The Spanish Experience in Taiwan, 1626-1642

Taiwan in the seventeenth century was a pivotal site of conflict between the expansionist Dutch and Spanish colonial empires. This book examines the economic and religious motives which brought the Spaniards to Taiwan from Manila in the first half of the century. Since 1624, Dutch expansion had been threatening the thriving trade between Fujian and Manila. Meanwhile, religious authorities were eager to find a staging post to enable missionaries to enter Japan in those years of strong persecution