top of page
Formosan, Hoan, Ban, Takasago-zoku…

The term "Taiwan Genjūmin-zoku" (Formosan Natives) appeared during the Japanese colonial period, and was mainly used to indicate the inhabitants settle in Taiwan prior to the Japanese colonization.

資料來源:國立臺灣圖書館

Click on the image to learn more.

Formosan, Hoan, Ban, Takasago-zoku…

The term " Indigenous Peoples in Taiwan" indicates the Austronesian peoples living on the island of Formosa. They are not of one single ethnic group. Although the Indigenous communities and groups named themselves respectively, they had been successively given different names by foreign regimes on the island. They had once been called "Hoan" (meaning "savages") by Han Chinese, "Formosan" by Dutch, and "Ban" (also meaning "savages") by Japanese. Since neither the Crown Prince Hirohito (later the Emperor Shōwa) nor the Indigenous Peoples themselves considered the word "Ban" appropriate, the latter was renamed as "Takasago" meaning "Taiwanese aboriginals living in mountain areas.”

bottom of page