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The Dutch grew powerful on Taiwan, exporting for example as much as 1.85 million ''[[taels]]'' of [[silver]] (527,250 florins) from Japan via Taiwan in [[1639]] alone. By the 1640s, they had pushed both the Spanish and Japanese smugglers & pirates off the island.<ref name=spence53/> One of the fort's chief individual trading partners was the smuggler/pirate/trader [[Zheng Zhilong]], who traded gold, silks, and other goods to the Dutch in exchange for Japanese silver, but also competed against them. Taiwan also became a major source of [[sugar]] in the region at this time. Some number of Chinese settlers gathered around the Spanish and Dutch settlements, but initially most of them returned to the Chinese mainland regularly, spending only part of the year on Taiwan, and thus leaving it to the Dutch to work out their position on the island (especially vis-a-vis the aborigines).<ref name=spence53/>
The Dutch grew powerful on Taiwan, exporting for example as much as 1.85 million ''[[taels]]'' of [[silver]] (527,250 florins) from Japan via Taiwan in [[1639]] alone. By the 1640s, they had pushed both the Spanish and Japanese smugglers & pirates off the island.<ref name=spence53/> One of the fort's chief individual trading partners was the smuggler/pirate/trader [[Zheng Zhilong]], who traded gold, silks, and other goods to the Dutch in exchange for Japanese silver, but also competed against them. Taiwan also became a major source of [[sugar]] in the region at this time. Some number of Chinese settlers gathered around the Spanish and Dutch settlements, but initially most of them returned to the Chinese mainland regularly, spending only part of the year on Taiwan, and thus leaving it to the Dutch to work out their position on the island (especially vis-a-vis the aborigines).<ref name=spence53/>
As the [[Ming Dynasty]] fell in the 1640s, many loyalists fled to the south of China, and to Taiwan; after being driven out of mainland China in [[1646]], they launched numerous raids on the South China coast, and continued to hold out against the Qing until the 1680s. A Qing attempt to blockade Taiwan in [[1656]] failed; the following year, they implemented a policy known as ''[[qianjie]]'', pulling populations away from the south China coast, in order to protect them from raids.
As the [[Ming Dynasty]] fell in the 1640s, many loyalists fled to the south of China, and to Taiwan; after being driven out of mainland China in [[1646]], they launched numerous raids on the South China coast, and continued to hold out against the Qing until the 1680s. A Qing attempt to blockade Taiwan in [[1656]] failed; the following year, they implemented a policy known as ''[[qianjie]]'', pulling populations away from the south China coast, in order to protect them from raids. Further Qing attacks on the island in [[1664]] and [[1665]] also failed.<ref name=spence55>Spence, 55.</ref>
Meanwhile, Zheng Zhilong's son [[Zheng Chenggong]] (Coxinga) took Fort Zeelandia in [[1662]], driving the Dutch from the island. He died later that year, but his son, and then grandson, continued to command the trade and combat efforts. The loyalists sent a number of requests to the [[Tokugawa shogunate]] asking for support, but ultimately received none. While the Qing was preoccupied dealing with the [[Revolt of Three Feudatories]] in [[1673]]-[[1681]], the loyalists continued to expand their lively and profitable trade networks, and before long, the population of Chinese on the island reached 100,000. They grew and exported considerable amounts of rice and sugar, as well as engaging in businesses such as shipbuilding and trading in [[salt]].<ref name=spence55/>
Qing forces finally subdued the last of the Ming loyalists in [[1683]]-[[1684]], claiming the island for Chinese territory for the first time in history. Though Qing authority gradually spread across the island, as late as the 1870s, there were still significant areas where the aboriginal peoples were dominant and Qing officials had no effective power or control.
