1.
Dutch Empire
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The Dutch Empire comprised the overseas colonies, enclaves, and outposts controlled and administered by Dutch chartered companies and subsequently, the Dutch Republic and the modern Netherlands. This was reflective of the fact that the network of the Dutch Empire was commercial exchange as opposed to sovereignty over a homogeneous landmass. The companies brief domination of global commerce contributed greatly to a commercial revolution, in their search for new trade passages between Asia and Europe Dutch navigators explored and charted vast regions such as New Zealand, Tasmania, and parts of the eastern coast of North America. Shortly after reaching its zenith, the Dutch Empire began to decline as a result of the Anglo-Dutch Wars, in which it lost many of its colonial possessions and trade monopolies to the British Empire. Nevertheless, some portions of the empire survived until the advent of global decolonisation following World War II, namely the East Indies, three former colonial territories—Aruba, Curaçao, and Sint Maarten—are retained as constituent countries within the Netherlands. In 1566, a Protestant Dutch revolt broke out against rule by Roman Catholic Spain, led by William of Orange, independence was declared in the 1581 Act of Abjuration. The revolt resulted in the establishment of an de facto independent Protestant republic in the north by Treaty of Antwerp, the coastal provinces of Holland and Zeeland had for centuries prior to Spanish rule been important hubs of the European maritime trade network. Their geographical location provided convenient access to the markets of France, Scotland, Germany, England, efficient access to capital enabled the Dutch in the 1580s to extend their trade routes beyond northern Europe to new markets in the Mediterranean and the Levant. In the 1590s, Dutch ships began to trade with Brazil and the Dutch Gold Coast of Africa, and towards the Indian Ocean, by attacking Portuguese overseas possessions, the Dutch forced Spain to divert financial and military resources away from its attempt to quell Dutch independence. Thus began the several decade-long Dutch-Portuguese War, in 1594, the Compagnie van Verre was founded in Amsterdam, with the aim of sending two fleets to the spice islands of Maluku. The first fleet sailed in 1596 and returned in 1597 with a cargo of pepper, the second voyage, returned its investors a 400% profit. The success of these led to the founding of a number of companies competing for the trade. The competition was counterproductive to the interests as it threatened to drive up the price of spices at their source in Indonesia whilst driving them down in Europe. As a result of the caused by inter-company rivalry, the Dutch East India Company was founded in 1602. The directors of the company, the Heeren XVII, were given the authority to establish fortresses and strongholds, to sign treaties. The company itself was founded as a joint stock company, similarly to its English rival that had founded two years earlier, the English East India Company. The Spanish-Dutch War was for the Dutch part of their struggle for independence and religious freedom, the Netherlands became part of the domains of the Spanish branch of the Habsburg dynasty when Emperor Charles V divided the holdings of the Habsburg Empire following his abdication in 1555. From 1517, the port of Lisbon in Portugal was the main European market for products from India that was attended by other nations to purchase their needs
2.
Kingdom of Middag
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The Kingdom of Middag was a kingdom or supra-tribal alliance located in the central western plains of Taiwan in the 17th century. The Kingdom of Middag is the name for the kingdom. In Taiwan, it is known as the Kingdom of Dadu, Dadu being the name of the historical capital Middag. The 17th century leader Kamachat Aslamie was known in Hoklo as Quata Ong, the most common aboriginal name was Lelian. The kingdom first came into contact with the West after the Dutch East India Company established its Government of Formosa in 1624 and this prince has seventeen towns that obey him, the largest being called Middag, which is also his chief seat and place of residence. The king of Middag had formerly twenty-seven towns under his jurisdiction and he keeps up no great state, and has only one or two attendants accompanying him when going abroad. He would never suffer any Christians to dwell in his dominions, after the Dutch conquered the Spanish colony in northern Taiwan in 1642, they sought to establish control of the western plains between the new possessions and their base at Tayouan. After a brief but destructive campaign, Pieter Boon was able to subdue the tribes in this area in 1645, Kamachat Aslamie, ruler of Middag, was given a cane as a symbol of his local rule under Dutch overlordship. Between 1646 and 1650, the Company divided his lands into six parts, during this period Kamachat Aslamie died and was succeeded by his nephew Kamachat Maloe, but his successor was never referred to by the title Quata Ong. In 1662, Ming loyalist Koxinga and his followers laid siege to the Dutch outpost, under the terms of the surrender, Koxinga took over all the Dutch leases. On a constant war footing, and denied maritime trade by the hostile Dutch-Qing alliance and this resulted in a number of brutally suppressed rebellions by the indigenous population and a gradual weakening of Middag. Consequently, the Kingdom of Middag—as were other aboriginal tribes—faced even greater pressure from the exponentially growing Chinese population seeking to open more farmlands on the island, due to lack of historical records and archaeological evidence, the actual lineage and developments of the kingdom cannot be ascertained. According to the accounts by Huang Shujing, a Qing official dispatched to Taiwan in the early 18th century, after this turmoil came to an end, a supra-tribal leadership apparently ceased to exist in the islands central-western plains
3.
Spanish Formosa
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Spanish Formosa was a Spanish colony established in the north of Taiwan from 1626 to 1642. The Portuguese were the first Europeans to reach the island of Taiwan in 1544, the colony was meant to protect Spanish in the region from interference by the Dutch base in the south of Taiwan. The Spanish colony was short-lived due to the unwillingness of Spanish colonial authorities in Manila to commit men, after seventeen years, the last fortress of the Spanish was besieged by Dutch forces and eventually fell, giving the Dutch control over most of the island. In 1566, the Dutch Revolt against King Philip II erupted, the Dutch Republic and its allies, England and France invaded and looted many of Phillip IIs overseas territories as part of the Eighty Years War. As a result of the union of the Portuguese and Spanish crowns in 1580, Spanish Habsburg Philip II of Spain ruled Portugal. The Dutch of the Seventeen Provinces in Dutch–Portuguese War as well as their allies England, the Dutch colonization of Formosa was part of a campaign designed to seize all the possessions of Philip II in Asia, including the Philippines. The Dutch began to take the string of fortresses that comprised Phillips Portuguese Asian possessions. The settlements were isolated, difficult to reinforce if attacked, and prone to being picked off one by one, pursuing their quest for alternative routes to Asia for trade, the first Dutch squadron to reach the Philippines on December 14,1600 was led by Olivier van Noort. The Dutch sought to dominate the sea trade in Southeast Asia. They disrupted trade by harassing the coasts of Manila bay and its environs, the Battles of La Naval de Manila were five naval battles fought in the waters off the Philippines in 1646, between the forces of Spain and the Dutch Republic, during the Eighty Years War. War with the Dutch led to invasions of many of Phillips Portuguese and Spanish possessions in Asia, including Ceylon, the Philippines, and commercial interests in Japan, Africa, and South America. Even though the Portuguese were unable to capture the island of Ceylon. Catholic Phillip II was in competition with Protestant Holland for trade, with the establishment of a Dutch colony at Tayouan, present-day Anping, in the south of Taiwan, the Dutch were able to threaten Spains trade in the region. As a counter to this threat, the Spanish decided to establish their own colony in the north of the island, landing at Cape Santiago in the north-east of Taiwan but finding it unsuitable for defensive purposes, the Spanish continued westwards along the coast until they arrived at Keelung. A deep and well-protected harbour plus a small island in the mouth of the harbour made it the ideal spot to build the first settlement, forts were built, both on the island and in the harbour itself. In 1629 the Spanish erected a second base, centered on Fort San Domingo, in 1641, the Spanish had become such an irritant to the Dutch in the south that it was decided to take northern Taiwan from the Spanish by force. In courteous terms, the Dutch Governor Paulus Traudenius informed the Spanish governor of their intentions, the Spanish governor was not inclined to give in so easily, and replied in kind. They returned, thwarted and humiliated, to the Dutch base at Fort Zeelandia, in August 1642, The Dutch returned to Keelung with four large ships, several smaller ships, and approximately 369 Dutch soldiers
4.
Fort Zeelandia (Taiwan)
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Although the site was previously named Orange City, Anping City, and Taiwan City, the current name of the site in Chinese is Anping Fort. As trade at the time depended on military force to control the markets, on behalf of the VOC, ships departing from Formosa could head north to Japan, west to Fujian, or south to Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia, India, Iran or Europe. In August 1624, the Dutch were expelled from the Pescadores, although there were already 25,000 Chinese in the island, and their number increasing due to the war, they did not oppose the large Dutch force. Initially, trade was not as forthcoming as they had expected until, after the departure of Cornelis Reijersen and his succession by Sonck, the Dutch and Chinese came to agreement on trade. As their first priority was to strengthen defenses, the Dutch built a fort on a raised sandy bank at the entrance to Tayouan harbor, off the coast of modern-day Anping District. There existed a series of sandbars extended from south to north, four years later, the Dutch built a more permanent structure they named Fort Zeelandia, probably after the name of the ship that Sonck arrived in. The new fort was sited on the largest sandbar to control the channel for entering the inner sea and this would allow direct access to the sea and with it, supplies and reinforcements from Batavia in event of a siege. Another smaller fort was later, Fort Provintia, not far from Zeelandia. Both forts were at high elevations, which enabled the exchange of signals between them. While of solid construction, the fort and its siting were not so much for the purpose of defense against an enemy as they were for defending against the islanders. In addition, the site lacked adequate supplies of fresh water and this later proved to be a critical factor in the ousting of the Dutch by Koxinga. On 30 April 1661, Ming dynasty-loyalist Koxinga laid siege to the fortress with 400 warships and 25,000 men. Under the Koxinga-Dutch Treaty signed on 1 February between Koxinga and Frederick Coyett, the Dutch governor, the Dutch surrendered the Fortress and left all goods, in return, all officials, soldiers and civilians were free to leave with their personal belongings and supplies. On 9 February, Coyett officially surrendered the fort and led the remaining Dutch forces and civilians back to Batavia by sea, Fort Zeelandia included an “inner fort” and an “outer fort”. The inner fort was a square and 3-layer construction, the lowest was for storage of ammunition and food. The second features a blank wall, the middle part of each side has a semicircle protruding barrack to strengthen the defense. Above the third story was the center, including offices, garrison and church. There were walls on the periphery, with protruding bastion on each of the four corners, armed with cannons, the one-story outer fort was a rectangular fort, with bastions on the northwest and southwest corners, armed with several cannons
5.
Dutch language
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It is the third most widely spoken Germanic language, after English and German. Dutch is one of the closest relatives of both German and English and is said to be roughly in between them, Dutch vocabulary is mostly Germanic and incorporates more Romance loans than German but far fewer than English. In both Belgium and the Netherlands, the official name for Dutch is Nederlands, and its dialects have their own names, e. g. Hollands, West-Vlaams. The use of the word Vlaams to describe Standard Dutch for the variations prevalent in Flanders and used there, however, is common in the Netherlands, the Dutch language has been known under a variety of names. It derived from the Old Germanic word theudisk, one of the first names used for the non-Romance languages of Western Europe. It literarily means the language of the people, that is. The term was used as opposed to Latin, the language of writing. In the first text in which it is found, dating from 784, later, theudisca appeared also in the Oaths of Strasbourg to refer to the Germanic portion of the oath. This led inevitably to confusion since similar terms referred to different languages, owing to Dutch commercial and colonial rivalry in the 16th and 17th centuries, the English term came to refer exclusively to the Dutch. A notable exception is Pennsylvania Dutch, which is a West Central German variety called Deitsch by its speakers, Jersey Dutch, on the other hand, as spoken until the 1950s in New Jersey, is a Dutch-based creole. In Dutch itself, Diets went out of common use - although Platdiets is still used for the transitional Limburgish-Ripuarian Low Dietsch dialects in northeast Belgium, Nederlands, the official Dutch word for Dutch, did not become firmly established until the 19th century. This designation had been in use as far back as the end of the 15th century, one of them was it reflected a distinction with Hoogduits, High Dutch, meaning the language spoken in Germany. The Hoog was later dropped, and thus, Duits narrowed down in meaning to refer to the German language. g, in English, too, Netherlandic is regarded as a more accurate term for the Dutch language, but is hardly ever used. Old Dutch branched off more or less around the same time Old English, Old High German, Old Frisian and Old Saxon did. During that period, it forced Old Frisian back from the western coast to the north of the Low Countries, on the other hand, Dutch has been replaced in adjacent lands in nowadays France and Germany. The division in Old, Middle and Modern Dutch is mostly conventional, one of the few moments linguists can detect somewhat of a revolution is when the Dutch standard language emerged and quickly established itself. This is assumed to have taken place in approximately the mid-first millennium BCE in the pre-Roman Northern European Iron Age, the Germanic languages are traditionally divided into three groups, East, West, and North Germanic. They remained mutually intelligible throughout the Migration Period, Dutch is part of the West Germanic group, which also includes English, Scots, Frisian, Low German and High German
6.
Formosan languages
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The Formosan languages are the languages of the indigenous peoples of Taiwan. Taiwanese aborigines currently comprise about 2. 3% of the islands population, however, far fewer can still speak their ancestral language, after centuries of language shift. Of the approximately 26 languages of the Taiwanese aborigines, at least ten are extinct, another four are moribund, the aboriginal languages of Taiwan have significance in historical linguistics, since in all likelihood Taiwan was the place of origin of the entire Austronesian language family. Although linguists disagree with some details of Blusts analysis, a consensus has coalesced around the conclusion that the Austronesian languages originated in Taiwan. This theory has been strengthened by recent studies in population genetics. All Formosan languages are slowly being replaced by the culturally dominant Standard Chinese, in recent decades the Republic of China government started an aboriginal reappreciation program that included the reintroduction of Formosan first language in Taiwanese schools. However, the results of this initiative have been disappointing, in 2005, in order to preserve the language of the indigenous people of Taiwan, the council established a Romanized writing system for all Taiwans aboriginal languages. The council has also helped with classes and language programs for members of the indigenous community. Formosan languages form nine distinct branches of the Austronesian language family and it is often difficult to decide where to draw the boundary between a language and a dialect, causing some minor disagreement among scholars regarding the inventory of Formosan languages. There is even more uncertainty regarding many extinct or assimilated Formosan tribes, frequently cited examples of Formosan languages are given below, but the list should not be considered exhaustive. Li lists the orders of several Formosan languages. The tables below list the Proto-Austronesian reflexes of individual languages given in John Wolffs Proto-Austronesian phonology with glossary, the following table lists reflexes of Proto-Austronesian *j in various Formosan languages. The following table lists reflexes of Proto-Austronesian *ʀ in various Formosan languages, taipei, Taiwan, SMC Publishing Happart, G. & Hedhurst, W. H. Dictionary of the Favorlang dialect of the Formosan language, basic Vocabulary for Formosan Languages and Dialects. Selected Papers on Formosan Languages, vol, taipei, Taiwan, Institute of Linguistics, Academia Sinica. Mackay, G. L. Chinese Romanized dictionary of the Formosan vernacular, zeitoun, E. Nominalization in Formosan languages. Taipei, Institute of Linguistics, Academia Sinica, ogawas Vocabulary of Formosan Dialects 小川尚義 Academia Sinicas Formosan Language Archive project Linguistics and Formosan Languages Map, Formosan Languages and Yami
7.
