Governor of Formosa

File:Fort Zealandia Taiwan.jpg

Fort Zeelandia, residence of the governors of Formosa, Taiwan.

The governor of Formosa (Template:Langx; Template:Zh) was the head of government of Taiwan during the Dutch colonial period, which lasted from 1624 to 1662. Appointed by the governor-general of the Dutch East Indies in Batavia (now Jakarta, Indonesia), the governor of Formosa was empowered to legislate, collect taxes, wage war and declare peace on behalf of the Dutch East India Company (VOC) and therefore by extension the Dutch state.

The governor's residence was in Fort Zeelandia on Tayouan.

List of governors

There were a total of twelve governors during the Dutch colonial era. The man sometimes said to be the thirteenth, Harmen Klenck van Odessen, was appointed by VOC Governor-General Joan Maetsuycker, only to arrive off the coast of Tayouan during the Siege of Fort Zeelandia. Klenck refused to go ashore to take up his post despite being urged to by Frederick Coyett, the incumbent governor, and finally left without ever setting foot on Formosa.

№	Portrait	Name	From	Until
1	File:VOC.svg	Martinus Sonck	1624	1625 (died in office)
2	File:VOC.svg	Gerard Frederikszoon de With	1625	1627
3	File:Pieter Nuyts in 1629.jpg	Pieter Nuyts	1627	1629
4	File:VOC.svg	Hans Putmans	1629	1636
5	File:VOC.svg	Johan van der Burg	1636	1640 (died in office)
6	File:VOC.svg	Paulus Traudenius	1640	1643
7	File:VOC.svg	Maximilian le Maire	1643	1644
8	File:VOC.svg	François Caron	1644	1646
9	File:Overtwater.jpg	Pieter Anthoniszoon Overtwater	1646	1649
10	File:VOC.svg	Nicolas Verburg	1649	1653
11	File:VOC.svg	Cornelis Caesar	1653	1656
12	File:Frederick Coyett.jpg	Frederick Coyett	1656	1662

See also

• Dutch Formosa
• Governor-General of Taiwan (1895–1945)
• Governor of Taiwan Province (1994–present)