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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 22 April 2010
Taiwan, one of the four Asian Tigers, has become renowned for its economic miracle in the 1960s, 70s and 80s. However, few know that the arrival of the Dutch East Indies Company (VOC) on the island heralded the beginning of an earlier, long forgotten economic miracle. It was on this beautiful island, which seventeenth century Europeans called Formosa, that the VOC established its first major land colony. In just a few decades a tiny trading factory set up on spit of land in Tayouan (Tainan) expanded into a prosperous and flourishing colony, which covered large parts of the island. To establish this colony the VOC attracted thousands of colonists, few of which were European. Although most VOC employees were Europeans, most of these left the island upon expiration of their work contract. The bulk of the colonists that the VOC attracted were Chinese of all walks of life: farmers, masons, inter- national traders, fishermen, hunters, peddlers, sailors etc. But why was the Company so successful in attracting Chinese colonists, and how did these colonists contribute to Dutch Formosa's economic miracle?