Maritime Taiwan, Historical Encounters with the East and the West

Shih-Shan, Henry Tsai. Maritime Taiwan Historical Encounters with the East and the West. Armonk: East Gate, 2009. Print.

The title of my book is Maritime Taiwan: Historical Encounters with the East and West by Shih-Shan Henry Tsai. I found this book by searching the term “colonization during World War II”. Recently we have talked a lot about colonization in class specifically during the periods of World War I and II. I thought it would be a good idea to check out what countries were colonized and why; moreover, this book grabbed my attention by discussing colonization within Taiwan and gives a little history of Taiwan as well.

The book covers the dealing of Taiwan and its meeting between the Eastern nations (China, Japan) and Western nations as well (Netherlands, Spain, and the US). The book begins with begins with the Dutch and Spanish taking control and ends with a growing American influence; furthermore, in between are details of the Japanese roots. While most of these encounters are from the West, the East has a very significant part. Japan was the first to start the actual colonization of Taiwan. The Spanish and the Dutch were simply traders within Taiwan but had made no actual attempt to colonize the country. Taiwan also plays a key factor in World War II for Japan because of the value Japan got out the Taiwan. While the U.S. came in later, Japan received the most use. In addition, the book also features graphics from the time period that shows things like World War II Prisoners of War (POW) and list of U.S. imports from Taiwan. Around the book are other titles detailing Taiwan’s colonization and impacts of the outside world on Taiwan. Overall, the book seems like a good read for anyone interested in studying Taiwanese history.