Aboriginal Taiwan

[Ricardolindo]

Is there any way for Taiwan to avoid large scale Han Chinese settlement and remain Aboriginal majority? Would a surviving Dutch Taiwan lead to less Han Chinese settlement?

 

[DaleCoz]

If Taiwan hadn't become a refuge for Ming dynasty remnants, it would probably have remained part of the Dutch empire, without a lot of Han colonization, though there would undoubtedly be some seepage.

 

[Ricardolindo]

Is there any way for Taiwan to avoid large scale Han Chinese settlement and remain Aboriginal majority? Would a surviving Dutch Taiwan lead to less Han Chinese settlement?

If Taiwan hadn't become a refuge for Ming dynasty remnants, it would probably have remained part of the Dutch empire, without a lot of Han colonization, though there would undoubtedly be some seepage.

What about a Spanish Taiwan in case the Spaniards had defeated the Dutch rather than the other way around? The Chinese population at the time was small and they were mostly in the Dutch part of the island. With the Dutch defeated, a lot of the Chinese would probably leave, too. On the other hand, it's very possible that the Spaniards would bring Filipinos to Taiwan.

 

[raharris1973]

What about a Spanish Taiwan in case the Spaniards had defeated the Dutch rather than the other way around? The Chinese population at the time was small and they were mostly in the Dutch part of the island. With the Dutch defeated, a lot of the Chinese would probably leave, too. On the other hand, it's very possible that the Spaniards would bring Filipinos to Taiwan.

Or, under centuries long Spanish rule a Spanish-aboriginal cultural blending may have been inevitable (with some Chinese blending too) and spread of Catholicism, and the island would be considered another region of the Philippines.

 

[SinghSong]

Is there any way for Taiwan to avoid large scale Han Chinese settlement and remain Aboriginal majority? Would a surviving Dutch Taiwan lead to less Han Chinese settlement?

Here's another possibility no-one ever discusses, though it's a bit more out there and heavily reliant upon speculation; what if one of the successors to the aboriginal Taiwanese Dapenkeng Culture manages to extend its rule and unify the island's many kingdoms and tribes under a centralized government, at around the same time as, or within a few centuries of, the same thing happening on the Japanese island of Honshu? Could an alternate 'Queendom of Formosa', conceivably become a dominant power in its own right during the Medieval Era, and thus remain Aboriginal majority to at least the same extent as Luzon? Especially with the wealth and influence conveyed to it via the Maritime Jade Road, which was in existence for at least 3,000 years, and remained active until c.1000 CE IOTL?

 

[Ricardolindo]

Here's another possibility no-one ever discusses, though it's a bit more out there and heavily reliant upon speculation; what if one of the successors to the aboriginal Taiwanese Dapenkeng Culture manages to extend its rule and unify the island's many kingdoms and tribes under a centralized government, at around the same time as, or within a few centuries of, the same thing happening on the Japanese island of Honshu? Could an alternate 'Queendom of Formosa', conceivably become a dominant power in its own right during the Medieval Era, and thus remain Aboriginal majority to at least the same extent as Luzon? Especially with the wealth and influence conveyed to it via the Maritime Jade Road, which was in existence for at least 3,000 years, and remained active until c.1000 CE IOTL?

Wasn't Taiwan too mountainous for a centralized state to form? Yes, I know Japan is mountainous, too, but not as much as Taiwan.

 

[SinghSong]

Wasn't Taiwan too mountainous for a centralized state to form? Yes, I know Japan is mountainous, too, but not as much as Taiwan.

I really don't get why people always say stuff like that, most commonly based exclusively upon popular stereotypes/tropes which have about as much basis in fact as "wasn't Britain too foggy to have any chances of forming any naval empire of note?" For reference:

Sure, Taiwan may be a bit mountainous, and not especially large; but remember, the western third or so of the island still has sizable contiguous coastal plains. The alluvial plains of the Choshui and Gaoping Rivers are both parts of the Chianan Plain in a geographical sense, even if their plains are officially counted separately from one another in accordance with the groundwater zones of Taiwan; but even counted individually, each one of these Taiwanese coastal plains is roughly twice the size or more of Honshu's Nobi and Osaka plains. And combined, they're roughly three quarters the size of Japan's Kanto Plain.

Comparing it to plenty of other islands on that second infographic where centralized kingdoms were successfully established, why should Taiwan's topography present any more of an impediment or insurmountable obstacle to this than it did on islands like Hawaii, Sicily, Sulawesi or Bali? Course, the last two cases also serve as demonstrations that there'd be no guarantee that a Taiwanese aboriginal kingdom would unite the entire island, or that it'd stay unified in perpetuity afterwards even if they did. But having the Aboriginal Taiwanese kingdom/s in an ATL reaching levels of centralization and sophistication akin to those of the Bugis Kingdoms of Sulawesi, or the Kingdomships of Bali, seems pretty conservative and 'middle of the park' plausibility-wise, IMHO.