Following the end of the Revolt of the Three Feudatories, the Qing assembled a fleet of some three hundred warships, to be commanded by [[Shi Lang]], one of Zheng Zhilong's men who had surrendered to the Manchus in the 1650s and whose father, brother, and son had all been killed by Zheng Chenggong. Shi Lang set sail from [[Fujian province|Fujian]] in early July [[1683]], destroying forces loyal to the Zhengs on the [[Pescadores Islands|Pescadores]] before making his way to Taiwan, where he vanquished the last of the Ming loyalists within three months,<ref>Spence, 56.</ref> claiming the island for Chinese territory for the first time in history. Though Qing authority gradually spread across the island, as late as the 1870s, there were still significant areas where the aboriginal peoples were dominant and Qing officials had no effective power or control.
In [[1871]], a number of [[Miyako Islands|Miyako Islanders]] became shipwrecked on Taiwan, where they encountered and were [[Taiwan Incident of 1871|killed]] by a group of Taiwanese aborigines. The [[Meiji government]] responded with [[Taiwan Expedition of 1874|a punitive military expedition]], led by [[Saigo Tsugumichi|Saigô Tsugumichi]] and launched to punish the aborigines for the murder of Japanese subjects. The fighting lasted less than two months. This invasion spurred considerable tensions, however, between Japan and China, with China rejecting Japan's claims that the Miyako Islanders were Japanese subjects, and asserting its own claims over Taiwan while denying responsibility for the aborigines' actions. Woodblock prints widely circulated in Japan depicting and describing the events of the expedition are considered the first ''[[shinbun nishiki-e]]'', or "news prints," informing the public of official contemporary events in a relatively timely and accurate manner. A treaty was signed in October of that year in which China admitted less than total sovereign control over certain areas of southern Taiwan (i.e. areas dominated by aboriginal groups), recognized the [[Ryukyuan people]]s as Japanese subjects, and agreed to pay an indemnity of 500,000 ''[[tael]]s'' to Japan. The tensions still simmered, however, and very nearly came to all-out war before the decade was up, in order to decide more definitively Chinese and Japanese claims to both Taiwan and the [[Ryukyu Islands|Ryûkyû Islands]]. The issue was complicated by advice from Westerners, [[Charles DeLong]] and [[Charles LeGendre]], who suggested to the Japanese that since the Chinese did not exert effective (''de facto'') control over those sections of Taiwan dominated by the aborigines, that territory was essentially ''terra nullius'', and if Japan were to occupy the territory, under Western/modern international law, it could be rightfully Japan's.
In [[1871]], a number of [[Miyako Islands|Miyako Islanders]] became shipwrecked on Taiwan, where they encountered and were [[Taiwan Incident of 1871|killed]] by a group of Taiwanese aborigines. The [[Meiji government]] responded with [[Taiwan Expedition of 1874|a punitive military expedition]], led by [[Saigo Tsugumichi|Saigô Tsugumichi]] and launched to punish the aborigines for the murder of Japanese subjects. The fighting lasted less than two months. This invasion spurred considerable tensions, however, between Japan and China, with China rejecting Japan's claims that the Miyako Islanders were Japanese subjects, and asserting its own claims over Taiwan while denying responsibility for the aborigines' actions. Woodblock prints widely circulated in Japan depicting and describing the events of the expedition are considered the first ''[[shinbun nishiki-e]]'', or "news prints," informing the public of official contemporary events in a relatively timely and accurate manner. A treaty was signed in October of that year in which China admitted less than total sovereign control over certain areas of southern Taiwan (i.e. areas dominated by aboriginal groups), recognized the [[Ryukyuan people]]s as Japanese subjects, and agreed to pay an indemnity of 500,000 ''[[tael]]s'' to Japan. The tensions still simmered, however, and very nearly came to all-out war before the decade was up, in order to decide more definitively Chinese and Japanese claims to both Taiwan and the [[Ryukyu Islands|Ryûkyû Islands]]. The issue was complicated by advice from Westerners, [[Charles DeLong]] and [[Charles LeGendre]], who suggested to the Japanese that since the Chinese did not exert effective (''de facto'') control over those sections of Taiwan dominated by the aborigines, that territory was essentially ''terra nullius'', and if Japan were to occupy the territory, under Western/modern international law, it could be rightfully Japan's.