Hokkien
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Hokkien /hɒˈkiɛn/ is a group of Southern Min dialects spoken throughout Southeastern China, Taiwan, Southeast Asia and by other overseas Chinese. Hokkien originated in southern Fujian, the Min-speaking province and it is closely related to Teochew, though there is limited mutual intelligibility, and is somewhat more distantly related to Hainanese and Leizhou dialect. Besides Hokkien, there are also other Min and Hakka dialects in Fujian province, the term Hokkien is etymologically derived from the Southern Min pronunciation for Fujian, the province from which the language hails. The variety is known by other terms such as the more general Min Nan or Southern Min. Fujianese and Fukienese are also used, although they are somewhat imprecise, the term Hokkien is not usually used in Mainland China or Taiwan. Conversely Hokkien is the name in Southeast Asia in both English, Chinese or other languages. Speakers of Hokkien, particularly those in Southeast Asia, typically refer to Hokkien as a dialect, people in Taiwan most often refer to Hokkien as the Taiwanese language, with Minnan and Holo also being used and 福建話 is not as common. Hokkien originated in the area of Fujian province, an important center for trade and migration. The major pole of Hokkien varieties outside of Fujian is Taiwan, the Taiwanese version mostly have origins with the Quanzhou and Zhangzhou variants, but since then, the Amoy dialect is becoming the modern prestige standard for the language. There are many Hokkien speakers among overseas Chinese in Southeast Asia as well as in the United States, many ethnic Han Chinese emigrants to the region were Hoklo from southern Fujian, and brought the language to what is now Burma, Indonesia and present day Malaysia and Singapore. Many of the Hokkien dialects of this region are similar to Taiwanese and Amoynese. Hokkien is reportedly the native language of up to 80% of the Chinese people in the Philippines, Hokkien speakers form the largest group of overseas Chinese in Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and Philippines. Southern and part of western Fujian is home to four principal Hokkien dialects, Chinchew, Amoy, Chiangchew and Longyan, originating from the cities of Quanzhou, Xiamen, Zhangzhou and Longyan. As Xiamen is the city of southern Fujian, Amoy is considered the most important, or even the prestige dialect. It is a hybrid of the Quanzhou and Zhangzhou dialects, same as Amoy dialect, the varieties of Hokkien spoken in Taiwan are hybrids of the Quanzhou and Zhangzhou dialects, and are collectively known as Taiwanese Hokkien or just Taiwanese. Used by a majority of the population, it bears much importance from a socio-political perspective, the varieties of Hokkien in Southeast Asia originate from these dialects. The Singaporeans, Southern Malaysians and people in Indonesias Riau and surrounding islands variant is from the Quanzhou area and they speak a distinct form of Quanzhou Hokkien called Southern Peninsular Malaysian Hokkien. Among ethnic Chinese inhabitants of Penang, and other states in Northern Malaysia and Medan, with areas in North Sumatra, Indonesia
8.
Dutch Reformed Church
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The Dutch Reformed Church was the largest Christian denomination in the Netherlands from the onset of the Protestant Reformation until 1930. It was the foremost Protestant denomination, and—since 1892—one of the two major Reformed denominations along with the Reformed Churches in the Netherlands and it spread to the United States, South Africa, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Brazil, and various other world regions through the Dutch colonization. The allegiance to the Dutch Reformed Church was a common feature among Dutch immigrant communities around the world and it developed during the Protestant Reformation, being shaped theologically by John Calvin, but also other major Reformed theologians. At the time of the merger, the Church had 2 million members organised in 1,350 congregations, a minority of members of the Church chose not to participate in the merger and instead formed the Restored Reformed Church. The Reformation was a time of violence and persecution by the established Catholic Church and governments. The first Synod of 23 Dutch Reformed leaders was held in October 1571 in the German city of Emden, the Synod of Emden is generally considered to be the founding of the Dutch Reformed Church, the oldest of the Reformed churches in the Netherlands. The Synod both affirmed the actions of the earlier Synod of Wesel, as well as established presbyterian church government for the Dutch Reformed Church, the first Synod to be located in the Dutch Republic was held in Dordrecht in 1578. This synodical meeting is not to be confused with the better known Second Synod of Dort of 1618, large groups of Marranos settled in Emden and converted to Christianity. Mostly all Marranos, many Jewish groups converted to Christianity around 1649 to the Nederduitsche, Niederdeutsche church later on Dutch Reformed Church, in the latter meeting, the Church fathers expelled Arminians and added the Canons of Dort to the Confessions. The Canons of Dort, together with the previously adopted Belgic Confession, most conflicts and splits in the Church arose because of disagreement over the substance and interpretation of these doctrinal documents. The government of the Dutch Republic, which had instigated the Arminians expulsion, no Synod was held in the Netherlands until after the end of the Republic in 1795. Before the demise of the Dutch Republic in 1795, the Dutch Reformed Church enjoyed the status of public or privileged church, though it was never formally adopted as the state religion, the law demanded that every public official should be a communicant member. Consequently, the Church had close relations with the Dutch government, a privilege of members of the Dutch Reformed Church was that they could have their businesses open on Sundays, otherwise considered a religious day and not one for business. The 17th and early 18th centuries were the age of the Dutch Nadere Reformatie, led primarily by Gisbertus Voetius and Wilhelmus à Brakel, in the 19th century, theological liberalism led to splits in the Dutch Reformed Church. In 1834, the minister Hendrik de Cock of the town of Ulrum was told by leaders that he could not preach against certain colleagues. He and his congregation seceded from the Dutch Reformed Church, in time, the Afscheiding led to the departure of 120 congregations from the Dutch Reformed Church. In 1886, another separation, the Doleantie, occurred, led by Dutch Reformed businessman, theologian and politician Abraham Kuyper. The Dutch Reformed Church remained the largest church body in the Netherlands until the middle of the 20th century, the rapid secularisation of the Netherlands in the 1960s dramatically reduced participation in the mainstream Protestant church
9.
Animism
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Animism is the worlds oldest religion. Animism teaches that objects, places, and creatures all possess distinctive spiritual qualities, potentially, animism perceives all things—animals, plants, rocks, rivers, weather systems, human handiwork, and perhaps even words—as animate and alive. Animism is the oldest known type of system in the world that even predates paganism. It is still practiced in a variety of forms in traditional societies. Although each culture has its own different mythologies and rituals, animism is said to describe the most common, foundational thread of indigenous peoples spiritual or supernatural perspectives. The currently accepted definition of animism was only developed in the late 19th century by Sir Edward Tylor, Animism may further attribute souls to abstract concepts such as words, true names, or metaphors in mythology. Some members of the world also consider themselves animists. Earlier anthropological perspectives – since termed the old animism – were concerned with knowledge surrounding what is alive, the old animism assumed that animists were individuals who were unable to understand the difference between persons and things. Critics of the old animism have accused it of preserving colonialist and dualist worldviews, according to Tylor, animism often includes an idea of pervading life and will in nature, i. e. a belief that natural objects other than humans have souls. This formulation was little different from that proposed by Auguste Comte as fetishism, thus, for Tylor, animism was fundamentally seen as a mistake, a basic error from which all religion grew. The earliest known usage in English appeared in 1819, Tylors definition of animism was a part of a growing international debate on the nature of primitive society by lawyers, theologians, and philologists. The debate defined the field of research of a new science – anthropology and their religion was animism – the belief that natural species and objects had souls. With the development of property, these descent groups were displaced by the emergence of the territorial state. These rituals and beliefs eventually evolved over time into the vast array of developed religions, in 1869, the Edinburgh lawyer, John Ferguson McLellan, argued that the animistic thinking evident in fetishism gave rise to a religion he named Totemism. Primitive people believed, he argued, that they were descended of the species as their totemic animal. Subsequent debate by the armchair anthropologists remained focused on totemism rather than animism, indeed, anthropologists have commonly avoided the issue of Animism and even the term itself rather than revisit this prevalent notion in light of their new and rich ethnographies. Certain indigenous religious groups such as the Australian Aboriginals are more typically totemic, stewart Guthrie saw animism – or attribution as he preferred it – as an evolutionary strategy to aid survival. He argued that humans and other animal species view inanimate objects as potentially alive as a means of being constantly on guard against potential threats
10.
Chinese folk religion
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Worship is devoted to a multiplicity of gods and immortals, who can be deities of phenomena, of human behaviour, or progenitors of lineages. Stories regarding some of these gods are collected into the body of Chinese mythology, Chinese religions have a variety of sources, local forms, founder backgrounds, and ritual and philosophical traditions. Ling, numen or sacred, is the medium of the two states and the order of creation. After the fall of the empire in 1911, governments and elites opposed or attempted to eradicate religion in order to promote modern values. These conceptions of religion began to change in Taiwan in the late 20th century. Many scholars now view folk religion in a positive light, in recent times Chinese folk religions are experiencing a revival in both mainland China and Taiwan. In Chinese academic literature and common usage folk religion refers to specific organised folk religious sects, the Qing dynasty scholars Yao Wendong and Chen Jialin used the term shenjiao not referring to Shinto as a definite religious system, but to local shin beliefs in Japan. Other definitions that have used are folk cults, spontaneous religion, lived religion, local religion. Shendao is an already used in the Yijing referring to the divine order of nature. Around the time of the spread of Buddhism in the Han period, ge Hong used it in his Baopuzi as a synonym for Taoism. The term was adopted in Japan in the 6th century as Shindo, later Shinto. In the 14th century, the Hongwu Emperor used the term Shendao clearly identifying the indigenous cults, de Groot calls Chinese Universism the ancient metaphysical view that serves as the basis of all classical Chinese thought. In Universism, the three components of integrated universe — understood epistemologically, heaven, earth and man, and understood ontologically, Taiji, yin, contemporary Chinese scholars have identified what they find to be the essential features of the folk religion of China. According to Chen Xiaoyi 陳曉毅 local indigenous religion is the factor for a harmonious religious ecology. Professor Han Bingfang 韓秉芳 has called for a rectification of distorted names, distorted names are superstitious activities or feudal superstition, that were derogatorily applied to the indigenous religion by leftist policies. Christian missionaries also used the label feudal superstition in order to undermine their religious competitor, Han calls for the acknowledgment of folk religion for what it really is, the core and soul of popular culture. According to Chen Jinguo 陳進國, folk religion is an element of Chinese cultural. Chinese religious practices are diverse, varying from province to province and even from one village to another, for religious behaviour is bound to local communities, kinship, in each setting, institution and ritual behaviour assumes highly organised forms
11.
Colony
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In politics and history, a colony is a territory under the immediate political control of a state, distinct from the home territory of the sovereign. For colonies in antiquity, city-states would often found their own colonies, some colonies were historically countries, while others were territories without definite statehood from their inception. The metropolitan state is the state that rules the colony, in Ancient Greece, the city that founded a colony was known as the metropolis. Mother country is a reference to the state from the point of view of citizens who live in its colony. There is a United Nations list of Non-Self-Governing Territories, unlike a puppet state or satellite state, a colony has no independent international representation, and its top-level administration is under direct control of the metropolitan state. The term informal colony is used by historians to refer to a country under the de facto control of another state. The word colony comes from the Latin word colōnia and this in turn derives from the word colōnus, which means colonist but also implies a farmer. Cologne is an example of a settlement preserving this etymology, other, less obvious settlements that began as Roman colonia include cities from Belgrade to York. A tell-tale sign of a settlement once being a Roman Colony is a city centre with a grid pattern. The terminology is taken from architectural analogy, where a column pillar is beneath the head capital, so colonies are not independently self-controlled, but rather are controlled from a separate entity that serves the capital function. Roman colonies first appeared when the Romans conquered neighbouring Italic peoples and these were small farming settlements that appeared when the Romans had subdued an enemy in war. A colony could take many forms, as a trade outpost or a base in enemy territory. Its original definition as a settlement created by migrating from a central region to an outlying one became the modern definition. Kandahar formed as a Greek colony during the Hellenistic era by Alexander the great in 330 BC, alaska, a colony of Russia from the middle 18th century until sold to the United States in 1867. It became the 49th American state in 1959, angola, a colony of Portugal since the 16th century. Australia was formed as an independent country in 1901 from a federation of six distinct British colonies which were founded between 1788 and 1829, barbados, was a colony of Great Britain important in the Atlantic slave trade. It gained its independence in 1966, brazil, a colony of Portugal since the 16th century. Canada, colonized first by France as New France, then under British rule, congo, Democratic Republic of the, a colony of Belgium from 1908 to 1960
12.
Marten Sonk
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Martinus or Maarten Sonck was the first Dutch Governor of Formosa from 1624–1625. Sonck, who in 1612 lived in Amsterdam, studied law at Leiden University from October 1612 to March 1616, in 1618 Sonck was sent by the Dutch East Indies Company as “advocaat-fiscaal” to Batavia, where he arrived in 1619. He subsequently became governor of the Banda Islands, in 1623 he was recalled to Batavia to account for the use of excessive amounts of ammunition at gun salutes. The Pescadores were Chinese territory, and after a failed accord, Sonck arrived at the Pescadores on 1 August on board the ship Zeelandia. The Dutch monopolized the harbour, while Zheng Zhilong, or Nicolas Iquan, became a privateer for the Dutch and this constituted the beginning of the colonial presence of the Dutch on Formosa. Sonck was governor of Dutch Formosa for only one year, as he drowned in Anping harbour in August 1625, according to another author, he died in December 1626. He was buried at Fort Zeelandia and he was succeeded by Gerard Frederikszoon de With. Formosa under the Dutch, described from contemporary records, with explanatory notes and a bibliography of the island
13.
