Tainan has obtained central government approval to fund an archeology project at Fort Zeelandia that would examine communal life at the fortified Dutch settlement, city officials said yesterday.
Fort Zeelandia and the town of Dayuan (大員) were the foundation for urban life in modern-day Tainan and played a key role in the history of Taiwan, the Tainan Municipal Administration of Cultural Heritage said in a news release.
The archeology research is part of the agency’s project to reconstruct the historical site and NT$5.06 million (US$179,783) has been allocated by the Ministry of Culture’s Bureau of Cultural Heritage toward the effort, it said.
Photo courtesy of the Tainan Municipal Administration of Cultural Heritage via CNA
Shortly after reaching Taiwan in 1642, the Dutch East India Co built the fort in modern-day Anping District (安平) as an important foothold to protect its supply chains, which spanned two oceans, the agency said.
The fort marked the beginning of Taiwan’s entrance into the network of global maritime trade, and Taiwanese Aborigines, Chinese, Japanese and Europeans took part in shaping this historical event, it added.
The ethnic groups living in and around the fort clashed with each other, but also collaborated on shared interests, which set into motion the processes that created modern-day Tainan and Taiwan as a whole, it said.
Past studies of the fort were hindered by limited scope, as efforts were confined to the fort proper and new structures had been built over most of the areas of interest, it said.
National Cheng Kung University, in partnership with the Tainan City Government, has over the past two years explored areas on the periphery of the fort, including Shihmen Elementary School and Sword Lion Square (劍獅埕), it said.
Earlier this year, a research team from the university located outlying walls and a sewage system on the west of the fortification — these had rarely been mentioned in historical documents, it said.
The result of the team’s work showed that on-site research could fill in gaps in the fort’s historiography, it added.
The project would provide a fuller understanding of Fort Zeelandia, which has played a crucial role in Taiwanese history since its founding 400 years ago, the agency said.
NATIONAL SECURITY: Authorities are working to confirm the identities of the military personnel involved and investigating possible illegal conduct and regulatory violations Authorities are probing possible national security implications after Kinmen police and immigration officers on Sunday found a Chinese woman allegedly posing as a tourist while engaging in prostitution involving more than 10 military personnel. The woman, surnamed Chen (陳), has since been deported, authorities said, adding that investigators are still working to confirm the identities of those implicated, as the records only listed code names and aliases. The case stemmed from a report received by the Kinmen District Prosecutors’ Office on Friday last week from the Jinhu Precinct of the Kinmen County Police Bureau. On Sunday, police, along with the National Immigration
REASONS FOR TRAVEL: An assistant professor said that proposed amendments to penalize drivers if they used drugs overseas would not deter people from traveling People who operate a motor vehicle under the influence of marijuana would have their driver’s license revoked, even if they used the substance while overseas, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications said yesterday, citing proposed amendments to the Road Traffic Management and Penalty Act (道路交通管理處罰條例). The amendments would also authorize the government to revoke the licenses of people determined to have used Category 1 or Category 2 narcotics, even if they were not operating a vehicle while under the influence of drugs, as well as ban them from taking the license test for three years, the ministry said. People aged 18 or
GLOBALGIVING: ‘ Caving to external pressure is not acceptable for an organization that has cultivated justice reform and human rights for 30 years,’ one NGO said A slew of non-government organizations (NGOs) have withdrawn from the GlobalGiving fundraising platform after it announced it would use “Chinese Taipei” instead of “Taiwan” from next month. The Taiwan Good Rice Association wrote on Facebook on Friday that it was informed on April 28 via a teleconference call of the change, which was made because the platform wanted to operate in China. Taiwan Good Rice is to terminate all cooperative relationships with GlobalGiving in response to the platform’s “unilateral and non-negotiable” decision to remove references to Taiwan, the NGO said. “Taiwan is in the official name of Taiwan Good Rice Association and the
HEAVY WEATHER: Typhoon Jangmi is due to crash straight into the Ryukyus as airlines look to shift flights to larger aircraft or cancel flights to Okinawa entirely Taiwan’s international air carriers announced flight adjustments over the weekend as Typhoon Jangmi is forecast to hit the Ryukyu Islands today and tomorrow. The Central Weather Administration (CWA) upgraded Jangmi from a tropical storm to a typhoon at 8am yesterday, with the eye located 580km south of Naha city. It was moving north at 19kph. Today, China Airlines’ CI-120, CI-121, CI-122 and CI-123 flights between Taoyuan and Naha, Okinawa, have been canceled as well as CI-132 and CI-133 between Kaohsiung and Naha. EVA Air’s BR-112, BR-113, BR-186 and BR-185 flights between Taoyuan and Naha are also canceled. Low-cost carrier Tigerair Taiwan canceled IT-230,
RSS