Lost Colony
The Untold Story of China's First Great Victory over the West
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- 23,99 €
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- 23,99 €
Beschreibung des Verlags
How a Chinese pirate defeated European colonialists and won Taiwan during the seventeenth century
During the seventeenth century, Holland created the world's most dynamic colonial empire, outcompeting the British and capturing Spanish and Portuguese colonies. Yet, in the Sino-Dutch War—Europe's first war with China—the Dutch met their match in a colorful Chinese warlord named Koxinga. Part samurai, part pirate, he led his generals to victory over the Dutch and captured one of their largest and richest colonies—Taiwan. How did he do it? Examining the strengths and weaknesses of European and Chinese military techniques during the period, Lost Colony provides a balanced new perspective on long-held assumptions about Western power, Chinese might, and the nature of war.
It has traditionally been asserted that Europeans of the era possessed more advanced science, technology, and political structures than their Eastern counterparts, but historians have recently contested this view, arguing that many parts of Asia developed on pace with Europe until 1800. While Lost Colony shows that the Dutch did indeed possess a technological edge thanks to the Renaissance fort and the broadside sailing ship, that edge was neutralized by the formidable Chinese military leadership. Thanks to a rich heritage of ancient war wisdom, Koxinga and his generals outfoxed the Dutch at every turn.
Exploring a period when the military balance between Europe and China was closer than at any other point in modern history, Lost Colony reassesses an important chapter in world history and offers valuable and surprising lessons for contemporary times.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Few readers probably know that the Dutch ruled Taiwan in the 17th century. Andrade, associate professor of history at Emory University (How Taiwan Became Chinese: Dutch, Spanish, and Han Colonization in the Seventeenth Century), delivers a lively history of an occupation that ended after the greatest war between European and Chinese forces until the Opium War of the 19th century. Although a backwater in 1624 when the Dutch arrived, Taiwan had become a prosperous commercial center by the time China's Ming dynasty fell in 1644. Defeated by the new Manchu rulers, Koxinga, a Chinese general and Ming loyalist, turned his attention to the island. Andrade, having discovered a number of original documents, concentrates on Koxinga's successful 1661 invasion. The result is a surprisingly detailed history of a brutal campaign in which the author repeatedly emphasizes that Koxinga (and Chinese leaders before him) had studied and adopted Western military advances. In this original and illuminating account, Andrade thus casts doubt on the traditional view that Europe surged to global dominance after 1500 because Asian nations ignored its superior organization and technology. Illus.; maps.