An archeology team has uncovered the foundations of a Spanish chapel on an island off northern Taiwan.
Scientists said that it is an important discovery which sheds light on the history of the European colonial era during the 17th century.
The chapel was part of the Fort San Salvador complex on Heping Island (和平島) in a strategic position at the mouth of Keelung harbor and was built by the Spanish during their brief occupation of northern Taiwan more than 300 years ago.
Photo: Lu Hsien-hsiu, Taipei Times
The excavation is an international collaboration between the Academia Sinica, headed by project leader Tsang Cheng-hwa (臧振華), and an archeological research team from Spain.
Tsang, a research fellow at Academia Sinica’s Institute of History and Philology, said three corners of the chapel’s foundations were uncovered at the dig, which is taking place at a parking lot on the island.
He added that skeletal remains of two males were found at the site, one complete skeleton and another which was incomplete. The remains were judged to be contemporaneous with the fort complex.
“Right now we are not sure if the remains belong to the Spanish, or the Formosan Aborigines who were the main inhabitants of the northern coast during that time. So DNA tests will be conducted to determine their origin... It could turn out that these are the oldest evidence of the Spanish occupation yet found in Taiwan,” Tsang said.
Tsang said the dig enabled the team to determine the exact location of the chapel and it correlates with the position shown on maps of the period.
The team found that the Spanish garrison used materials they found on the island to build the chapel, as a section of the wall matched rocks found in nearby hills.
When excavating deeper around the chapel site, the team dug up much older archeological relics dating back to 2,500 to 3,000 years ago, including stone tools, pottery pieces and decorative items made from Taiwanese jade.
“This indicated that ancient civilizations were active on Heping Island and in the whole northern coastal area more than 3,000 years ago. Due to these recent finds, we will expand our excavation efforts around Fort San Salvador in the coming years, because these are important Taiwanese cultural treasures,” Tsang said.
The fort was a key stronghold during the brief Spanish occupation of northern Taiwan in the 17th century.
In 1626, Spain dispatched a fleet of warships from Manila, and sailed to Quelang — the old name for Keelung — as the fort was built that year.
For its defensive fortifications and firepower, at one time Fort San Salvador had 27 copper cannons and six iron cannons, according to Spanish documents.
After some years of battling for trade concessions and colonial holdings, in 1642 Spain ceded the fort to the Dutch, who renamed it Fort Noord-Holland.
Hong Kong-based American singer-songwriter Khalil Fong (方大同) has passed away at the age of 41, Fong’s record label confirmed yesterday. “With unwavering optimism in the face of a relentless illness for five years, Khalil Fong gently and gracefully bid farewell to this world on the morning of February 21, 2025, stepping into the next realm of existence to carry forward his purpose and dreams,” Fu Music wrote on the company’s official Facebook page. “The music and graphic novels he gifted to the world remain an eternal testament to his luminous spirit, a timeless treasure for generations to come,” it said. Although Fong’s
China’s military buildup in the southern portion of the first island chain poses a serious threat to Taiwan’s liquefied natural gas (LNG) supply, a defense analyst warned. Writing in a bulletin on the National Defense and Security Research’s Web site on Thursday, Huang Tsung-ting (黃宗鼎) said that China might choke off Taiwan’s energy supply without it. Beginning last year, China entrenched its position in the southern region of the first island chain, often with Russia’s active support, he said. In May of the same year, a Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) force consisting of a Type 054A destroyer, Type 055 destroyer,
Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) was questioned by prosecutors for allegedly orchestrating an attack on a taxi driver after he was allegedly driven on a longer than necessary route in a car he disliked. The questioning at the New Taipei City District Prosecutors’ Office was ongoing as of press time last night. Police have recommended charges of attempted murder. The legally embattled actor — known for his role in the coming-of-age film Our Times (我的少女時代) — is under a separate investigation for allegedly using fake medical documents to evade mandatory military service. According to local media reports, police said Wang earlier last year ordered a
Taiwan is planning to expand the use of artificial intelligence (AI)-based X-ray imaging to customs clearance points over the next four years to curb the smuggling of contraband, a Customs Administration official said. The official on condition of anonymity said the plan would cover meat products, e-cigarettes and heated tobacco products, large bundles of banknotes and certain agricultural produce. Taiwan began using AI image recognition systems in July 2021. This year, generative AI — a subset of AI which uses generative models to produce data — would be used to train AI models to produce realistic X-ray images of contraband, the official
RSS