Frederick Coyett
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Frederick Coyett, born in Stockholm c. 1615, buried in Amsterdam on 17 October 1687, was a Swedish nobleman and he was the first Swede to travel to Japan and China and became the last governor of Dutch-occupied Taiwan. In common with people of the time, Coyetts name was spelled differently at different times. Frederick could also be Fredrik or Fredrick, and Coyett was also spelled Coyet, Coignet or Coijet and it is supposed Coyett was born in Stockholm, Sweden, in a family with Dutch/Flemish roots. His father, a goldsmith, died in 1634 in Moscow, peter Julius Coyet was his brother. From 1647 he worked for the Dutch East India Company, Coyett served twice as the VOC Opperhoofd in Japan, serving as the chief officer in Dejima first between 3 November 1647 and 9 December 1648 and then between 4 November 1652 and 10 November 1653. Frederick Coyett was the brother-in-law of François Caron, both involved in releasing ten Dutch prisoners and their discussion centered on the Nambu affair of 1643, when the skipper Hendrick Cornelisz Schaep and nine members of the crew of the Breskens were captured in Yamada in Iwate Prefecture. Coyett is mostly known as the last Dutch East India Company governor of Taiwan, on 10 February 1662 he was forced to surrender Fort Zeelandia after a nine-month siege from a large Chinese force of 25,000 men and 1,000 ships under Koxinga. Coyett said that Chinese were little better than poor specimens of very effeminate men, the Dutch then changed their tune to Formosa is lost. With his army decisively crushed by the Chinese under Koxinga, Coyett left Taiwan after Siege of Fort Zeelandia with enough supply to reach Batavia, after three years imprisonment he was tried for High treason, due to his failure to hold Taiwan or preserve vital commercial interests. Coyett was pardoned and exiled to Rosengain, the most eastern of the Banda Islands, in 1684 he bought a house on Keizersgracht, on a spot where the Hemony brothers used to have their foundry. Coyetts son Balthasar Coyett, born to his first wife Susanna Boudaens in 1650, followed his father into service with the Dutch East India Company, in 1675 he published Neglected Formosa. In the book he accused the Dutch East India Company of ignorance and refusing to send backup, which caused him to lose Taiwan
14.
Age of Discovery
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It also marks the rise of the period of widespread adoption in Europe of colonialism and mercantilism. Many lands previously unknown to Europeans were discovered during this period, from the perspective of many non-Europeans, the Age of Discovery marked the arrival of settlers and invaders from a previously unknown continent. This represented one of the most-significant global events concerning ecology, agriculture and it also allowed for the expansion of Christianity throughout the world with the spread of missionary activity, becoming the worlds largest religion. The Portuguese began systematically exploring the Atlantic coast of Africa from 1418, in 1488 Bartolomeu Dias reached the Indian Ocean by this route. In 1492 the Catholic Monarchs of Castile and Aragon funded Christopher Columbuss plan to sail west to reach the Indies by crossing the Atlantic and he landed on a continent uncharted by Europeans and seen as a new world, the Americas. In 1498, a Portuguese expedition commanded by Vasco da Gama reached India by sailing around Africa, soon, the Portuguese sailed further eastward, to the valuable Spice Islands in 1512, landing in China one year later. In 1513, Spanish Vasco Núñez de Balboa crossed the Isthmus of Panama, thus, Europe first received news of the eastern and western Pacific within a one-year span around 1512. Meanwhile, from the 1580s to the 1640s, Russians explored and conquered almost the whole of Siberia, another source was the Radhanite Jewish trade networks of merchants established as go-betweens between Europe and the Muslim world during the time of the Crusader states. Knowledge about the Atlantic African coast was fragmented and derived mainly from old Greek and Roman maps based on Carthaginian knowledge, the Red Sea was barely known and only trade links with the Maritime republics, the Republic of Venice especially, fostered collection of accurate maritime knowledge. Indian Ocean trade routes were sailed by Arab traders, between 1405 and 1421, the Yongle Emperor of Ming China sponsored a series of long range tributary missions under the command of Zheng He. The fleets visited Arabia, East Africa, India, Maritime Southeast Asia, by 1400 a Latin translation of Ptolemys Geographia reached Italy coming from Constantinople. The rediscovery of Roman geographical knowledge was a revelation, both for mapmaking and worldview, although reinforcing the idea that the Indian Ocean was landlocked, a prelude to the Age of Discovery was a series of European expeditions crossing Eurasia by land in the late Middle Ages. A series of Europeans took advantage of these to explore eastwards, most were Italians, as trade between Europe and the Middle East was controlled mainly by the Maritime republics. The close Italian links to the Levant raised great curiosity and commercial interest in countries which lay further east, christian embassies were sent as far as Karakorum during the Mongol invasions of the Levant, from which they gained a greater understanding of the world. The first of these travellers was Giovanni da Pian del Carpine, dispatched by Pope Innocent IV to the Great Khan, about the same time, Russian prince Yaroslav of Vladimir, and subsequently his sons Alexander Nevsky and Andrey II of Vladimir, travelled to the Mongolian capital. Though having strong political implications, their journeys left no detailed accounts, other travellers followed, like French André de Longjumeau and Flemish William of Rubruck, who reached China through Central Asia. After returning, he dictated an account of his journeys to a scholar he met in Granada, the Rihla, between 1357 and 1371 a book of supposed travels compiled by John Mandeville acquired extraordinary popularity. These overland journeys had little immediate effect, the Mongol Empire collapsed almost as quickly as it formed and soon the route to the east became more difficult and dangerous
15.
Siege of Fort Zeelandia
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The Siege of Fort Zeelandia, which took place in 1661 and 1662, ended the Dutch East India Companys rule over Taiwan and began the Kingdom of Tungnings rule over the island. Taiwanese scholar Lu Chien-jung described this event as a war that determined the fate of Taiwan in the four hundred years that follow. The Dutch had been defeated in a war over the Pescadores from 1623–1624, and again at the Battle of Liaoluo Bay where the Chinese were led by Zheng Zhilong, the father of Koxinga. By 1632, the Dutch had established a post on a peninsula named Tayoan, the Dutch fortification consisted of two forts around the bay. The first was the multiple-walled Fort Zeelandia situated at the entrance to the bay, the second was Fort Provintia, a walled administrative office located at the bay, which was smaller in size. Frederick Coyett, the governor of Taiwan for the company, was stationed in Fort Zeelandia with 1,800 men, his subordinate, Valentyn, was in charge of Fort Provintia, on March 23,1661 Koxingas fleet set sail from Kinmen. His fleet consisted of hundreds of junks of various sizes, with roughly 25,000 soldiers and sailors aboard and they arrived in the Pescadores the next day, left a garrison there. On March 30 they left the Pescadores, on April 2 the fleet arrived at Tayoan. After passing through a shallow waterway unknown to the Dutch, they landed at the bay of Lakjemuyse, Koxinga was abundantly provided with cannons and ammunition in addition to two companies of former Dutch slaves of African descent who had learned to use small arms. They caused much harm to the Dutch during the war and his troops wore iron scale armor and either used two handed swords, swords and shields, or bows and arrows. Swordsmen were intended to cause fearful massacre amongst the fugitives after enemy lines were smashed through by shield bearers, on April 4 Valentyn surrendered to Koxingas army after it laid siege to Fort Provintia. The rapid assault had caught Valentyn unprepared since he had believed the fort was protected by Fort Zeelandia, on April 7, Koxingas troop surrounded Fort Zeelandia and demanded the garrisons surrender by sending the captured Dutch priest Antonius Hambroek as emissary to persuade the garrison to surrender. Hambroek, however, urged the garrison to resist instead of surrender, Koxinga ordered his artillery to advance and used 28 cannon to bombard the fort. Koxingas fleet then began massive bombardment, and troops on the ground attempted to storm the fort, Koxinga then changed his tactics and laid siege to the fort. On May 28, news of the siege reached Jakarta, on July 5 the relief force arrived and engaged in some small scale confrontations with Koxingas fleet. On July 23 the two sides gave battle as the Dutch fleet attempted to break Koxingas blockade, after a brief engagement, the Dutch fleet was forced to retreat with two ships sunk, three smaller vessels captured, and 130 casualties. In October the Dutch attempted to break the siege again but were repulsed back by the besieging army, in December Koxinga decided to launch another assault, based on news of low morale among the garrison from deserted German mercenaries, which ended unsuccessful. Koxinga followed his advice and the Dutch redoubt fell a day later, on January 12 Koxingas fleet began another bombardment, while the ground force prepare to assault the fort
16.
Spanish real
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The real was a unit of currency in Spain for several centuries after the mid-14th century, but changed in value relative to other units introduced. In 1864, the real was replaced by a new escudo, then by the peseta in 1868, the first real was introduced by King Pedro I of Castile in the mid 14th century at a value of 3 maravedíes. This rate of exchange increased until 1497, when the real, the famous piece of eight, also known as the Spanish dollar, was issued that same year as a trade coin. It later became widespread in North America and Asia, in 1566, the gold escudo was introduced, worth 16 silver reales. The piece of eight was so-called because the denomination was divided into eight silver reales. In addition to the piece of eight, which was a silver coin, other coins based on it were issued,4 reales,2 reales,1 real. During this period, Spanish trade coinage became popular in trade and commerce. In 1642, two distinct reales were created, the real de plata and the real de vellón, the exchange rate between these two coins was set at 2 reales de vellón =1 real de plata. The maravedí was tied to the real de vellón, causing the real de plata to be worth 68 maravedíes, the gold escudo was worth 16 reales de plata. The real de vellón was issued for use in Spain. The real de plata fuerte was introduced in 1737 at a value of 2 1⁄2 reales de vellón or 85 maravedíes and this real was the standard, issued as coins until the early 19th century. The gold escudo was worth 16 reales de plata fuerte, in 1808, coins were introduced denominated in real de vellón. These coins circulated alongside real de plata fuerte and escudo coins until decimalization, Coins denominated in reales de plata were minted until 1837, whilst maravedí coins were issued until 1850. The real de vellón, now just called the real, was adopted as the unit in Spains first decimal currency. To begin with, subsidiary pieces were issued denominated in decima de real, later they were denominated in céntimo de real. The real replaced the Catalan peseta in 1850, at a rate of 1 peseta =4 reales, in 1864, the real was replaced by a new escudo worth 10 reales. This second escudo was replaced in 1868 by the peseta at a rate of 1 peseta =0.4 escudos =4 reales. Consequently, the real lived on, meaning a quarter of a peseta
17.
Prehistory of Taiwan
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The prehistory of Taiwan, ending with the arrival of the Dutch East India Company in 1624, is known from archaeological finds throughout the island. The earliest evidence of habitation dates back 20,000 to 30,000 years. Around 5,000 years ago farmers from the southeast Chinese coast settled on the island and these people are believed to have been speakers of Austronesian languages, which dispersed from Taiwan across the islands of the Pacific and Indian Oceans. The current Taiwanese aborigines are believed to be their descendants, the island of Taiwan was formed approximately 4 to 5 million years ago on a complex convergent boundary between the continental Eurasian Plate and the oceanic Philippine Sea Plate. The boundary continues southwards in the Luzon Volcanic Arc, a chain of islands between Taiwan and the Philippine island of Luzon including Green Island and Orchid Island, from the northern part of the island the eastward continuation of the boundary is marked by the Ryukyu chain of volcanic islands. The island is separated from the coast of Fujian to the west by the Taiwan Strait, the most significant islands in the Strait are the Penghu islands 45 km from the southwest coast of Taiwan and 140 km from the mainland. Part of the shelf, the Strait is no more than 100 m deep. Taiwan is a fault block, with rugged longitudinal mountain ranges making up most of the eastern two-thirds of the island. They include more than two hundred peaks with elevations of over 3,000 m, the western side of the island slopes down to fertile coastal plains. The island straddles the Tropic of Cancer, and has a subtropical climate. The original vegetation ranged from tropical rainforest in the lowlands through temperate forests, boreal forest, during the Late Pleistocene glaciation, sea levels in the area were about 140 m lower than in the present day. As a result, the floor of the Taiwan Strait was exposed as a land bridge that was crossed by mainland fauna until the beginning of the Holocene 10,000 years ago. In 1972, fragmentary fossils of modern humans were found at Chouqu and Gangzilin, in Zuozhen District, Tainan. Though some of the fragments are believed to be more recent, the find has been dubbed Zuozhen Man. No associated artifacts have been found at the site, the oldest known artifacts are chipped-pebble tools of the Changbin culture, found at cave sites on the southeast coast of the island. The sites are dated 15,000 to 5,000 years ago, the primary site of Baxiandong, in Changbin, Taitung was first excavated in 1968. The same culture has been found at sites at Eluanbi on the tip of Taiwan. The earliest layers feature large stone tools, and suggest a hunting and gathering lifestyle, later layers have small stone tools of quartz, as well as tools made from bone, horn and shell, and suggest a shift to intensive fishing and shellfish collection
18.
