Taiwan: A Global History (17th century to Present)

Undergraduate

In 2021, The Economist deemed Taiwan “the most dangerous place on Earth,” a potential flashpoint for war between the United States and China. While Western discourse often views this island-nation of 23 million people through the lens of geopolitics, this course approaches Taiwan as a vital site for understanding broader global historical processes such as imperialism, capitalism, and democratization. Why did a small archipelago consisting of 168 islands become a site of overlapping colonialism by the Dutch, Spanish, Chinese, and Japanese? How did an agrarian economy transform into an industrial powerhouse that produces more than 90% of the world’s advanced semiconductors? How did Taiwan successfully transition from 38 years of martial law—the second longest in modern world history—into what many call the first and only “Chinese democracy”? By analyzing primary sources and the latest historical scholarship, we move beyond the headlines to address three core questions: What is Taiwan? Who are its people? And how do we write a history of Taiwan? Our journey spans from the 17th century to the present, beginning with Taiwan’s indigenous roots and concluding with the socio-political issues defining its present. HU M 1:30pm-3:25pm