on Formosa Island, but no supplies were sent
to it, and consequently in 1642 it surrendered to the Dutch, who held
it for 20 years, until they were driven out by the Chinese adventurer
Koxinga. And thus for over a century and a half the strife continued,
until the Dutch concentrated their attention on the development of
their Eastern Colonies, which the power of Spain, growing more and
more effete, was incompetent to impede.

In the middle of the 17th century the Tartars invaded China and
overthrew the Min Dynasty--at that time represented by the Chinese
Emperor Yunglic. He was succeeded on the throne by the Tartar
Emperor Kungchi, to whose arbitrary power nearly all the Chinese
Empire had submitted. Amongst the few Mongol chiefs who held out
against Ta-Tsing dominion was a certain Mandarin known by the name of
Koxinga, who retired to the Island of Kinmuen, where he asserted his
independence and defied his nation's conqueror. Securely established
in his stronghold, he invited the Chinese to take refuge in his
island and oppose the Tartar's rule. Therefore the Emperor ordered
that no man should inhabit China within four leagues of the coast,
except in those provinces which were undoubtedly loyal to the new
Government. The coast was consequently laid bare; vessels, houses,
plantations, and everything useful to man, were destroyed in order to
cut off effectually all communications with lands beyond the Tartar
Empire. The Chinese from the coast, who for generations had earned a
living by fishing, etc., crowded into the interior, and their misery
was indescribable.

Koxinga, unable to communicate with the mainland of the Empire,
turned his attention to the conquest of Formosa Island, at the time
in the possession of the Dutch. According to Dutch accounts the
European settlers numbered about 600, with a garrison of 2,200. The
Dutch artillery, stores, and merchandise were valued at P8,000,000,
and the Chinese, who attacked them under Koxinga, were about 100,000
strong. The settlement surrendered to the invaders' superior numbers,
and Koxinga established himself as King of the Island. Koxinga had
become acquainted with an Italian Dominican missionary named Vittorio
Riccio, whom he created a Mandarin, and sent him as Ambassador to
the Governor of the Philippines. Riccio therefore arrived in Manila
in 1662, the bearer of Koxinga's despatches calling upon the Governor
to pay tribute, under threat of the Colony being attacked