Kingdom of Tungning
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The Kingdom of Tungning or Kingdom of Formosa was a government that ruled part of southwestern Taiwan between 1661 and 1683. It was founded by Koxinga as part of the loyalist movement to restore the Ming government in China after it was overthrown by the Manchu Qing dynasty. Koxinga hoped to recapture the Chinese mainland from the Manchus by using the island as a base of operations to settle, the Kingdom of Tungning is sometimes known as the Zheng dynasty, Zheng Family Kingdom or Kingdom of Yanping. Taiwan was referred to by Koxinga as Tungtu, in the West, it was known as the Kingdom of Taiwan, and the period of rule is sometimes referred to as the Koxinga dynasty. Zheng Zhilong, a Ming admiral and father of Koxinga, accepted the Qing offer, after learning of this whilst pursuing studies overseas, Koxinga pledged to assume his father’s position and control of his remaining forces in order to re-establish Ming control of China. In 1661, Koxingas fleet forced an entry to Lakjemuyse, in return, most Dutch officials, soldiers and civilians were allowed to leave with their personal belongings and supplies and return to Batavia, ending the 38 years of Dutch colonial rule on Taiwan. Koxinga did, however, detain some Dutch women, children and he then proceeded on a tour of inspection with a contingent of nearly 100,000 soldiers to see with his own eyes the extent and condition of his new domain. Replacing the Dutch system of government previously used in Taiwan, Koxinga instituted a Ming-style administration and this system of government was divided into six departments, civil service, revenue, rites, war, punishment, and public works. Formosa was also renamed by Koxinga as Tungtu, though this name was changed by his son, Zheng Jing. The most immediate problem Koxinga faced after the invasion of Taiwan was a severe shortage of food. To address the shortage, Koxinga instituted a tuntian policy in which soldiers served the dual role of farmer when not assigned active duty in a guard battalion. Following the death of Koxinga in 1662 due to malaria, his son Zheng Jing took over the Zheng regime and this to a large extent backfired and from 1662-4 six major waves of immigration occurred from these areas to Taiwan due to the severe hardships incurred from this relocation policy. About 1,000 previous Ming government officials moved to Taiwan fleeing Qing persecution, Zheng Jing also recruited his early tutor, Chen Yong-hua, and passed to him most official government affairs. Throughout its existence, Tungning was subject to the Qing sea ban, aside from the British, Zheng major trade occurred with the Japanese and Dutch, though evidence of trade with many Asian countries exists. Following the death of Zheng Jing in 1681, the lack of an heir meant rule of Taiwan would pass to his illegitimate son. This caused great division in the government and military powers, resulting in a destructive struggle for the succession. Seizing the advantage presented by the infighting, the Qing dispatched their navy with Shi Lang at its head, several Ming dynasty Princes had accompanied Koxinga to Taiwan including the Prince of Ningjing Zhu Shugui and Prince Zhu Hónghuán, son of Zhu Yihai. The Qing sent the 17 Ming princes still living on Taiwan back to mainland China where they spent the rest of their lives, Zheng Keshuang was rewarded by the Qing Emperor with the title Duke of Haicheng and he and his soldiers were inducted into the Eight Banners
19.
Taiwan
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Taiwan, officially the Republic of China, is a state in East Asia. Neighbours include China to the west, Japan to the northeast, Taiwan is the most populous state that is not a member of the United Nations, and the one with the largest economy. The island of Taiwan, also known as Formosa, was inhabited by Taiwanese aborigines before the 17th century. After a brief rule by the Kingdom of Tungning, the island was annexed by the Qing dynasty, the Qing ceded Taiwan to Japan in 1895 after the Sino-Japanese War. While Taiwan was under Japanese rule, the Republic of China was established on the mainland in 1912 after the fall of the Qing dynasty, following the Japanese surrender to the Allies in 1945, the ROC took control of Taiwan. However, the resumption of the Chinese Civil War led to the ROCs loss of the mainland to the Communists, and the flight of the ROC government to Taiwan in 1949. As a founding member of the United Nations, the ROC continued to represent China at the United Nations until 1971, in the early 1960s, Taiwan entered a period of rapid economic growth and industrialization, creating a stable industrial economy. In the 1980s and early 1990s, it changed from a one-party military dictatorship dominated by the Kuomintang to a multi-party democracy with universal suffrage, Taiwan is the 22nd-largest economy in the world, and its high-tech industry plays a key role in the global economy. It is ranked highly in terms of freedom of the press, health care, public education, economic freedom, the PRC has consistently claimed sovereignty over Taiwan and asserted the ROC is no longer in legitimate existence. Under its One-China Policy the PRC refused diplomatic relations with any country that recognizes the ROC, the PRC has threatened the use of military force in response to any formal declaration of independence by Taiwan or if PRC leaders decide that peaceful unification is no longer possible. There are various names for the island of Taiwan in use today, the former name Formosa dates from 1542, when Portuguese sailors sighted the main island of Taiwan and named it Ilha Formosa, which means beautiful island. The name Formosa eventually replaced all others in European literature and was in use in English in the early 20th century. This name was adopted into the Chinese vernacular as the name of the sandbar. The modern word Taiwan is derived from this usage, which is seen in forms in Chinese historical records. Use of the current Chinese name was formalized as early as 1684 with the establishment of Taiwan Prefecture, through its rapid development, the entire Formosan mainland eventually became known as Taiwan. The official name of the state is the Republic of China and it was a member of the United Nations representing China until 1971, when it lost its seat to the Peoples Republic of China. Over subsequent decades, the Republic of China has become known as Taiwan. In some contexts, especially ones from the ROC government
20.
History of Taiwan
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The history of Taiwan dates back tens of thousands of years to the earliest known evidence of human habitation. The sudden appearance of a culture based on agriculture around 3000 BC is believed to reflect the arrival of the ancestors of todays Taiwanese aborigines, the Spanish built a settlement in the north for a brief period but were driven out by the Dutch in 1642. In 1662, Koxinga, a loyalist of the Ming dynasty who had lost control of mainland China in 1644, defeated the Dutch and his forces were defeated by the Qing dynasty in 1683, and parts of Taiwan became increasingly integrated into the Qing empire. Following the First Sino-Japanese War in 1895, the Qing ceded the island, along with Penghu, to the Empire of Japan. Taiwan produced rice and sugar to be exported to the Empire of Japan, and also served as a base for the Japanese colonial expansion into Southeast Asia, Japanese imperial education was implemented in Taiwan and many Taiwanese also fought for Japan during the war. In 1945, following the end of World War II, the Republic of China, led by the Kuomintang, in 1949, after losing control of mainland China in the Chinese Civil War, the ROC government under the KMT withdrew to Taiwan and Chiang Kai-shek declared martial law. The KMT ruled Taiwan as a single-party state for forty years, until reforms in the 1980s. During the post-war period, Taiwan experienced rapid industrialization and economic growth, in the Late Pleistocene, sea levels were about 140 m lower than in the present day, exposing the floor of the shallow Taiwan Strait as a land bridge that was crossed by mainland fauna. The oldest evidence of presence on Taiwan consists of three cranial fragments and a molar tooth found at Chouqu and Gangzilin, in Zuozhen District. These are estimated to be between 20,000 and 30,000 years old. The oldest artifacts are chipped-pebble tools of a Paleolithic culture found in four caves in Changbin, Taitung, dated 15,000 to 5,000 years ago, and similar to contemporary sites in Fujian. The same culture is found at sites at Eluanbi on the tip of Taiwan. At the beginning of the Holocene 10,000 years ago, sea levels rose, forming the Taiwan Strait, around 3,000 BC, the Neolithic Dapenkeng culture abruptly appeared and quickly spread around the coast of the island. Their sites are characterized by pottery, polished stone adzes. The inhabitants cultivated rice and millet, but were heavily reliant on marine shells. Most scholars believe this culture is not derived from the Changbinian, some of these people later migrated from Taiwan to the islands of Southeast Asia and thence throughout the Pacific and Indian Oceans. The Dapenkeng culture was succeeded by a variety of cultures throughout the island, including the Tahu, iron appeared at the beginning of the current era in such cultures as the Niaosung Culture. The earliest metal artifacts were trade goods, but by around 400 AD wrought iron was being produced locally using bloomeries, early Chinese histories refer to visits to eastern islands that some historians identify with Taiwan
21.
Taiwan under Qing rule
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Taiwan under Qing rule refers to the rule of the Qing dynasty over Formosa and the Pescadores from 1683 to 1895. The Qing court sent an army led by general Shi Lang and it was governed as Taiwan Prefecture of Fujian Province until the declaration of Fujian-Taiwan Province in 1887. Qing rule over Taiwan ended when Taiwan was ceded to Japan by the Treaty of Shimonoseki in 1895, in 1683 following the Battle of Penghu, Qing troops landed in Taiwan. The Kangxi Emperor of the Qing dynasty annexed Taiwan to remove any threat to his dynasty from remaining resistance forces on the island, however, Qing authorities did not want to develop Taiwan over aggressively as this might have encouraged potential resistances force to build a base there. Accordingly, the early Qing dynasty initially ruled Taiwan passively as part of Fujian, in 1721, a Hakka-Fujianese rebellion led by Zhu Yigui captured Taiwan-fu and briefly established a government reminiscent of the Ming dynasty. In the immediate aftermath of Zhu Yigui rebellion, the desire to open up new land for cultivation saw government encouraging the expansion of Han Chinese migration to areas of the island. For instance, the population in the Tamsui area had grown to the point where the government needed a centre there. The government tried to build a centre with local aboriginal corvée labor, aboriginal groups split their loyalties —most joined the uprising, some remained loyal to the Qing, perhaps because they had pre-existing feuds with the other groups. The aboriginal revolt was put down within a few months with the arrival of additional troops, the Lin Shuangwen rebellion occurred in 1787–1788. Lin, who was an immigrant from Zhangzhou, had come to Taiwan with his father in the 1770s and he was involved in the secret Heaven and Earth Society whose origins are not clear. There was initial success in pushing government forces out of Lins home base in Changhua, by this point, the fighting was drawing in Zhangzhou people beyond just the society members, and activating the old feuds, this brought out Quanzhou networks on behalf of the government. Though they never again were serious to push out the government or encompass the whole island, feuds went on sporadically for most of the 19th century, there were more than a hundred rebellions during the early Qing. The frequency of rebellions, riots, and civil strife in Qing Taiwan is evoked by the saying every three years an uprising, every five years a rebellion. Some British and Americans advocated the annexation of Taiwan, in 1841 during the First Opium War in the Battle of Keelung the British attempted to attack in failed efforts three times against Keelung on the northeast coast of Taiwan under Qing rule. The ventures to seize Daan and Keelung by the British failed, the successful defense was directed by Yao Ying who led the Chinese naval forces on Taiwan. On Taiwan some British were taken as prisoners by the taotai Yao Ying, Indian and European crew members of the Nerbudda, a British ship, were captured on Taiwan after being abandoned by their British officers and were executed by local Qing officials. Portuguese, Indian, American, and European crew members of the Ann, another British ship, were shipwrecked in Tamsuis vicinity in March 1842, captured, at Tainan 197 of the Nerbudda and Anns crew were killed and due to causes related to imprisonment 87 others died. The Aboriginals often slaughtered the shipwrecked crews of western ships, in 1867 the entire American crew of the Rover were massacred by aboriginals in the Rover incident
22.
Republic of Formosa
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The Republic was proclaimed on 23 May 1895 and extinguished on 21 October, when the Republican capital Tainan was taken over by the Japanese. In 1894, China and Japan went to war, in a few short months the Japanese defeated Chinas Beiyang fleet, routed the Chinese armies in Manchuria, and captured Port Arthur and Weihaiwei. Although nearly all the fighting took place in northern China, Japan had important territorial ambitions in southern China. As the war approached its end, the Japanese took steps to ensure that Taiwan would be ceded to Japan under the peace treaty. In March 1895 peace negotiations between Japan and China opened in the Japanese city of Shimonoseki, although hostilities in northern China were suspended during these negotiations, Taiwan and the Pescadores were specifically excluded from the scope of the armistice. This exclusion allowed the Japanese to mount an operation against the Pescadores Islands in March 1895 without imperilling the negotiations. The Pescadores, lying midway between mainland China and Taiwan, were the key to an occupation of Taiwan. In a swift campaign in the last week of March the Japanese captured the islands and this brisk fait accompli influenced the peace negotiations, and the ensuing Treaty of Shimonoseki, concluded on 17 April 1895, duly provided for the cession by China of Taiwan to Japan. On 10 May, Admiral Kabayama Sukenori was appointed the first Japanese governor-general of Taiwan, when the news of the treatys contents reached Taiwan, a number of notables from central Taiwan led by Qiu Fengjia decided to resist the transfer of Taiwan to Japanese rule. On 23 May, in Taipei, these men declared independence, proclaiming the establishment of a free, Chiu was appointed Grand Commander of Militia, with the power to raise local militia units throughout the island to resist the Japanese. His job would be to sell the Republic abroad, davidsons version reads as follows, Official Declaration of Independence of the Republic of Formosa. The Japanese have affronted China by annexing our territory of Formosa, and the supplications of us and we now learn that the Japanese slaves are about to arrive. If we suffer this, the land of our hearths and homes will become the land of savages and barbarians, frequent conferences have been held with the Foreign Powers, who all aver that the People of Formosa must establish their independence before the Powers will assist them. Now therefore we, the People of Formosa, are resolved to die before we will serve the enemy. An official seal has been cut, and on the day of fifth moon, at the ssu hour, it will be publicly presented with all respect by the notables. A Declaration of the whole of Formosa, an announcement by the whole of Formosa. Since the island had already been ceded to Japan in the Treaty of Shimonoseki, there was therefore little sympathy in Europe for the Republic, despite its impeccably Parisian manifesto. During this period the empress dowager and her officials were not to offend Japan
23.
Taiwan under Japanese rule
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The short-lived Republic of Formosa resistance movement ended to no avail when it was suppressed by Japanese troops. The fall of Tainan ended organized resistance to Japanese occupation, the annexation of Taiwan into the Japanese Empire can be viewed as Japans first steps in implementing their Southern Expansion Doctrine of the late 19th century. Taiwan was Japans first overseas colony, Japanese intentions were to turn the island into a showpiece model colony. As a result, much effort was made to improve the economy, industry and public works. These efforts also served to support the necessities of the war machine of Japanese military aggression in the Asia-Pacific, on 17 March 1945, the Imperial Diet in Tokyo passed a reform bill to grant Formosan inhabitants the right to vote representatives into the House of Representatives. In other words, Formosans were granted rights in the Empire of Japan. Japan formally renounced rights to Taiwan in April 1952, Japan had sought to expand its imperial control over Taiwan since 1592, when Toyotomi Hideyoshi undertook a policy of overseas expansion and extending Japanese influence southward. Several attempts to invade Taiwan were unsuccessful, mainly due to disease, in 1609, the Tokugawa Shogunate sent Harunobu Arima on an exploratory mission of the island. In 1616, Murayama Toan led an invasion of the island. In November 1871,69 people on board a vessel from the Kingdom of Ryukyu were forced to land near the tip of Taiwan by strong winds. They had a conflict with local Paiwan aborigines and many were killed, in October 1872, Japan sought compensation from the Qing dynasty of China, claiming the Kingdom of Ryukyu was part of Japan. The Japanese refused to leave and asked if the Chinese government would punish those barbarians in Taiwan, the Qing authorities explained that there were two kinds of aborigines on Taiwan, those directly governed by the Qing, and those unnaturalized raw barbarians. Beyond the reach of Chinese culture, thus could not be directly regulated. They indirectly hinted that foreigners traveling in areas settled by indigenous people must exercise caution. The Qing also pointed to similar cases all over the world where a population within a national boundary was not under the influence of the dominant culture of that country. The Japanese nevertheless launched an expedition to Taiwan, with a force of 3,000 soldiers in April 1874, in May 1874, the Qing dynasty began to send in troops to reinforce the island. By the end of the year, the government of Japan decided to withdraw its forces after realizing Japan was still not ready for a war with China, the number of casualties for the Paiwan was about 30, and that for the Japanese was 543. By the 1890s, about 45 percent of Taiwan was under standard Chinese administration while the lightly populated regions of the interior were under aboriginal control
24.
