Siege of Fort Zeelandia

Siege of Fort Zeelandia (1661–1662)
Part of Sino–Dutch conflicts
Fort Zealandia in Taiwan pictured during the 17th century.
Date March 30, 1661 – February 1, 1662 Location modern-day Tainan, Formosa Result Decisive Ming Loyalist victory Establishment of Kingdom of Tungning
Belligerents
Koxinga's Ming Loyalists Taiwanese aborigine defectors	Dutch East India Company
Commanders and leaders
Koxinga	Frederick Coyett
Strength
25,000 soldiers and sailors Hundreds of warships.	Garrison: 1,200 unknown number of native allies and civilians Reinforcement: 10 ships, 700 sailors
Casualties and losses
unknown (about 1,000 killed or wounded in a failed frontal assault in September 1660 according to Dutch records)	1,600 killed or diseased 2 ships sunk 3 vessels captured

The Siege of Fort Zeelandia (Chinese: 鄭成功攻臺之役; pinyin: Zhèng Chénggōng gōng tái zhī yì; literally: "Koxinga's Invasion of Taiwan"), which took place in 1661 and 1662, ended the Dutch East India Company's rule over Taiwan and began the Kingdom of Tungning's rule over the island. Taiwanese scholar Lu Chien-jung described this event as "a war that determined the fate of Taiwan in the four hundred years that follow".

The Dutch had been defeated in a war over the Pescadores from 1623–1624, and again at the Battle of Liaoluo Bay where the Chinese were led by Zheng Zhilong, the father of Koxinga.

In the year of 1659, after an unsuccessful attempt to capture Nanjing, Koxinga, leader of the Ming loyalist remnants, felt that the Qing Empire had already consolidated their position in China, and that his troops needed more supplies and manpower. He began actively searching for a suitable location as his base of operation, and soon a Chinese man named Ho-Bin (Chinese: ), who was working for the Dutch East India Company in Formosa (Taiwan), fled to Koxinga's base in Xiamen and provided him with a map of Taiwan.

By 1632, the Dutch had established a post on a peninsula named Tayoan (now Anping District of Tainan), which was separated from the main part of Formosa by a shallow lagoon historically referred to as the Taikang inland sea (). The Dutch fortification consisted of two forts around the bay. The first was the multiple-walled Fort Zeelandia situated at the entrance to the bay; this was the main fortification of the Dutch. The second was Fort Provintia, a walled administrative office located at the bay, which was smaller in size. Frederick Coyett, the governor of Taiwan for the company, was stationed in Fort Zeelandia with 1,800 men; his subordinate, Valentyn, was in charge of Fort Provintia and its garrison of 500 men.

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