast for 100 days so long as only Taiwanese products were sold. Chinese merchants began leaving with their families. Chenggong made good on his edict and confiscated a Chinese junk from Tayouan trading pepper in Xiamen, causing Chinese merchants to abort their trade voyages. A Chinese official arrived in Tayouan carrying a document with Chenggong's seal demanding to inspect all the junks in Tayouan and their cargoes. Chinese merchants refused to buy the company's foreign wares and even sold their own foreign wares, causing prices to collapse.{{sfn|Andrade|2008j}}

Chinese merchants in aboriginal villages ran out of goods to trade for aboriginal products. Chinese farmers also suffered  due to the exodus of Chinese. They could not export their rice and sugar and their investments in fields and labor wasted away. By the end of 1656, Chinese farmers were asking for relief from debts and even requested help in the form of guaranteed prices. Many Chinese could barely find food for themselves. The Chinese sent presents and a letter to Chenggong urging him to reopen trade to Taiwan but no reply was received. The Dutch also sent letters to Chenggong through a Chinese intermediary named He Tingbin.{{sfn|Andrade|2008j}}

===Siege of Zeelandia and the end of Dutch government on Formosa (1660–1662)===
[[File:Koxinga Dutch Treaty.jpg|thumb|Peace Treaty of 1662, between [[Frederick Coyett|Governor Coyett]] and [[Koxinga]]]]{{main|Siege of Fort Zeelandia}}
A VOC employee, He Bin, fled to Zheng Chenggong and provided him with a map of Taiwan. On 23 March 1661, Zheng's fleet set sail from [[Kinmen]] with a fleet carrying around 25,000 soldiers and sailors. The fleet arrived at Tayouan on 2 April. Zheng's forces routed 240 Dutch soldiers at Baxemboy Island in the Bay of Taiwan and landed at the bay of ''Luermen''.{{sfnp|Clodfelter|2017|p=63}}{{sfnp|Campbell|1903|p=544}} Three Dutch ships attacked the Chinese junks and destroyed several until their main warship exploded. The remaining ships were unable to keep Zheng from controlling the waters around Taiwan.{{sfn|Andrade|2011a|p=138}}{{sfnp|Campbell|1903|p=[https://archive.org/details/cu31924023514403/page/n499/mode/2up 482]}}

On 4 April, Fort Provintia surrendered to Zheng forces. On 7 April, Zheng's army [[Siege of Fort Zeelandia|besieged Fort Zeelandia]].{{sfnp|Davidson|1903|p=38}} An assault on the fort failed and many of Zheng's best soldiers died, after which Zheng decided to starve out the defenders.{{sfn|Andrade|2016|p=216–219}} The company dispatched a fleet of 12 ships and 700 sailors to relieve the fort. The reinforcements met with bad weather and a shipwreck that had an entire crew captured by natives and sent to the Zheng camp. Fighting lasted from July to October when the Dutch ultimately failed to relieve the siege after losing several ships and retreated.{{sfn|Andrade|2011a|p=212}}{{sfnp|Andrade|2011a|pp=[https://books.google.com/books?id=6yzRscizpLMC&pg=PA221 221–222]}} In January 1662, a sergeant named Hans Jurgen Radis defected and informed the Zheng forces of a weakness in the defenses.{{sfnp|Andrade|2008k}} On 12 January, Zheng's ships initiated a bombardment and the Dutch surrendered. On 9 February the remaining company personnel in Fort Zeelandia left Taiwan.{{sfn|Andrade|2011a|p=294}} The Dutch held out at Keelung until 1668 when they withdrew from Taiwan completely.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Blussé |first1=Leonard |title=Pioneers or cattle for the slaughterhouse? A rejoinder to A.R.T. Kemasang |journal=Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde |date=1 January 1989 |volume=145 |issue=2 |page=357 |doi=10.1163/22134379-90003260|s2cid=57527820 }}</ref>{{sfn|Andrade|2016|p=207}}<ref>{{cite book |last1=Hang |first1=Xing |title=Conflict and Commerce in Maritime East Asia: The Zheng Family and the Shaping of the Modern World, c.1620–1720 |date=2016 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1316453841 |page=154 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tQ10CwAAQBAJ&pg=PA154}}</ref>

