European period (16231662)

The Dutch period was an age of trade and commerce. They governed the indigenous
peoples in a roundabout way via employment of negotiation with tribal leaders. The
Dutch learned indigenous languages, built schools on the plains, and developed a
means to apply a Roman alphabetization system for indigenous languages in order to
promote communication and Christianity.
The Dutch with much foresight at once sought friendly relations with the savage
tribes; always observing kind and considerate policy over these wild children whose
friendship was so essential to the companys success.
The Dutch were primarily interested in obtaining resources through trade with the
indigenous peoples, especially deer hides and rattan.
They brought western religion, organized agriculture, and a global economy. They
exported enormous amounts of natural resources and opened the way for prolific
Chinese immigration.
Qing rule (16831895)
Over the next century plains indigenes were displaced or assimilated and their cultural
identities suffered greatly. This is due in part to the fact that, many years Chinese
settlers were not permitted to bring their wives with them, intermarried with local
aboriginal women.
Relations between the Chinese and the indigenous peoples on the plains can be looked
at as a choice between assimilation and displacement. With limited government
control over Chinese immigrants, indigenous people quickly became subject to
discrimination as a minority. They thus sought refuge either in the mountains or the
eastern-coastal region.
As time went on, the Qing authority in Taiwan began to exercise a more aggressive
policy toward the indigenous peoples. Officially, the unassimilated indigenes were
classified as raw barbarians and assimilated indigenes cooked barbarians.
Japanese rule (18951945)
In 1895, the Japanese defeated the Chinese in the Sino-Japan War. His event marks
the beginning of the Japanese colony of Taiwan. Beginning in the first year of
Japanese rule, the colonial government embarked on a mission to study the aborigines
so they could be classified, located and "civilized.
During the Japanese period in Taiwan, the vast majority of indigenes were extradited
from their remote mountain villages and relocated to lowland communities. Many
were required to adopt wet-patty rice cultivation and attend Japanese schools. As the
period progressed, the official language policy requiring indigenes to learn Japanese
was strictly enforced. Linguistic and cultural degradation of indigenous languages
were rapidly accelerated during this period. Japanese police had power and they made
aboriginals work without pay, it was forced labour. Indigenous ethnicities were
separated into small groups and juxtaposed with other ethnic groups such that one
group may have a rival group on either side. This broke down the indigenes power
structures and concord.
In summary, the Japanese era in Taiwan marks a complete upheaval of the indigenous
peoples. As the plains indigenes were assimilated during the Manchu period, most
mountain indigenes were acculturated during the Japanese period. By and large, they

were removed from the mountains, forced to learn Japanese, and required to take
Japanese names. Yet new changes and new challenges were about to unfold.
Kuomintang rule (19451987)
Taiwanese aborigines first encountered the Nationalist government in 1946, when
schools of the KMT replaced the Japanese village schools. Some elements that
Education was currently considered offensive to aborigines. The pattern of
intermarriage continued, as many KMT soldiers married aboriginal women who were
from poorer areas and could be easily bought as wives
New era
New and profound changes regarding the precarious situation of indigenous peoples
began. Taiwans indigenes, almost overnight, reacquired many long-lost rights. There
was a renaissance of Christian movements rekindling the Romanization of indigenous
languages. In 1998, the political pendulum continued to swing in the favor of the
indigenous peoples. Public Television began broadcasts of an aboriginal news
magazine