History of Taiwan since 1945
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Taiwan after World War II refers to the history of the island of Taiwan under the rule of the government of the Republic of China from 25 October 1945 to the present. The Second World Wars hostilities came to a close on 2 September 1945, with the defeat of the Empire of Japan, after the establishment of the provincial executive office, Chen Yi was appointed Chief Executive. Chen proclaimed 25 October to be Retrocession Day, however, because Japan had not formally relinquished the sovereignty of Taiwan at that time, Allies of World War II did not recognize the unilateral annexation of Taiwan by the Republic of China. Chen Yis administration was marred by corruption, as well as a lack of discipline in the police assigned to occupation duties. With the rampant corruption in his administration, Chen Yi began to monopolize power, in addition to this, the islands post-war economy was failing and headed into a recession, causing people on the island to endure economic hardship. The building tensions erupted in 1947, when the arrest of a cigarette vendor by government agents led to the death of a bystander. Several weeks later, government troops were sent to Taiwan from the mainland to handle the crisis, after the February 28 Incident, the Kuomintang-led ROC government reorganized the local government, abolishing the Chief Executives Office, while establishing a new provincial government. Wey was succeeded as governor by Chen Cheng in 1949, in 1949, the Republic of China Armed Forces and the Kuomintang suffered a major defeat in the Chinese Civil War, forcing the Government of the Republic of China to relocate to Taiwan. This allowed the Communist Party of China to declare the establishment of a new Chinese state, all of this changed rapidly when the PRC intervened in the Korean War, which ruined any chance of normalizing relations with Washington for years. With mainland China now an enemy of the US, the latter extended a cautious olive branch to Taipei under the adage of the enemy of my enemy is my friend. The victorious Battle of Guningtou by the ROC forces against the communist forces helped to boost morale in the ROC Army, subsequently, the United States Seventh Fleet started to patrol the Taiwan Straits. By the 1950s, Sino-American Mutual Defense Treaty was signed and US provided Military Assistance, the US Army maintained a garrison force in Taiwan until its withdrawal in 1979. The Sino-American Mutual Defense Treaty was replaced by Taiwan Relations Act after 1979, up and until 1958, small-scale military campaigns between the ROC forces and PLA were carried out across the strait, which lasted until the Second Strait Crisis. From that point on, both sides of the strait have ceased all hostilities against each other. The government under the Kuomintang, through its enforcement of law, kept a powerful hold on the state. Because the Republic of China was under authoritarian rule, any perceived opposition to the government was considered illegal, Chiang for his part never fully trusted US intentions and was wary of excessively pro-American politicians. Despite his advancing age and questionable mental state, Chiang continued to hold onto power into the 1970s, the Republic of China entered into the development phase of Constitutional Democracy with the promulgation of the Constitution of the Republic of China in 1947. Subsequently, the National Revolutionary Army was also renamed as Republic of China Armed Forces and was nationalized, however, due to the Chinese Civil War, the Temporary Provisions Effective During the Period of Communist Rebellion was passed as amendment to the Constitution of the Republic of China
25.
Cultural history of Taiwan
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The cultural history of Taiwan can be traced back to prehistoric Stone Age. Later the development of languages made it easier to maintain traditions of the Taiwanese culture. The recorded history of Taiwanese culture mainly stemmed from traditional Chinese culture, although the culture of modern Taiwan is significantly affected by Japanese and American cultures, the values and traditions of the Taiwanese people are heavily based on Confucianist Han cultures. The cultures in Taiwans New Stone Age were all left by Austronesian people, however, there may be other settlers prior to the arrival of the Austronesian people. In addition, the plains aborigines influenced the beliefs, music and these aboriginal tribes include Ketagalan, Kavalan, Taokas, and Babuza peoples. However, over the course of three centuries of Han Chinese migrations to Taiwan, the distinctive cultures gradually disappeared, creating a cultural blend. The 1620s saw a turning point in Taiwans cultural history due to the introduction of the Sinckan Manuscripts. The written language was brought to Taiwan by Dutch missionaries, the prehistory of Taiwan was brought to an end as a result. As a result of Taiwans strategic position, many foreign powers were interested in establishing settlements in Taiwan, the Dutch East India Company invaded the Pescadores in 1622. After several battles with Ming forces, the Dutch agreed to retreat to the island of Taiwan, in 1624, the Dutch established a trading post in present-day Tainan City and built its political center at Fort Zeelandia. Due to the shortage of labor, the Dutch attracted Han migrants, as a result, the previous tribal society drastically changed. The Dutch were not the only European settlers in Taiwan, in 1626, the Spaniards established settlements in northern Taiwan. Fort San Salvador was built in present-day Keelung, later, they expanded their territory to present-day Yilan and Tamsui, and built Fort Santo Domingo, which still exists today. Spanish missionaries converted many aborigines to Catholicism, however, the Dutch attacked Spanish settlements in northern Taiwan in 1642, drove out the Spaniards, and occupied their territories. Han Taiwanese Timeline of Taiwanese history
26.
Economic history of Taiwan
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The recordkeeping and development of the economic history of Taiwan started in the Age of Discovery. In the 17th century, the Europeans realized that Taiwan is located on the cusp between the Far East and Southeast Asia. Two main European empires that competed to colonize it were the Dutch, Taiwan also became an intermediate destination for trade between Western European empires and East Asia states. The history of Taiwan as a colony of the Dutch Empire, Kingdom of Tungning, Qing China, in the 1950s, the Republic of China government, retreated to Taiwan after losing the Chinese Civil War, carried out land reform policies such as the 375 Rent Reduction. In the 1960s, the economy was replaced with light industry as small. From 1966 to 1980, Taiwans economy was stabilized as the Ten Major Construction Projects laid a foundation in further economic developments. After the 1980s, the role of government in the economy gradually lessened as many government-owned corporations were privatized, according to archaeological evidences, Taiwan has been inhabited by human since the late Upper Paleolithic. One of the first civilizations developed was the Changpin culture in southern Taiwan, many archaeological sites of Neolithic civilizations were found in the Taipei basin in northern Taiwan. The economic activities during this period, which cannot be described with detail as there was no language, were fishing, gathering. About 2,000 years ago, northern Taiwan entered the Bronze Age, iron metallurgy and advanced agricultural techniques strengthened economic activities. The Shihsanhang culture rose during this period and had weaving technology and it did not end until the arrival of Han Chinese about 1,000 years ago. Most scholars believe that the Shihsanhang culture represented the activities of the Taiwanese Plain Aborigines, although there is no evidence to support this, it is generally recognized that the Taiwanese aboriginal tribes economically relied on fishing, hunting, and pursued slash-and-burn agriculture. In the early 17th century, the Dutch East India Company originally only traded along the Pescadores, however, the Ming Dynasty claimed the archipelago to be part of its territory and drove out the Dutch. The Dutch were forced to retreat to the island of Taiwan. They established a trading post in Tayoan, the main purpose of the occupation of Taiwan was to trade with mainland China, Japan, Korea, and Southeast Asia, attempting to monopolizing trade in East Asia. The main Taiwanese resources that they exported were sugar, sika deerskin, deer meat, antlers, rattan, by 1658, the company exported sugar to Persia, Japan, and Jakarta and had about 35 trading posts in Asia. Tayoan gained 25. 6% profit, ranked second out of all of the Dutch trading posts, after Nagasaki, however, the profit was distributed to shareholders of the company, and not the local Taiwanese. At the time, the Japanese were also interested in activities in Taiwan
27.
History of education in Taiwan
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The recorded history of education in Taiwan can be traced back to the Dutch colonial period. In 1636, the Dutch started a school for the Sinckan people that not only featured religious instruction, because the Dutch advocated missionary work to be done in the native language, the school was taught in the Sinckan language. These would become important sources for later research, the most important Sinckan documents were the contracts between the Sinckan and the Han settlers. Under Qing dynasty rule, many schools were established, mostly studying Chinese classics such as the teachings of Confucius. Education was limited to the children of parents, as public. During the Japanese period school attendance for Taiwanese children increased from 3. 8% in 1904 to 71. 3% in 1943, in special cases Taiwanese did receive higher schooling and many went to Japan for further studies. During the first 20 years of Chinese Nationalist rule, mandatory schooling consisted of six years of school education. In 1968, this was extended to nine years
28.
History of Kaohsiung
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The written history of Kaohsiung can be traced back to the early 17th century, though archeological studies have found signs of human activity in the region from as long as 7000 years ago. Dutch settlers colonizing Taiwan in 1624 referred to the region as Tankoya, the first Chinese records of the region were written in 1603 by Chen Di, a member of Ming admiral Shen You-rongs expedition to rid the waters around Taiwan and Penghu of pirates. The modern name of 高雄 was not adopted until the Japanese colonial period in the late 19th, the earliest evidence of human activity in the Kaohsiung area dates back to roughly 4700–5200 years ago. Most of the remnants were located in the hills surrounding Kaohsiung Harbor. The prehistoric Dapenkeng, 牛稠子, Dahu, and Niasong civilizations were known to inhabit the region, unlike some other archeological sites in the area, the Longquan Temple ruins are relatively well preserved. Prehistoric artifacts discovered have suggested that the ancient Kaohsiung Harbor was originally a lagoon, some agricultural tools have also been discovered, suggesting that some agricultural activity was also present. Signs of more recent Han Chinese settlement have been found near the old city of Tsoying, artifacts discovered have included various types of ceramics and pottery believed to be of Chinese origin dating to the early Qing Dynasty, about 400 years ago. The Fengbitou civilization is representative of Neolithic civilizations found in the Taiwan area, the civilization is believed to have persisted for a very long period, with archeological digs finding artifacts buried in multiple layers. Fengbitou was originally submerged, with the coastline formed by falling sea levels. The ruins were discovered during the Japanese colonial period, along with those of other civilizations, the site has three major layers, Dapenkeng culture, marked by the appearance of characteristic pottery containing fine grains of sand, existed from 4700–5200 years ago. It is one of the earliest ruins discovered in Kaohsiung, pottery, stone tools, and evidents of human burials were found in the region. This society belongs to the 牛稠子文化層, and later the 大湖文化層 and its economy was based on agriculture, fishery, and hunting. Folklore holds that while anchored at Takau in 1563, Lin placed his treasure into eighteen and a half bamboo baskets, hiding them in the surrounding hills. Shortly after hearing this, Lin discovered a divine rooster while hunting in the hills, whose call could be heard for over 300 li and would cause all other roosters to call at the same time. Upon capturing the divine rooster, Lin handed it to his sister Jin-lien to care for, on the final night, Jin-lien was unable to sleep, sitting awake under a lamp with the divine rooster. At the hour of midnight, Jin-lien touched the rooster to pet it, upon hearing the rooster calling, Lin awoke and mistakenly thought that dawn had arrived, immediately firing off three divine arrows with his name towards the imperial capital in the northwest. Thinking he had succeeded, Lin went back to sleep dreaming that he had become emperor, the three arrows flew into the imperial palace, unerringly striking the dragon throne. However, as it was midnight, the throne was empty, the next morning, the emperor found the three arrows with Lins name on them stuck in his throne
29.
History of Taipei
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The region known as the Taipei basin was home to Ketagalan tribes before the 18th century. Han Chinese began to settle in the Taipei Basin in 1709, by the late 19th century, the area of present-day Taipei was home to northern Taiwans major Han settlements, in addition to the government-designated foreign trade port of Tamsui. The Taipei areas economic importance grew with increases in foreign trade, in 1875, the northern part of Taiwan was separated from Taiwan Prefecture and incorporated into the new Taipeh Prefecture. Having been established adjoining the flourishing townships of Bangkah and Twatutia, administratively, the area was part of Tamsui County and the prefectural capital. In 1879, a prohibition against the planting of rice within the city limits was issued. The remaining portions were offered for sale for building purposes, by the end of 1879, the four city gates were almost complete, an Examination Hall was entirely completed, and the Confucian Temple and the Prefects Yamen were under construction. All wealthy Chinese were compelled to contribute funds, but a large amount came from successful landowner Lim Pan-ban, in 1885, work started to create an independent Taiwan Province, which was officially declared in 1887. The capital of the island, or Taiwan-fu, was intended to be moved from the south to the center of the island, a new railway connecting the cities of Keelung and Taipeh became the earliest railroad system in China. However it did not achieve the original intent of connecting the new capital in central Taiwan to a coastal port such as Keelung in the north due to construction delays. The authorities also had difficulty subduing the population in central Taiwan. Taipeh remained the capital until the Japanese takeover in 1895. As settlement for losing the Sino-Japanese War, China ceded the island of Taiwan to Japan in 1895. During the Japanese era, Taipei, called Taihoku in Japanese, in less than a decade after the cession, Taihoku was one of the few places in the island that had already gone from a thoroughly Chinese appearance to a thoroughly Japanese city in every respect. Much of the architecture of Taipei dates from the Japanese era, in the early 20th century, a multitude of names were used to refer to the city and its suburbs. Taihoku proper was the part of the city within the city walls, the population was about 9,000, Twatutia was outside the walls, where European settlers lived. It stretched northward along the Tamsui River, which flows down to the port, Bangkah was inhabited by both Japanese and Chinese with a Chinese majority. The total population of all three cities combined was over 86,000, 83% Chinese and 17% Japanese, in 1901, Taihoku Chō was one of twenty districts established, and with a population of over 294,000, was the most populous district in the 1904 census. Taihoku was incorporated in 1920 as part of Taihoku Prefecture and it included Bangkah, Twatutia, and Jōnai among other small settlements
30.
