2 ISLAND IN THE STREAM I.The Era of Global Navigation 3 India.On this same expedition,da Gama also reached and landed farthest place the government officials of the Ming pursued these at present day Macau.By 1511,the Portuguese were in control of pirates was the Penghu Archipelago (the Pescadores)in the trade routes between Lisbon,Goa (India)and Malacca(Malaysia). Taiwan Strait.Because of the pirates and isolationist policies,the With Malacca as a trading and missionary base,the Portuguese Ming severely restricted travel and trade abroad. expanded their influence into southern and eastern Asia.Their ultimate goal was to establish trade with China and Japan.They An Aboriginal Nation？ accomplished this with a route linking Macau (officially colonized Long before the presence of the international pirate groups, in 1557)and Hirato in Japan.In the mid-1500s as one of the numerous aboriginal tribes were already present on the island.The Portuguese ships was en route to Tanegashima,an island of aborigines were of two types,the mountain people and the plains southern Japan,it discovered Taiwan and gave it the name "Thla people.In the mountains were the Atayal,Saisiat,Tsou,Bunun, Formosa"("beautiful island").Formosa would be the name the Rukai,Paiwan,Ami,Kavalan,Peinan,Thao,Taroko,and Tao, island would maintain in the Western world until the mid now considered the twelve major tribes of Taiwan.On the plains twentieth century.In this text we will use the names"Taiwan"and were numerous Pingpu groups but these would eventually become "Formosa"interchangeably. extinct through intermarriage and assimilation with the Chinese. In looking for the origins of the aborigines,many theories A Pirate Base abound.Some consider that the aborigines are of Malay- While certainly a beautiful island,Formosa was also a pirate base. Polynesian stock and had migrated from the south when lower Pirates from Japan as well as China had found the island a ocean levels allowed land connections between Indonesia,the relatively unprotected refuge as they plied their trade.The Philippines and Taiwan.Other theories have linked them with the Japanese pirates had their primary bases in Kyushu and Shikoku Japanese living on the Ryukyu Islands,and others try to trace them and formed armed trading groups with Chinese and Korean to what is now called Fujian Province in mainland China.HLA members.They used Portuguese as a lingua franca in the slave testing has demonstrated that some aborigines are related to the trade. Polynesian peoples in New Zealand;but it is unproved that all are These pirate groups constantly tormented the Ming dynasty so related.The fact that the various tribes operated independently (1368-1644)and were given the name“Wokou'”(偻寇，which is from each other gives credence to the position that their origins translated as "Japanese raiders or bandits."Formosa provided may be of more than one source. them with an excellent place for retreat,fresh water and supplies While each group had a unique culture and language,the after they had attacked Ming vessels and coastal cities.The aborigines were first mistakenly viewed as one nation and called