Dutch pacification campaign on Formosa

Dutch pacification campaign on Formosa
Date November 22, 1635 Location Southwestern Taiwan 23°11′N 120°14′E / 23.18°N 120.23°E / 23.18; 120.23 Result Dutch victory, increased Dutch area of control
Belligerents
Dutch East India Company	Natives of Mattau, Bakloan, Soulang, Taccariang and Tevorang
Commanders and leaders
Hans Putmans	Unknown
Strength
500 Dutch soldiers	Unknown
Casualties and losses
Exact numbers unknown, casualties slight	c. 30 killed Mattau and Taccariang destroyed by fire
class=notpageimage| Location of Mattau, the most important target of the campaign

A series of military actions and diplomatic moves were undertaken in 1635 and 1636 by the Dutch East India Company (VOC) in Dutch-era Taiwan (Formosa) aimed at subduing hostile aboriginal villages in the southwestern region of the island. Prior to the campaign the Dutch had been in Formosa for eleven years, but did not control much of the island beyond their principal fortress at Tayouan (present-day Anping, Tainan), and an alliance with the town of Sinkan. The other aboriginal villages in the area conducted numerous attacks on the Dutch and their allies, with the chief belligerents being the village of Mattau, whose inhabitants in 1629 ambushed and slaughtered a group of sixty Dutch soldiers.

After receiving reinforcements from the colonial headquarters at Batavia, the Dutch launched an attack in 1635 and were able to crush opposition and bring the area around present-day Tainan fully under their control. After seeing that Mattau and Soulang, the most powerful villages in the area, were overpowered by Dutch force overwhelmingly, many other villages in the surrounding area came to the Dutch to seek peace and surrender sovereignty. Thus the Dutch were able to dramatically expand the extent of their territorial control in a short time, and avoid the need for further fighting. The campaign ended in February 1636, when representatives from twenty-eight villages attended a ceremony in Tayouan to cement Dutch sovereignty.

Solidifying the southwest under their rule, the Dutch were able to expand their operations from the limited entrepôt trading carried out by the colony prior to 1635. The expanded territory allowed access to the deer trade, which later became very lucrative, and provided secure food supplies. The new territorial acquisitions provided fertile land, which the Dutch began to bring many Chinese laborers to farm. The aboriginal villages also provided warriors to aid the Dutch in times of trouble, notably in the Lamey Island Massacre of 1636, the Dutch defeat of the Spanish in 1642 and the Guo Huaiyi Rebellion in 1652. The allied villages also provided opportunities for Dutch missionaries to spread their faith. The pacification campaign is considered the foundation on which the later success of the colony was built.