The Portuguese had established a monopoly on European trade in the East, with the centre of their power their their colony at Goa in India. Enter a man whose actions would lead to the opening of the Far East to all of Europe and the collapse of Portuguese power.
Greetings
We’ve had a week on non-stop rain, so recording hasn’t really been possible for me. Not to fret, though, I will still release something this week in the form of a new page.
I’ve collected many examples over the years of the weird and wacky wording that our Taiwanese cousins make of the English language and have decided to start curating my collection. I will update it regularly as and when I locate my years of stashed photographs. This is a mix of business names, sign posts, stickers, graffiti, menus and any place where language slip-ups can occur. I may even throw in the odd artwork for good measure. I hope they amuse.
Oh yes, and we have giant robots… just because.
Going forward, I may have to switch this from a weekly podcast to a fortnightly podcast. Running a podcast on top of holding down three jobs isn’t quite as manageable as I had hoped. Nevertheless, I shall persist and update fortnightly as a rule, weekly when I can.
We draw back from Taiwan in this episode to get a larger picture of the European Age of Exploration, as this will create great changes not only for Taiwan, but for the world as a whole.
We look at the explorations of Bartolomeu Dias, Chistopher Columbus, Vasco da Gama and Ferdinand Magellan, to the growth and dominance of Portuguese trade in the East.
CAM & RAY
In this episode I made a reference to the podcasting duo, Cameron Reilly and Ray Harris; in particular to their fabulous series on the Cold War, aptly named, A Cold War Podcast. They are a fantstically absurd pair who take a detailed look at history in a humorous and (sometimes) delightfully childish way. They have podcasts covering The Renaissance, Alexander the Great and an ongoing series looking at the lives of the Caesars of Rome. Some of these are behind pay walls, others are free.
Julius Caesar has slipped behind a paywall in recent times, but Augustus is still free. For those wishing to whet their appetites, give this couple a listen by following this link to their Augustus series.
We continue looking at migration from the mainland to the islands off eastern China, largely due to shifting politics from the 1100s to the 1400s. With the 15th Century comes the appearance of China’s famous treasure fleet and its voyages to acquire vassal tributes lead by Admiral Zheng He. The sixth voyage has become infamous due to Gavin Menzies’ book 1421: The Year China Discovered the World (published in the USA with the word “World” replaced with “America”). This theory has proven quite controversial.
Update:
I have found it difficult to find good articles reviewing Gavin Menzies’ book. Sadly the internet is full of noise. Having finally got around to reading the book myself, I find it quite compelling. Most of the attacks on his work revolve around the argument that he has very little clear-cut evidence. Much of his thesis uses speculation and guesswork. The artefacts that he does use often have not been fully examined through means like carbon dating or lab testing (though not for lack of effort on his part, as various authorities have denied access). Other artefacts, such as the raised stones, have been victims to time and vandalism. People complain that he strings various artefacts and historical elements together and builds a theory around them… but isn’t that essentially what historical investigation is?
Personally, I think there is a lot of merit to his work. While some of his evidence is not (and often cannot) he confirmed absolutely, it does seem to fit the overall picture he has created. Too many elements line up for there not to be at least some truth in his theory.
My recommendation is to read the book yourself and come to your own conclusions.
One problem we encounter when delving into Taiwan’s past is a lack of local historical records. Most of the records that survived were written by outsiders to the island, usually describing their encounters and dealings with the natives. Using those outsider records and modern archaeological evidence, we shall try to build a timeline of the island from prehistory up until the 14th Century.
1960s Research: Prehistoric Archaeology of Taiwan
2016 Research on the Formation and Dispersal of Austronesian-Speaking People
Timelines for Chinese Dynasties:
[Update: A note on the sound quality. There was a weird high pitched sound in the first third of this recording that I have been unable to eliminate. Forgive my relatively new skills at audio editing. At least the latter two thirds of the recording are free of it.]
[Update 7th Oct. 2022: Three is new evidence for the “little black people” from the Taiwanese indigenous peoples’ folklore, as mentioned in this Taiwan news article and on this science & technology website.]
Part of understanding the people of Taiwan and their history is to look at the ethnicities that make up the inhabitants of the island. While today the vast majority are of Han Chinese descent, the indigenous peoples have a history on the island dating back thousands of years. Let’s investigate the various ethnicities of the island, what historical records we have on them and what more recent archaeological discoveries and mitochondrial DNA research can tell us.
Website for the Council of Indigenous Peoples
Documentary on Indigenous Peoples Part 1
Documentary on Indigenous Peoples Part 2
There have been indications that China is prepared to reclaim Taiwan by force, if necessary. What is the likelihood of such an act and what would that conflict look like? Is such conflict even necessary? Is an economic conflict more likely than a military one? Let’s discuss it.
LINKS
While some of these links are a little too fear-mongering in my opinion (the price of news these days – make it more dramatic to increase consumer numbers), there is a lot of useful information.
11-07-2019 The causes of the US-China trade war
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9loylbpJPzY&ab_channel=FRANCE24English
14-10-2021 Why are there fears China and Taiwan could go to war?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3xD_pOYTtZk&ab_channel=GuardianNews
16-12-2021: 4 Signs War Over Taiwan Could Be Coming
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fn2ATAC4vOg&ab_channel=CNAInsider
Update: Since posting, this video has come out looking at the Russian invasion of the Ukraine and postulating on whether China might do something similar to Taiwan. It seems someone agrees with many of my speculations, which is comforting. However, there is a lot more to unpack here than my humble attempt.
29-04-2022: Will China Invade Taiwan Next?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p6sCsOdqXQw
The first episode of Taiwan Through Time looks at the current (2022) position that Taiwan is in and gives a rough overview of how the situation arose.
This introduction briefly looks at what I hope to cover with this series, before spiralling off onto a tangent about objective history. Probably a fair indication of future tangents.
Taiwan Through Time 
