were the second European power to visit the island, and in
             1624 they established Fort Zeelandia on the southern coast while a small Spanish contingent
             began settling the northern part of the island. The Dutch forced the Spanish out in 1641 and
             twenty years later in 1661, the pirate leader Cheng Ch'en-kung captured Fort Zeelandia from the
             Dutch and established an independent kingdom. In the year 1683 the imperial forces of Manchu
             China overran and established control of Taiwan, by all accounts "recovering" the island for
             China. Taiwan was now subject to Manchu China under the jurisdiction of Fujian province,
             which split the island into three separate counties. Over the seventy years, Chinese control was
             tightened and in 1727 Taiwan was administered as a separate jurisdiction known as the Prefecture
             administration of Taiwan. Finally in 1885, the Chinese government formally made Taiwan into a
             full province incorporating eleven counties. During the next several years Taiwan was fully
             ...