Dutch Pacification Campaign on Formosa

Date: November 22, 1635 • Location: Tainan, Taiwan, Province of China

This milestone marked the outbreak and beginning of this historic period, which spanned 1635–1636.

Dutch colonial forces on Formosa launched a three-month pacification campaign against Taiwanese indigenous peoples.

The island of Taiwan, also commonly known as Formosa, was partly under colonial rule by the Dutch Republic from 1624 to 1662. In the context of the Age of Discovery, the Dutch East India Company established its presence on Formosa to trade with neighboring Ming China and Tokugawa Japan, and to interdict Portuguese and Spanish trade and colonial activities in East Asia.