Geography of Taiwan
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Taiwan is an island in East Asia, located some 180 kilometres off the southeastern coast of mainland China across the Taiwan Strait. It has an area of 35,883 km2 and spans the Tropic of Cancer, the East China Sea lies to the north, the Philippine Sea to the east, the Luzon Strait directly to the south and the South China Sea to the southwest. There are several peaks over 3,500 m, the highest being Yu Shan at 3,952 metres, the tectonic boundary that formed these ranges is still active, and the island experiences many earthquakes, a few of them highly destructive. There are also many active volcanoes in the Taiwan Straits. The climate ranges from tropical in the south to subtropical in the north, the island is struck by an average of four typhoons in each year. The eastern mountains are forested and home to a diverse range of wildlife. The total area of the island is 36,193 km2 and it has a coastline of 1,139 km. The ROC claims an economic zone of 200 nmi and a territorial sea of 12 nmi. The main island of the archipelago is the island of Taiwan, the central point of the island is the Geographic Center of Taiwan in Puli Township, Nantou County. The southernmost point of the island is the Taiwan Southernmost Point in Hengchun Township, the island of Taiwan is separated from the southeast coast of China by the Taiwan Strait, which ranges from 220 km at its widest point to 130 km at its narrowest. Part of the shelf, the Strait is no more than 100 m deep. To the south, the island of Taiwan is separated from the Philippine island of Luzon by the 250 km -wide Luzon Strait, the South China Sea lies to the southwest, the East China Sea to the north, and the Philippine Sea to the east. The island of Taiwan was formed approximately 4 to 5 million years ago at a convergent boundary between the Philippine Sea Plate and the Eurasian Plate. In a boundary running the length of the island and continuing southwards in the Luzon Volcanic Arc, most of the island comprises a huge fault block tilted to the west. The western part of the island, and much of the central range, in the northeast of the island, and continuing eastwards in the Ryukyu Volcanic Arc, the Philippine Sea Plate slides under the Eurasian Plate. The tectonic boundary remains active, and Taiwan experiences 15,000 to 18,000 earthquakes each year, of which 800 to 1,000 are noticed by people. The most catastrophic recent earthquake was the magnitude-7.3 Chi-Chi earthquake, on 4 March 2010 at about 01,20 UTC, a magnitude 6.4 earthquake hit southwestern Taiwan in the mountainous area of Kaohsiung County. Another major earthquake occurred on 6 February 2016, with a magnitude of 6.4, Tainan was damaged the most, with 117 deaths, most of them caused by the collapse of a 17-story apartment building
31.
World War II
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World War II, also known as the Second World War, was a global war that lasted from 1939 to 1945, although related conflicts began earlier. It involved the vast majority of the worlds countries—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing alliances, the Allies and the Axis. It was the most widespread war in history, and directly involved more than 100 million people from over 30 countries. Marked by mass deaths of civilians, including the Holocaust and the bombing of industrial and population centres. These made World War II the deadliest conflict in human history, from late 1939 to early 1941, in a series of campaigns and treaties, Germany conquered or controlled much of continental Europe, and formed the Axis alliance with Italy and Japan. Under the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact of August 1939, Germany and the Soviet Union partitioned and annexed territories of their European neighbours, Poland, Finland, Romania and the Baltic states. In December 1941, Japan attacked the United States and European colonies in the Pacific Ocean, and quickly conquered much of the Western Pacific. The Axis advance halted in 1942 when Japan lost the critical Battle of Midway, near Hawaii, in 1944, the Western Allies invaded German-occupied France, while the Soviet Union regained all of its territorial losses and invaded Germany and its allies. During 1944 and 1945 the Japanese suffered major reverses in mainland Asia in South Central China and Burma, while the Allies crippled the Japanese Navy, thus ended the war in Asia, cementing the total victory of the Allies. World War II altered the political alignment and social structure of the world, the United Nations was established to foster international co-operation and prevent future conflicts. The victorious great powers—the United States, the Soviet Union, China, the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union and the United States emerged as rival superpowers, setting the stage for the Cold War, which lasted for the next 46 years. Meanwhile, the influence of European great powers waned, while the decolonisation of Asia, most countries whose industries had been damaged moved towards economic recovery. Political integration, especially in Europe, emerged as an effort to end pre-war enmities, the start of the war in Europe is generally held to be 1 September 1939, beginning with the German invasion of Poland, Britain and France declared war on Germany two days later. The dates for the beginning of war in the Pacific include the start of the Second Sino-Japanese War on 7 July 1937, or even the Japanese invasion of Manchuria on 19 September 1931. Others follow the British historian A. J. P. Taylor, who held that the Sino-Japanese War and war in Europe and its colonies occurred simultaneously and this article uses the conventional dating. Other starting dates sometimes used for World War II include the Italian invasion of Abyssinia on 3 October 1935. The British historian Antony Beevor views the beginning of World War II as the Battles of Khalkhin Gol fought between Japan and the forces of Mongolia and the Soviet Union from May to September 1939, the exact date of the wars end is also not universally agreed upon. It was generally accepted at the time that the war ended with the armistice of 14 August 1945, rather than the formal surrender of Japan
32.
Dutch Republic
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It preceded the Batavian Republic, the Kingdom of Holland, the United Kingdom of the Netherlands, and ultimately the modern Kingdom of the Netherlands. Alternative names include the United Provinces, Seven Provinces, Federated Dutch Provinces, most of the Low Countries had come under the rule of the House of Burgundy and subsequently the House of Habsburg. In 1549 Holy Roman Emperor Charles V issued the Pragmatic Sanction, Charles was succeeded by his son, King Philip II of Spain. This was the start of the Eighty Years War, in 1579 a number of the northern provinces of the Low Countries signed the Union of Utrecht, in which they promised to support each other in their defence against the Spanish army. This was followed in 1581 by the Act of Abjuration, the declaration of independence of the provinces from Philip II. In 1582 the United Provinces invited Francis, Duke of Anjou to lead them, but after an attempt to take Antwerp in 1583. After the assassination of William of Orange, both Henry III of France and Elizabeth I of England declined the offer of sovereignty, however, the latter agreed to turn the United Provinces into a protectorate of England, and sent the Earl of Leicester as governor-general. This was unsuccessful and in 1588 the provinces became a confederacy, the Union of Utrecht is regarded as the foundation of the Republic of the Seven United Provinces, which was not recognized by the Spanish Empire until the Peace of Westphalia in 1648. During the Anglo-French war, the territory was divided into groups, the Patriots, who were pro-French and pro-American and the Orangists. The Republic of the United Provinces faced a series of revolutions in 1783–1787. During this period, republican forces occupied several major Dutch cities, initially on the defence, the Orangist forces received aid from Prussian troops and retook the Netherlands in 1787. After the French Republic became the French Empire under Napoleon, the Batavian Republic was replaced by the Napoleonic Kingdom of Holland, the Netherlands regained independence from France in 1813. In the Anglo-Dutch Treaty of 1814 the names United Provinces of the Netherlands, on 16 March 1815, the son of stadtholder William V crowned himself King William I of the Netherlands. Between 1815 and 1890 the King of the Netherlands was also in a union the Grand Duke of the sovereign Grand Duchy of Luxembourg. After Belgium gained its independence in 1830, the state became known as the Kingdom of the Netherlands. The County of Holland was the wealthiest and most urbanized region in the world, the free trade spirit of the time received a strong augmentation through the development of a modern, effective stock market in the Low Countries. The Netherlands has the oldest stock exchange in the world, founded in 1602 by the Dutch East India Company, while Rotterdam has the oldest bourse in the Netherlands, the worlds first stock exchange, that of the Dutch East-India Company, went public in six different cities. Later, a court ruled that the company had to reside legally in a city so Amsterdam is recognized as the oldest such institution based on modern trading principles
33.
Dutch East India Company
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It is often considered to be the worlds first truly transnational corporation and the first company in history to actually issue bonds and shares of stock to the general public. In other words, the VOC was officially the first publicly traded company of the world, the company was also considered by many to be the very first major and the greatest corporation in history. Statistically, the VOC eclipsed all of its rivals in international trade for almost 200 years of existence. Between 1602 and 1796 the VOC sent almost a million Europeans to work in the Asia trade on 4,785 ships, the VOC enjoyed huge profits from its spice monopoly through most of the 17th century. Having been set up in 1602, to profit from the Malukan spice trade, in 1619 the VOC established a capital in the city of Jayakarta. Over the next two centuries the Company acquired additional ports as trading bases and safeguarded their interests by taking over surrounding territory and it remained an important trading concern and paid an 18% annual dividend for almost 200 years. Around the world and especially in English-speaking countries, the VOC is widely known as the Dutch East India Company, the name ‘Dutch East India Company’ is used to make a distinction with the East India Company and other East Indian companies. The abbreviation VOC stands for Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie or Verenigde Oostindische Compagnie in Dutch, the VOC monogram was possibly the first globally-recognized corporate logo. The logo of the VOC consisted of a large capital V with an O on the left and it appeared on various corporate items, such as cannon and coins. The first letter of the hometown of the conducting the operation was placed on top. An Australian vintner has used the VOC logo since the late 20th century, the flag of the company was orange, white, and blue, with the company logo embroidered on it. Before the Dutch Revolt, Antwerp had played an important role as a centre in northern Europe. At the same time, the Portuguese trade system was unable to supply to satisfy growing demand. Demand for spices was relatively inelastic, and therefore each lag in the supply of pepper caused a rise in pepper prices. These three factors motivated Dutch merchants to enter the spice trade themselves. Further, a number of Dutchmen like Jan Huyghen van Linschoten and Cornelis de Houtman obtained first hand knowledge of the secret Portuguese trade routes and practices, thereby providing opportunity. The stage was set for Houtmans 1595 four-ship exploratory expedition to Banten, the main pepper port of West Java. Houtmans expedition then sailed east along the north coast of Java, losing twelve crew to a Javanese attack at Sidayu, half the crew were lost before the expedition made it back to the Netherlands the following year, but with enough spices to make a considerable profit
34.
Ming dynasty
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The Ming dynasty was the ruling dynasty of China – then known as the Empire of the Great Ming – for 276 years following the collapse of the Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming, described by some as one of the greatest eras of orderly government, although the primary capital of Beijing fell in 1644 to a rebellion led by Li Zicheng, regimes loyal to the Ming throne – collectively called the Southern Ming – survived until 1683. He rewarded his supporters and employed them as a counterweight against the Confucian scholar-bureaucrats. One, Zheng He, led seven enormous voyages of exploration into the Indian Ocean as far as Arabia, the rise of new emperors and new factions diminished such extravagances, the capture of the Zhengtong Emperor during the 1449 Tumu Crisis ended them completely. The imperial navy was allowed to fall into disrepair while forced labor constructed the Liaodong palisade, haijin laws intended to protect the coasts from Japanese pirates instead turned many into smugglers and pirates themselves. The growth of Portuguese, Spanish, and Dutch trade created new demand for Chinese products and produced an influx of Japanese. This abundance of specie remonetized the Ming economy, whose money had suffered repeated hyperinflation and was no longer trusted. While traditional Confucians opposed such a prominent role for commerce and the newly rich it created, combined with crop failure, floods, and epidemic, the dynasty collapsed before the rebel leader Li Zicheng, who was defeated by the Manchu-led Eight Banner armies who founded the Qing dynasty. The Mongol-led Yuan dynasty ruled before the establishment of the Ming dynasty, consequently, agriculture and the economy were in shambles, and rebellion broke out among the hundreds of thousands of peasants called upon to work on repairing the dykes of the Yellow River. A number of Han Chinese groups revolted, including the Red Turbans in 1351, the Red Turbans were affiliated with the White Lotus, a Buddhist secret society. Zhu Yuanzhang was a peasant and Buddhist monk who joined the Red Turbans in 1352. In 1356, Zhus rebel force captured the city of Nanjing, with the Yuan dynasty crumbling, competing rebel groups began fighting for control of the country and thus the right to establish a new dynasty. In 1363, Zhu Yuanzhang eliminated his archrival and leader of the rebel Han faction, Chen Youliang, in the Battle of Lake Poyang, arguably the largest naval battle in history. Known for its ambitious use of ships, Zhus force of 200,000 Ming sailors were able to defeat a Han rebel force over triple their size, claimed to be 650. The victory destroyed the last opposing rebel faction, leaving Zhu Yuanzhang in uncontested control of the bountiful Yangtze River Valley, Zhu Yuanzhang took Hongwu, or Vastly Martial, as his era name. Hongwu made an effort to rebuild state infrastructure. He built a 48 km long wall around Nanjing, as well as new palaces, Hongwu organized a military system known as the weisuo, which was similar to the fubing system of the Tang dynasty. With a growing suspicion of his ministers and subjects, Hongwu established the Jinyiwei, some 100,000 people were executed in a series of purges during his rule
35.
Portuguese Empire
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The Portuguese Empire, also known as the Portuguese Overseas, was one of the largest and longest-lived empires in world history and the first colonial empire. It existed for almost six centuries from the capture of Ceuta in 1415 to the grant of sovereignty to East Timor in 2002, the first era of the Portuguese empire originated at the beginning of the Age of Discovery. Initiated by the Kingdom of Portugal, it would eventually expand across the globe, in 1488, Bartolomeu Dias rounded the Cape of Good Hope, and in 1498, Vasco da Gama reached India. In 1500, either by an accidental landfall or by the secret design. Over the following decades, Portuguese sailors continued to explore the coasts and islands of East Asia, establishing forts, by 1571, a string of naval outposts connected Lisbon to Nagasaki along the coasts of Africa, the Middle East, India and South Asia. This commercial network and the trade had a substantial positive impact on Portuguese economic growth. Though the realms continued to be administered separately, the Council of Portugal ruled the country and its empire from Madrid. As the King of Spain was also King of Portugal, Portuguese colonies became the subject of attacks by three rival European powers hostile to Spain, the Dutch Republic, England, and France. With its smaller population, Portugal was unable to defend its overstretched network of trading posts. Eventually, Brazil became the most valuable colony of the era until, as part of the wave of independence movements that swept the Americas during the early 19th century. The third era represents the stage of Portuguese colonialism after the decolonization of the Americas of the 1820s. The colonial possessions had been reduced to the African coastline, Portuguese Timor, the disastrous 1890 British Ultimatum led to the contraction of Portuguese ambitions in Africa. Macau was returned to China in 1999, the origin of the Kingdom of Portugal lay in the reconquista, the gradual reconquest of the Iberian peninsula from the Moors. There were several motives for their first attack, on the Marinid Sultanate. In 1415 an attack was made on Ceuta, a strategically located North African Muslim enclave along the Mediterranean Sea, although Ceuta proved to be a disappointment for the Portuguese, the decision was taken to hold it while exploring along the Atlantic African coast. At the time, Europeans did not know what lay beyond Cape Bojador on the African coast, under his sponsorship, soon the Atlantic islands of Madeira and Azores were reached and started to be settled producing wheat to export to Portugal. Fears of what lay beyond Cape Bojador, and whether it was possible to return once it was passed, were assuaged in 1434 when it was rounded by one of Infante Henrys captains, Gil Eanes. Once this psychological barrier had been crossed, it became easier to further along the coast
36.