===Retaking of Keelung (1664–1668) and further hostilities===

After being ousted from Taiwan, the Dutch allied with the new [[Qing dynasty]] in China against the Zheng regime in Taiwan. Following some skirmishes the Dutch retook the northern fortress at [[Keelung]] in 1664.{{sfnb|Wills|2000|p=276}} [[Zheng Jing]] sent troops to dislodge the Dutch, but they were unsuccessful. The Dutch held out at Keelung until 1668, when aborigine resistance (likely incited by Zheng Jing),<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=g3oWoSKVnVIC&dq=pescadores+dutch+defeat&pg=PA95 Shepherd 1993] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230410193053/https://books.google.com/books?id=g3oWoSKVnVIC&dq=pescadores+dutch+defeat&pg=PA95 |date=April 10, 2023 }}, p. 95.</ref> and the lack of progress in retaking any other parts of the island persuaded the colonial authorities to abandon this final stronghold and withdraw from Taiwan altogether.{{sfnb|Wills|2000|pp=288-289}}<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Blussé|first1=Leonard|title=Pioneers or cattle for the slaughterhouse? A rejoinder to A.R.T. Kemasang|journal=Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde|date=1 January 1989|volume=145|issue=2|page=357|doi=10.1163/22134379-90003260|s2cid=57527820 }}</ref>{{sfnb|Wills|2010|p=71}}{{sfnb|Cook|2007|p=362}}{{sfnb|Li|2006|p=122}}

Keelung was a lucrative possession for the Dutch East India Company with 26% of the company's profits coming from their Taiwan operations in 1664.<ref>{{cite web |title=In the days of the Dutch |url=https://taiwantoday.tw/news.php?unit=20,20,29,35,35,45&post=25894 |website=taiwantoday.tw |date=March 1968 |publisher=Taiwan Today |access-date=4 March 2021 |archive-date=February 3, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210203040200/https://taiwantoday.tw/news.php?unit=20,20,29,35,35,45&post=25894 |url-status=live }}</ref>

Qing-Dutch forces attempted to invade Taiwan twice in December 1664. On both occasions Admiral Shi Lang turned back his ships due to adverse weather. Shi Lang tried to attack Taiwan again in 1666 but turned back due to a storm. The Dutch continued to attack Zheng ships from time to time, disrupting trade, and occupied [[Keelung]] until 1668, but they were unable to take back the island. On 10 September 1670, a representative from the English [[East India Company]] (EIC) signed a trade agreement with the Zheng regime.{{sfn|Wong|2017|p=113–114}}{{sfn|Wong|2017|p=138}} Despite this, trade with the EIC was limited due to the Zheng monopoly on sugarcane and deer hide as well as the inability of the English to match the price of East Asian goods for resale. Zheng trade was subject to the Qing sea ban policy throughout its existence, limiting trade with mainland China to smugglers.<ref name="Wills2006">{{cite book |title = Taiwan: A New History |editor-first = Murray A. |editor-last = Rubinstein |chapter = The Seventeenth-century Transformation: Taiwan under the Dutch and the Cheng Regime | first = John E. Jr. |last = Wills |publisher = M.E. Sharpe |year=2006 |isbn = 9780765614957 |pages = 84–106 }}</ref>

The Dutch looted relics and killed monks after attacking a Buddhist complex at Putuoshan on the Zhoushan islands in 1665.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Hang |first1=Xing |title=Conflict and Commerce in Maritime East Asia: The Zheng Family and the Shaping of the Modern World, c.1620–1720 |date=2016 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1316453841 |page=154 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tQ10CwAAQBAJ&pg=PA154 |access-date=May 26, 2019 |archive-date=April 10, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230410193120/https://books.google.com/books?id=tQ10CwAAQBAJ&pg=PA154 |url-status=live }}</ref>

In 1672, off northeastern Taiwan, Zheng Jing's ships captured, looted, and sank the Dutch fluyt ''Cuylenburg'', bound from Nagasaki to Batavia. Zheng's men executed 34 Dutch sailors and drowned eight others. Only 21 Dutch sailors escaped to Japan.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Hang |first1=Xing |title=Conflict and Commerce in Maritime East Asia: The Zheng Family and the Shaping of the Modern World, c.1620–1720 |date=2016 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1316453841 |page=190 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tQ10CwAAQBAJ&pg=PA190 |access-date=May 26, 2019 |archive-date=April 10, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230410193109/https://books.google.com/books?id=tQ10CwAAQBAJ&pg=PA190 |url-status=live }}</ref>