Basai

The Basai communities lived along northern Taiwan's coast, including the settlement of Takilang at the harbour later known as Jīlóng. Before European occupation, Basai people sailed and traded with neighbouring coasts, including China and Japan. In 1626 the Spanish established Fort San Salvador on the island at the harbour entrance, bringing a new fortified presence into a place already connected to maritime exchange. Missionaries worked among nearby Basai communities, and the Spanish remained until the Dutch displaced them in 1642.