Spanish Empire
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The Spanish Empire was one of the largest empires in history. The Spanish Empire became the foremost global power of its time and was the first to be called the empire on which the sun never sets, the Spanish Empire originated during the Age of Discovery after the voyages of Christopher Columbus. Following the Spanish–American War of 1898, Spain ceded its last colonies in the Caribbean and its last African colonies were granted independence or abandoned during Decolonisation of Africa finishing in 1976. The unity did not mean uniformity, nevertheless, some historians assert that Portugal was part of the Spanish monarchy at the time, while others draw a clear distinction between the Portuguese and Spanish empires. During the 15th century, Castile and Portugal became territorial and commercial rivals in the western Atlantic. The conquest was completed with the campaigns of the armies of the Crown of Castile between 1478 and 1496, when the islands of Gran Canaria, La Palma, and Tenerife were subjugated. The Portuguese tried in vain to keep secret their discovery of the Gold Coast in the Gulf of Guinea, chronicler Pulgar wrote that the fame of the treasures of Guinea spread around the ports of Andalusia in such way that everybody tried to go there. Worthless trinkets, Moorish textiles, and above all, shells from the Canary and Cape Verde islands were exchanged for gold, slaves, ivory and Guinea pepper. The Crown officially organized this trade with Guinea, every caravel had to get a government license, the treaty delimited the spheres of influence of the two countries, establishing the principle of the Mare clausum. It was confirmed in 1481 by the Pope Sixtus IV, in the papal bull Æterni regis, thus, the limitations imposed by the Alcáçovas treaty were overcome and a new and more balanced worlds division would be reached at Tordesillas between both emerging maritime powers. Seven months before the treaty of Alcaçovas, King John II of Aragon died, Ferdinand and Isabella drove the last Moorish king out of Granada in 1492 after a ten-year war. The Catholic Monarchs then negotiated with Christopher Columbus, a Genoese sailor attempting to reach Cipangu by sailing west, Castile was already engaged in a race of exploration with Portugal to reach the Far East by sea when Columbus made his bold proposal to Isabella. Columbus discoveries inaugurated the Spanish colonization of the Americas and these actions gave Spain exclusive rights to establish colonies in all of the New World from north to south, as well as the easternmost parts of Asia. The treaty of Tordesillas was confirmed by Pope Julius II in the bull Ea quae pro bono pacis on 24 January 1506, Spains expansion and colonization was driven by economic influences, a yearning to improve national prestige, and a desire to spread Catholicism into the New World. The Catholic Monarchs had developed a strategy of marriages for their children in order to isolate their long-time enemy, the Spanish princes married the heirs of Portugal, England and the House of Habsburg. Following the same strategy, the Catholic Monarchs decided to support the Catalan-Aragonese house of Naples against Charles VIII of France in the Italian Wars beginning in 1494. As King of Aragon, Ferdinand had been involved in the struggle against France and Venice for control of Italy, these conflicts became the center of Ferdinands foreign policy as king. Only a year later, Ferdinand became part of the Holy League against France and this war was less of a success than the war against Venice, and in 1516, France agreed to a truce that left Milan in its control and recognized Spanish control of Upper Navarre
37.
East Asia
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East Asia is the eastern subregion of the Asian continent, which can be defined in either geographical or ethno-cultural terms. Geographically and geopolitically, it includes China, Taiwan, Mongolia, Korea and Japan, it covers about 12,000,000 km2, or about 28% of the Asian continent, the East Asian people comprise more than 1.5 billion people. About 38% of the population of Asia and 22%, or over one fifth, the overall population density of the region is 133 inhabitants per square kilometre, about three times the world average of 45/km2. Historically, societies in East Asia have been part of the Chinese cultural sphere, major religions include Buddhism, Confucianism or Neo-Confucianism, Taoism, Chinese folk religion in China and Taiwan, Shinto in Japan, Korean shamanism in Korea. Shamanism is also prevalent among Mongolians and other populations of northern East Asia. The Chinese calendar is the root from which many other East Asian calendars are derived, Chinese Dynasties dominated the region in matters of culture, trade, and exploration as well as militarily for a very long time. There are records of tributes sent overseas from the kingdoms of Korea. There were also considerable levels of cultural and religious exchange between the Chinese and other regional Dynasties and Kingdoms, as connections began to strengthen with the Western world, Chinas power began to diminish. Around the same time, Japan solidified itself as a nation state, throughout World War II, Korea, Taiwan, much of eastern China, Hong Kong, and Vietnam all fell under Japanese control. Culturally, China, Japan, Korea, Taiwan and Vietnam are commonly seen as being encompassed by cultural East Asia, there are mixed debates around the world whether these countries or regions should be considered in East Asia or not. Vietnam Siberia in Russia Sovereignty issues exist over some territories in the South China Sea, however, in this context, the term Far East is often more appropriate which covers ASEAN countries and the countries in East Asia. However, being a Eurocentric term, Far East describes the geographical position in relation to Europe rather than its location within Asia. Alternatively, the term Asia Pacific Region is often used in describing East Asia and this usage, which is seen in economic and diplomatic discussions, is at odds with the historical meanings of both East Asia and Northeast Asia. The Council on Foreign Relations defines Northeast Asia as Japan and Korea, the military and economic superpower of China became the largest economy in the world in 2014, surpassing the United States of America. Currently in East Asia, trading systems are open, and zero or low duties on imports of consumer and capital goods etc. have considerably helped stimulate cost-efficiency. Free and flexible labor and other markets are important factors making for high levels of business-economic performance. East Asian populations have demonstrated highly positive work ethics, there are relatively large and fast-growing markets for consumer goods and services of all kinds. The culture of East Asia has been influenced by the civilisation of China, East Asia, as well as Vietnam, share a Confucian ethical philosophy, Buddhism, political and legal structures, and historically a common writing system
38.
Deer
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Deer are the ruminant mammals forming the family Cervidae. The two main groups are the Cervinae, including the muntjac, the deer and the chital, and the Capreolinae, including the elk, reindeer, the Western roe deer. Female reindeer, and male deer of all species, grow, in this they differ from permanently horned antelope, which are in the same order, Artiodactyla. The musk deer of Asia and water chevrotain of tropical African and Asian forests are not usually regarded as true deer and form their own families, Moschidae and Tragulidae, respectively. Deer appear in art from Palaeolithic cave paintings onwards, and they have played a role in mythology, religion and their economic importance includes the use of their meat as venison, their skins as soft, strong buckskin, and their antlers as handles for knives. Deer hunting has been a sport since at least the Middle Ages. Deer live in a variety of biomes, ranging from tundra to the tropical rainforest, while often associated with forests, many deer are ecotone species that live in transitional areas between forests and thickets and prairie and savanna. The majority of deer species inhabit temperate mixed deciduous forest, mountain mixed coniferous forest, tropical seasonal/dry forest. Clearing open areas within forests to some extent may actually benefit deer populations by exposing the understory and allowing the types of grasses, weeds, additionally, access to adjacent croplands may also benefit deer. However, adequate forest or brush cover must still be provided for populations to grow, however, fallow deer have been introduced to South Africa. There are also species of deer that are highly specialized, and live almost exclusively in mountains, grasslands, swamps. Some deer have a distribution in both North America and Eurasia. Examples include the caribou that live in Arctic tundra and taiga and moose that inhabit taiga, huemul deer of South Americas Andes fill the ecological niches of the ibex and wild goat, with the fawns behaving more like goat kids. Mountain slope habitats vary from moist coniferous/mixed forested habitats to dry forests with alpine meadows higher up. The foothills and river valleys between the mountain provide a mosaic of cropland and deciduous parklands. The rare woodland caribou have the most restricted range living at altitudes in the subalpine meadows. Elk and mule deer both migrate between the alpine meadows and lower coniferous forests and tend to be most common in this region, elk also inhabit river valley bottomlands, which they share with White-tailed deer. They also live in the aspen parklands north of Calgary and Edmonton, the adjacent Great Plains grassland habitats are left to herds of elk, American bison, and pronghorn antelope
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Rice
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Rice is the seed of the grass species Oryza sativa or Oryza glaberrima. As a cereal grain, it is the most widely consumed staple food for a part of the worlds human population. It is the agricultural commodity with the third-highest worldwide production, after sugarcane and maize, wild rice, from which the crop was developed, may have its native range in Australia. Chinese legends attribute the domestication of rice to Shennong, the emperor of China. Genetic evidence has shown that rice originates from a single domestication 8, previously, archaeological evidence had suggested that rice was domesticated in the Yangtze River valley region in China. From East Asia, rice was spread to Southeast and South Asia, Rice was introduced to Europe through Western Asia, and to the Americas through European colonization. There are many varieties of rice and culinary preferences tend to vary regionally, in some areas such as the Far East or Spain, there is a preference for softer and stickier varieties. Rice, a monocot, is grown as an annual plant, although in tropical areas it can survive as a perennial. The rice plant can grow to 1–1.8 m tall, occasionally more depending on the variety and it has long, slender leaves 50–100 cm long and 2–2.5 cm broad. The small wind-pollinated flowers are produced in a branched arching to pendulous inflorescence 30–50 cm long, the edible seed is a grain 5–12 mm long and 2–3 mm thick. Rice cultivation is well-suited to countries and regions with low costs and high rainfall, as it is labor-intensive to cultivate. However, rice can be grown practically anywhere, even on a hill or mountain area with the use of water-controlling terrace systems. Although its parent species are native to Asia and certain parts of Africa, centuries of trade, the traditional method for cultivating rice is flooding the fields while, or after, setting the young seedlings. The name wild rice is used for species of the genera Zizania and Porteresia. The Greek word is the source of all European words, the origin of the Greek word is unclear. It is sometimes held to be from the Tamil word அரிசி, however, Krishnamurti disagrees with the notion that Old Tamil arici is the source of the Greek term, and proposes that it was borrowed from descendants of Proto-Dravidian *wariñci instead. The varieties of rice are typically classified as long-, medium-, the grains of long-grain rice tend to remain intact after cooking, medium-grain rice becomes more sticky. Medium-grain rice is used for dishes, for risotto in Italy
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Sugarcane
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It has stout, jointed, fibrous stalks that are rich in the sugar sucrose, which accumulates in the stalk internodes. The plant is two to six meters tall, all sugar cane species interbreed and the major commercial cultivars are complex hybrids. Sugarcane belongs to the grass family Poaceae, an important seed plant family that includes maize, wheat, rice, and sorghum. Sucrose, extracted and purified in specialized factories, is used as raw material in the food industry or is fermented to produce ethanol. Ethanol is produced on a large scale by the Brazilian sugarcane industry, sugarcane is the worlds largest crop by production quantity. In 2012, The Food and Agriculture Organization estimates it was cultivated on about 26×106 hectares, in more than 90 countries, Brazil was the largest producer of sugar cane in the world. The next five major producers, in decreasing amounts of production, were India, China, Thailand, Pakistan, the world demand for sugar is the primary driver of sugarcane agriculture. Cane accounts for 80% of sugar produced, most of the rest is made from sugar beets, sugarcane predominantly grows in the tropical and subtropical regions. Other than sugar, products derived from sugarcane include falernum, molasses, rum, cachaça, bagasse, in some regions, people use sugarcane reeds to make pens, mats, screens, and thatch. The young, unexpanded inflorescence of tebu telor is eaten raw, steamed, or toasted, the Persians, followed by the Greeks, discovered the famous reeds that produce honey without bees in India between the 6th and 4th centuries BC. They adopted and then spread sugarcane agriculture, merchants began to trade in sugar from India, which was considered a luxury and an expensive spice. Sugarcane is a tropical, perennial grass that forms lateral shoots at the base to produce multiple stems, the stems grow into cane stalk, which when mature constitutes around 75% of the entire plant. A mature stalk is composed of 11–16% fiber, 12–16% soluble sugars, 2–3% nonsugars. A sugarcane crop is sensitive to the climate, soil type, irrigation, fertilizers, insects, disease control, varieties, the average yield of cane stalk is 60–70 tonnes per hectare per year. However, this figure can vary between 30 and 180 tonnes per hectare depending on knowledge and crop management approach used in sugarcane cultivation, sugarcane is a cash crop, but it is also used as livestock fodder. Sugarcane is indigenous to tropical South and Southeast Asia, different species likely originated in different locations, with Saccharum barberi originating in India and S. edule and S. officinarum in New Guinea. It is theorized that sugarcane was first domesticated as a crop in New Guinea around 6000 BC, New Guinean farmers and other early cultivators of sugarcane chewed the plant for its sweet juice. The exact date of the first cane sugar production is unclear, the earliest evidence of sugar production comes from ancient Sanskrit and Pali texts
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Han Chinese
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The Han Chinese, Han people or simply Han are an ethnic group native to East Asia. They constitute approximately 92% of the population of China, 95% of Taiwan, 76% of Singapore, 23% of Malaysia, Han Chinese are the worlds largest ethnic group with over 1.3 billion people. Similarly, the Chinese language also came to be named the Han language ever since, in the Oxford Dictionary, the Han are defined as The dominant ethnic group in China. In the Encyclopedia of the Peoples of Asia and Oceania, the Han are called the dominant population in China, as well as in Taiwan, according to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, the Han are the Chinese peoples especially as distinguished from non-Chinese elements in the population. The name Hanzhong, in turn, was derived from the Han River, which flows through the regions plains. The river, in turn, derives its name from such as Tianhan, Yinhan, Xinghan or Yunhan, all ancient Chinese poetic nicknames for the Milky Way. This gave rise to a commonly used nowadays by overseas Chinese for ethnic identity – Huaren. The term is used in conversation and is also an element in the Cantonese word for Chinatown. The vast majority of Han Chinese – over 1.2 billion of them – live in areas under the jurisdiction of the Peoples Republic of China, where they constitute about 92% of its population. Han Chinese also constitute the majority in both of the administrative regions of the PRC—about 95% and 96% of the population of Hong Kong and Macau. There are over 22 million Han Chinese in Taiwan, they began migrating from the coastal provinces of mainland China to Taiwan during the 13th to 17th century. At first, these migrants chose to settle in locations that bore a resemblance to the areas they had left behind in mainland China, hoklo immigrants from Quanzhou settled in coastal regions, and those from Zhangzhou tended to gather on inland plains, while the Hakka inhabited hilly areas. Clashes between these groups over land, water, and cultural differences led to the relocation of some communities, of about 40 million overseas Chinese worldwide, nearly 30 million live in Southeast Asia. They are collectively called Nanyang Chinese, according to a population genetic study, Singapore is the country with the biggest proportion of Hans in Southeast Asia. Up until the past few decades, overseas Han communities originated predominantly from areas in southern China, christmas Island has a Chinese majority at 70%, large Chinese populations also live in Malaysia and Thailand. Prior to the 1965 split, Malaysia and Singapore used to have the largest overseas Chinese population in the world and this position has since been taken by Thailand. The prehistory of the Han ethnic group is closely intertwined with both records and mythology. Han Chinese trace their ancestry from a confederation of late neolithic/early bronze-age agricultural tribes that lived along the Guanzhong, the Yellow Emperor is traditionally credited to have united with the neighbouring Shennong tribes after defeating their leader, Flame Emperor, at the Battle of Banquan
