Compared with Taiwan's eye-catching, the Penghu Archipelago has always appeared obscure. It is rarely seen on the news, and occasionally it is mostly related to plane crashes. In recent decades, more than a dozen air disasters have occurred in the airspace of Penghu, so Penghu has also been called "Eastern Bermuda" by some media.
The Penghu Archipelago, located between Fujian and Taiwan, consists of 64 islands, of which 20 are inhabited. The entire archipelago was formed by the eruption of the submarine continental shelf volcano, and the area of Penghu Main Island reached more than 64 square kilometers, making it a very good port in the Taiwan Strait.
Humans have long lived on the Penghu Archipelago, and on Hujing Island, one of the archipelagos, there is an ancient city that sinks underwater. The ancient city wall is in the shape of a cross, like a fallen cross, the wall is facing the four directions of east, west, south and north, and there is filler between the rocks of the wall, which can basically be determined to be a man-made building.
According to the analysis of archaeologists, the history of Hujing Shencheng may reach 12,000-18,000 years, and it is very close to the early undersea altar found in Ryukyu, and the ancient humans living in the Penghu Archipelago may have a great relationship with the ancient Ryukyu state.
On the other hand, during the Qin and Han dynasties, humans from the mainland reached the Penghu Archipelago and left behind relics such as stone axes. During the Song Dynasty, Penghu was officially included in the territory of China and was subordinate to Quanzhou Prefecture. At the end of the Song Dynasty, a large number of immigrants from the mainland fled to live on the Penghu Archipelago, reaching a certain scale. In 1292, the Yuan Dynasty established the Penghu Inspection Department to manage these residents. When Zheng He of the Ming Dynasty went to the West, he marked the Penghu Archipelago as "Pinghu Island".
Don't look at the distance from Fujian to Penghu and even Taiwan is not very far, but under the backward navigation technology of ancient times, this sea route is not easy to walk. The currents on the eastern coast of China are affected by the monsoon, and the sea vessels departing from the mainland are headwinds and headwinds all year round, and they face the Pacific Ocean, with strong winds and waves, and the danger is very high.
Therefore, from the southeast coast of China, whether it is to Penghu in Taiwan or Japan, the sea route is not very convenient. Perhaps this is one of the reasons why ancient China was not willing to expand in the direction of the sea. The climate and sea conditions in the waters around Penghu are complex, and sometimes there are anomalies, and most of the ships and planes that crash in this area are related to this.
Before the Opium War, China had already faced opponents from the sea. First Portuguese, later Dutch. The Dutch were particularly interested in Taiwan and Penghu, trying to use them as colonies and trade centers in the East.
In 1604, the Dutch advance troops occupied Penghu. After the Ming government discovered this, it sent Shen Yourong to penghu with 50 warships to drive the Dutch away and build a monument on the island to commemorate the incident.
After the Dutch learned of the strength of the Ming Dynasty and their determination to defend their territory, they patiently waited for twenty years and accumulated a certain amount of force before they dared to invade Penghu again. The Ming Dynasty sailors confronted each other and resolutely used force to expel them. At that time, the Ming army had already made great use of Flang cannons, although the warships were smaller than the Dutch, but the number of ships was large, and the total number of guns was also quite large.
In 1624, the Ming Dynasty and the Dutch engaged in a large-scale naval battle in Penghu, which once again shattered the Dutch ambitions for Penghu. The Dutch had no choice but to invade Taiwan instead. At this time, the Ming Dynasty had entered the end of the dynasty with internal and external troubles, and was unable to continue to pursue the Dutch.
In 1661, in order to establish an anti-Qing base area, Zheng Chenggong used Penghu as a springboard to recover Taiwan, and finally completely drove out the Dutch.
When the Qing Dynasty unified Taiwan, it also used Penghu as a transit base to launch a war to recover Taiwan. In fact, after Penghu was captured by the Qing army, the Zheng clan surrendered, and the Qing army did not need to set foot on the main island of Taiwan to complete the reunification.
At the end of the Ming Dynasty and the beginning of the Qing Dynasty, China's scientific and technological level and naval strength were not far from those of Western powers. However, the Qing Dynasty's policy of total sea ban made China slowly abandoned by the world's advanced technology. By the time British warships reappeared on China's coastline, they were no longer something that Chinese sailors could resist. What's more, the Qing Dynasty's water division was still far inferior to the Ming Dynasty.
By the end of the Qing Dynasty, the French had begun to fight the idea of Taiwan and Penghu again. In 1884, the Qing army's new navy engaged the French in a fierce battle in Penghu, stopping the French invasion attempt. This was also a rare victory for the Qing army on the battlefield after the Opium War.
After the war, the Qing Dynasty established Taiwan Province in 1887 and brought Penghu under the jurisdiction of Taiwan. It can be said that the Penghu Archipelago is a witness to the Chinese military and people resisting foreign aggression and unifying the territory of the motherland, and since the Ming Dynasty, there have been many naval battles around the Penghu Archipelago, and the Dutch and French have been defeated by China. Penghu and Taiwan have always been unquestioned Chinese territory.
However, after the Sino-Japanese War, the Japanese easily occupied Penghu, which they thought about day and night, and then occupied Taiwan. It was not until half a century later that the land returned to the motherland. Everyone knows what has happened since then.
[References: Penghu Archipelago", "Zheng's First Compilation of Historical Materials", "Draft History of the Qing Dynasty"]