Episode 33 – The Oncoming Storm

A 17th Century watercolour of Fort Zeelandia

Zheng Chenggong – known in Dutch records as Koxinga – arrives with a flotilla of junks and 25,000 fighting men and begins demanding the Dutch surrender Formosa. The Dutch need to make decisions fast. They have two forts, people scattered around the island, only four ships and a suspicion that Koxinga may not actually want Formosa.

A bird’s-eye view depiction of Fort Zeelandia by the German traveller Caspar Schmalkalden, c. 1652
17th Century depiction of Fort Zeelandia by Laurens van der Hem