Contacts With Europe
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 main island of Taiwan, then known as Formosa. The established a trading post in Tayoan (modern-day Tainan City).
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, and rice. 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, Japan. However, the profit was distributed to shareholders of the company, and not the local Taiwanese.
At the time, the Japanese were also interested in commercial activities in Taiwan. As a result of the economic challenge from the Japanese, the Dutch East India Company levied heavy taxes on the Japanese merchants. In 1628, the Japanese kidnapped governor Pieter Nuyts and closed down the trading post in Nagasaki. It was reopened again in 1632, after Nuyts was extradited to be jailed in Japan.
Read more about this topic: Economic History Of Taiwan
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