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Taiwanese aborigines
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Taiwanese aborigines is the term commonly applied to the indigenous peoples of Taiwan, who number more than 530,000 and constitute nearly 2. 3% of the islands population. Recent research suggests their ancestors may have been living on Taiwan for approximately 8,000 years in isolation before a major Han immigration began in the 17th century. The issue of an ethnic identity unconnected to the Asian mainland has become one thread in the discourse regarding the status of Taiwan. For centuries, Taiwans aboriginal inhabitants experienced economic competition and military conflict with a series of colonizing newcomers, for example, of the approximately 26 known languages of the Taiwanese aborigines, at least ten are now extinct, five are moribund, and several are to some degree endangered. These languages are of historical significance, since most historical linguists consider Taiwan to be the original homeland of the Austronesian language family. Taiwans Austronesian speakers were distributed over much of the islands rugged central mountain range and were concentrated in villages along the alluvial plains. The bulk of contemporary Taiwanese aborigines now live in the mountains, the indigenous peoples of Taiwan face economic and social barriers, including a high unemployment rate and substandard education. Since the early 1980s, many groups have been actively seeking a higher degree of political self-determination. The revival of pride is expressed in many ways by aborigines. Efforts are under way in indigenous communities to revive traditional cultural practices, the Austronesian Cultural Festival in Taitung City is one means by which tribe members promote aboriginal culture. For most of their history, Taiwanese aborigines have been defined by the agents of different Confucian, Christian. Taxonomies imposed by colonizing forces divided the aborigines into named subgroups and these divisions did not always correspond to distinctions drawn by the aborigines themselves. This designation reflected the idea that anyone could be civilized/tamed by adopting Confucian social norms. During Japanese rule, anthropologists from Japan maintained the binary classification, the Musha incident of 1930 led to many changes in aboriginal policy, and the Japanese government began referring to them as Takasago-zoku. The latter group included the Atayal, Bunun, Tsou, Saisiat, Paiwan, Puyuma, the Yami and Rukai were added later, for a total of nine recognized tribes. The KMT later adopted the use of all the earlier Japanese groupings except Peipo, the current recognized aborigines are all regarded as Gaoshan, though the divisions are not and have never been based strictly on geographical location. The Amis, Saisiat, Tao and Kavalan are all traditionally Eastern Plains cultures, the distinction between Pingpu and Gaoshan people continues to affect Taiwans policies regarding indigenous peoples, and their ability to participate effectively in government. The earliest detailed records, dating from the Dutch arrival in 1624, between these villages there was frequent trade, intermarriage, warfare and alliances against common enemies
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Christianity
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Christianity is a Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ, who serves as the focal point for the religion. It is the worlds largest religion, with over 2.4 billion followers, or 33% of the global population, Christians believe that Jesus is the Son of God and the savior of humanity whose coming as the Messiah was prophesied in the Old Testament. Christian theology is summarized in creeds such as the Apostles Creed and his incarnation, earthly ministry, crucifixion, and resurrection are often referred to as the gospel, meaning good news. The term gospel also refers to accounts of Jesuss life and teaching, four of which—Matthew, Mark, Luke. Christianity is an Abrahamic religion that began as a Second Temple Judaic sect in the mid-1st century, following the Age of Discovery, Christianity spread to the Americas, Australasia, sub-Saharan Africa, and the rest of the world through missionary work and colonization. Christianity has played a prominent role in the shaping of Western civilization, throughout its history, Christianity has weathered schisms and theological disputes that have resulted in many distinct churches and denominations. Worldwide, the three largest branches of Christianity are the Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church, and the denominations of Protestantism. There are many important differences of interpretation and opinion of the Bible, concise doctrinal statements or confessions of religious beliefs are known as creeds. They began as baptismal formulae and were expanded during the Christological controversies of the 4th and 5th centuries to become statements of faith. Many evangelical Protestants reject creeds as definitive statements of faith, even agreeing with some or all of the substance of the creeds. The Baptists have been non-creedal in that they have not sought to establish binding authoritative confessions of faith on one another. Also rejecting creeds are groups with roots in the Restoration Movement, such as the Christian Church, the Evangelical Christian Church in Canada, the Apostles Creed is the most widely accepted statement of the articles of Christian faith. It is also used by Presbyterians, Methodists, and Congregationalists and this particular creed was developed between the 2nd and 9th centuries. Its central doctrines are those of the Trinity and God the Creator, each of the doctrines found in this creed can be traced to statements current in the apostolic period. The creed was used as a summary of Christian doctrine for baptismal candidates in the churches of Rome. Most Christians accept the use of creeds, and subscribe to at least one of the mentioned above. The central tenet of Christianity is the belief in Jesus as the Son of God, Christians believe that Jesus, as the Messiah, was anointed by God as savior of humanity, and hold that Jesus coming was the fulfillment of messianic prophecies of the Old Testament. The Christian concept of the Messiah differs significantly from the contemporary Jewish concept, Jesus, having become fully human, suffered the pains and temptations of a mortal man, but did not sin
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Headhunting
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Headhunting is the practice of taking and preserving a persons head after killing the person. It occurred in Europe to the end of the Middle Ages in Ireland and the Anglo-Scottish border regions, the headhunting practice has been the subject of intense study within the anthropological community, where scholars try to assess and interpret its social roles, functions, and motivations. Todays scholars generally agree that headhuntings primary function was ritual and ceremonial and it was part of the process of structuring, reinforcing, and defending hierarchical relationships between communities and individuals. Some experts theorize that the practice stemmed from the belief that the head contained soul matter or life force, Headhunting was practised by many Austronesian people in Southeast Asia and the Pacific Islands. Headhunting has at one time or another been practised among most of the peoples of Melanesia, a missionary found 10,000 skulls in a community longhouse on Goaribari Island in 1901. Historically, the Marind-anim in New Guinea were famed because of their headhunting, the practise was rooted in their belief system and linked to the name-giving of the newborn. The skull was believed to contain a mana-like force, Headhunting was not motivated primarily by cannibalism, but the dead persons flesh was consumed in ceremonies following the capture and killing. The Korowai, a Papuan tribe in the southeast of Irian Jaya, live in tree houses and this is believed to be a defensive practise, presumably as protection against the Citak, a tribe of neighbouring headhunters. Some researchers believe that the American Michael Rockefeller, who disappeared in New Guinea in 1961 while on a field trip and he was the son of New York Governor Nelson Rockefeller. His and other ships were impressing villagers as workers on plantations, Captain Mackenzie of the ship Minolta was beheaded by villagers as retribution for the loss of village men during an armed labour recruiting drive. The villagers believed that the ships crew owed several more heads before the score was even, in Southeast Asia, anthropological writings have explored headhunting and other practises of the Murut, Ilongot, Igorot, Iban, Dayak, Berawan, Wana, and Mappurondo tribes. Among these groups, headhunting was usually a ritual activity rather than an act of war or feuding, a warrior would take a single head. Headhunting acted as a catalyst for the cessation of personal and collective mourning for the communitys dead, ideas of manhood and marriage were encompassed in the practice, and the taken heads were highly prized. Other reasons for headhunting included capture of enemies as slaves, looting of properties, intra and inter-ethnic conflicts. Italian anthropologist and explorer Elio Modigliani visited the communities in South Nias in 1886, he wrote a detailed study of their society. He found that the purpose of headhunting was the belief that, if a man owned another persons skull. Human skulls were a valuable commodity, sporadic headhunting continued in Nias island until the late 20th century, the last reported incident dating from 1998. Headhunting was practised among Sumba people until the early 20th century and it is done only in large war parties
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Nakedness
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Nudity, or nakedness, is the state of wearing no clothing. The amount of clothing worn depends on functional considerations, such as a need for warmth, in some situations, a minimum amount of clothing or none at all may be considered socially acceptable, while in others much more clothing may be expected. Social considerations involve issues of modesty, decency and social norms, besides other considerations, there may also be legal considerations. Full nudity refers to nudity, while partial nudity refers to less than full nudity. The term partial nudity is used to refer to exposure of skin beyond what the person using the expression considers to be within the limits of modesty. If the exposure is within the standards of modesty of a culture and setting, terms such as nudity. Toplessness is regarded by most people as partial nudity, full frontal nudity describes a state of full nudity with the subject facing forward with the whole front of the body exposed, including intimate parts such as a mans penis or womans vulva. Partial frontal nudity typically only refers to the exposure of the breasts, non-frontal nudity describes nudity where the whole back side of the body, including the buttocks, is exposed, or a side-view from any other direction. Hair probably evolved in mammals before about 220 million years ago, the closest genetic relatives of humans, apes and especially chimpanzees, possess an almost complete covering of fur. Humans are today the only naked primate in nature, that is, reliable information on the development of nudity and the passage of time are not yet possible because hair does not fossilize. They suspect that the protein that protects the skin from sunlight evolved following the loss of protective hair, people have a variety of views on nudity, both of their own as well as those of others. This would depend on their level of inhibition, cultural background and upbringing, a societys attitude to public nudity varies depending on the culture, time, location and context of an activity. There are many exceptions and particular circumstances in which nudity is tolerated, accepted or even encouraged in public spaces, such examples would include a nude beach, within some intentional communities and at special events. Arousal is most evidently indicated by the sex organs and womens breasts, yet the nudity taboo may have meanings deeper than the immediate possibility of sexual arousal, for example, in the cumulative weight of tradition and habit. Clothing also expresses and symbolizes authority, and more general norms, in 2012, the city council of San Francisco proposed a ban on public nudity in the inner city area. This was met by harsh resistance since the city is known for its liberal culture. Similarly, park rangers began filing tickets against nudists at San Onofre State Beach in 2010, some people take part in non-sexual public nude events. These may be in a naturist resort or club or at a nude beach, outdoor nude recreation can take place in private or rural areas, though generally limited to warm weather
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Qing dynasty
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It was preceded by the Ming dynasty and succeeded by the Republic of China. The Qing multi-cultural empire lasted almost three centuries and formed the base for the modern Chinese state. The dynasty was founded by the Jurchen Aisin Gioro clan in Manchuria, in the late sixteenth century, Nurhaci, originally a Ming vassal, began organizing Banners, military-social units that included Jurchen, Han Chinese, and Mongol elements. Nurhaci formed the Jurchen clans into an entity, which he renamed as the Manchus. By 1636, his son Hong Taiji began driving Ming forces out of Liaodong and declared a new dynasty, in 1644, peasant rebels led by Li Zicheng conquered the Ming capital, Beijing. The Ten Great Campaigns of the Qianlong Emperor from the 1750s to the 1790s extended Qing control into Central Asia, the early rulers maintained their Manchu ways, and while their title was Emperor, they used khan to the Mongols and they were patrons of Tibetan Buddhism. They governed using Confucian styles and institutions of government and retained the imperial examinations to recruit Han Chinese to work under or in parallel with Manchus. They also adapted the ideals of the system in dealing with neighboring territories. The Qianlong reign saw the apogee and initial decline in prosperity. The population rose to some 400 million, but taxes and government revenues were fixed at a low rate, corruption set in, rebels tested government legitimacy, and ruling elites did not change their mindsets in the face of changes in the world system. Following the Opium War, European powers imposed unequal treaties, free trade, the Taiping Rebellion and the Dungan Revolt in Central Asia led to the deaths of some 20 million people, most of them due to famines caused by war. In spite of disasters, in the Tongzhi Restoration of the 1860s, Han Chinese elites rallied to the defense of the Confucian order. The initial gains in the Self-Strengthening Movement were destroyed in the First Sino-Japanese War of 1895, in which the Qing lost its influence over Korea, New Armies were organized, but the ambitious Hundred Days Reform of 1898 was turned back by Empress Dowager Cixi, a conservative leader. Sun Yat-sen and other revolutionaries competed with reformist monarchists such as Kang Youwei, after the deaths of Cixi and the Guangxu Emperor in 1908, the hardline Manchu court alienated reformers and local elites alike. The Wuchang Uprising on October 11,1911, led to the Xinhai Revolution, General Yuan Shikai negotiated the abdication of Puyi, the last emperor, on February 12,1912. Nurhaci declared himself the Bright Khan of the Later Jin state in both of the 12–13th century Jurchen Jin dynasty and of his Aisin Gioro clan. His son Hong Taiji renamed the dynasty Great Qing in 1636, there are competing explanations on the meaning of Qīng. The character Qīng is composed of water and azure, both associated with the water element and this association would justify the Qing conquest as defeat of fire by water
Taiwan
Taiwan portal
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. (TANAP monographs on the history of the Asian-European interaction). Volume 10 (illustrated ed.). Brill. ISBN 978-90-04-16507-6. ISSN 1871-6938. OCLC 592756301 – via Scribd.
