CONTENTS -- Acknowledgements -- Abbreviations -- Notes on spelling -- Glossary -- Maps -- PART ONE SCOPE AND SCENE -- Chapter One: Cross-cultural Encounters, Colonial 'Civilizing Process', and Indigenous Agency -- A lost paradise as the focus of competition for maritime power -- Dutch Formosa in a Chinese setting -- 'The Formosans' and 'the Age of Aboriginal Taiwan' -- The colonial 'civilizing process' -- Representing Formosan agency -- Structure and themes -- Chapter Two: Glimpses of 'Aboriginal Taiwan' -- Otherness and the perception of the Formosans -- Indigenous subsistence and trade -- Inter-village warfare -- Local leadership -- The Chinese encroachment -- PART TWO EXPANSION AND ENCOUNTER -- Chapter Three: From Strangers to Overlords -- The Formosan encounter -- Proof of superiority -- A formula for war -- The road to overlordship -- A contractual bond of feudal vassalage -- Sin and expiation -- A symbolic contribution of sovereignty -- Creating the Pax Neerlandica -- Chapter Four: Depopulation and Diaspora -- An island of legend -- Shaping the image of Lamey -- Relocation -- Struggle for freedom -- Disagreement between the Dutch authorities -- The Lameyan diaspora -- Chapter Five: Expansion for Commodities -- Northwards in pursuit of Formosan deer products -- The hunting-licence system -- The conquest of the Favorlangh fi elds -- Southwards in pursuit of Formosan gold -- The Chinese impulse -- Chasing gold to Lonckjouw -- An exhibition of power in Tayouan -- Peace for gold -- Reaching Pimaba -- The peace ceremony and the aftermath -- A Dutch adventurer in the east -- The death of an exemplary Company servant -- The first punitive expedition to the east -- Chapter Six: Conquest, Contest, and Connection -- The demise of the Spanish regime -- Formosan encounters after the conquest -- A terror of new conquerors -- Protection and authority.

The fi nal blow to the Favorlanghers -- The weakening of centralized leadership -- The exploration of Taraboan -- The expedition to Cavalangh -- Conquering Quataongh -- Opening the Tamsuy Route -- The overland routes from the south to the east -- Uncovering mysterious Taraboan -- PART THREE EMPOWERMENT AND ENTANGLEMENT -- Chapter Seven: Embodiment of Power -- The core and frontiers of Dutch rule -- The Landdag -- The local administration -- Political ministers and clerical 'politieken' -- Non-clerical politieken -- The Landdrost -- 'Civil interaction' -- Spatial layout -- Inter-ethnic marriage and indigenous citizenry -- A 'sign of loyalty' -- The competitive Formosan order -- 'Misbehaviour' and punishment -- The regulation of mobility -- Putative frontiers -- The south -- The east -- The dominion of the Tamsuy authorities -- Chapter Eight: Devouring Prosperity -- Colonial exploitation and labour relations -- Chinese honeybees and Dutch apiarists -- Agriculture -- Inland fi shing -- Sulphur and coal -- Forest products -- Trade monopoly -- Village leasehold system -- An old issue, a new context -- The 'invention of dominion' -- Trade on the frontiers -- Production and consumption in transition -- Crises of ecology and subsistence -- Changes in Formosan consumption -- Textiles -- Tobacco -- Alcohol -- Chapter Nine: Convention and Conversion -- The Sirayan religious practice -- Deities and devotion -- Priests and priestesses -- Marriage and abortion -- Healing and funerals -- The Presence of Dutch Protestant Christianity -- Laying the foundations -- Conversion in awe -- Conversion and 'civilization' -- Localizing Christianity -- Rapids and undercurrents -- The triumph of bilingual formulation -- Facing Formosan Roman Catholics -- The fetishistic perception of Roman Catholicism -- Contesting baptism -- Dutch missionary work in northern Formosa.

Pragmatic conversion -- Purifi cation -- The tie with the spirit world -- PART FOUR TRANSITION AND RETROSPECTION -- Chapter Ten: The Formosans in the Colonial 'Civilizing Process' -- The Formosans in the Chinese Conquest -- 'Formosan nostalgia'? -- Exploring images of the Formosan colonial past -- Notes -- Appendices -- 1. Governors-General and Governors of Formosa, 1624-1662 -- 2. Dutch local political administration in Formosa, 1643-1662 -- 3. Yearly rent of leased divisions, 1644-1657 (Reals) -- 4. Dutch Protestants and Spanish Dominicans in Formosa, 1626-1662 -- 5. Dutch missionaries in Formosa, 1624-1662 -- Bibliography -- Index.