17th Century
| Year | Date | Event |
|---|---|---|
| 1604 | Dutch envoy Wijbrand van Waerwijck and his army are ordered to occupy the Pescadores in order to open trade with China. However Ming Dynasty general Shen You-rong demanded their withdrawal. | |
| 1609 | Tokugawa Shogunate of Japan sends feudal lord Arima Harunobu (有馬晴信) on an exploratory mission to Taiwan. | |
| 1616 | Nagasaki official Murayama Tōan (村山等安) leads troops on an unsuccessful invasion of Taiwan. | |
| 1622 | Dutch envoy Cornelis Reijerszoon occupies the Pescadores in an attempt to persuade China to open trade. The Ming court rejects his proposal. | |
| 1624 | Ming China opens trade with the Dutch. The Dutch establish a trading base for commerce with Japan and coastal China. Dutch official Maarten Sonk takes up his new post at Tayuan (present-day Anping District, Tainan City) beginning the Dutch administration of Taiwan. | |
| Dutch begin construction of Fort Zeelandia which is completed ten years later. | ||
| 1626 | Spain sends an expedition to Santissima Trinidad (Keelung) and build Fort San Salvador due to the Dutch threat to Chinese and Japanese trade to the Spanish Philippines. | |
| 1628 | Spanish establish a settlement at Tamsui and build Fort Santo Domingo in an attempt to attract Chinese merchants. | |
| 1642 | With the Dutch in southern Taiwan and the Spanish in northern Taiwan, confrontation between the two adversaries were inevitable and eventually the Dutch drive the Spanish out of Taiwan, becoming the sole ruling power on Taiwan. | |
| 1653 | Taiwan becomes the second most profitable trading port in Asia, due to its ideal central location between Japan, China and southeast Asia. | |
| 1662 | Koxinga lays siege to Fort Zeelandia with the Dutch surrendering nine months later. | |
| 1683 | The remnant forces of the Ming dynasty are defeated by the Qing dynasty, which has assumed full control over mainland China. |
Read more about this topic: Timeline Of Taiwanese History
Famous quotes containing the word century:
“Of the best rulers The people only know that they exist; The next best they love and praise The next they fear; And the next they revile. When they do not command the people’s faith, Some will lose faith in them, And then they resort to oaths! But of the best when their task is accomplished, their work done, The people all remark, “We have done it ourselves.””
—Lao-Tzu (6th century B.C.)