(facing page) Taiwan's diverse ethnic makeup and multiple transfers of political control have had implications for its complex history. Academia Sinica academician Tsao Yung-ho believes the only way to truly grasp Taiwanese history is to view the island as an independent historical platform. The photo shows a map of Formosa and coastal China produced by an early 18th-century French mapmaker working from Jesuit surveys. (courtesy of SMC Publishing)

National Taiwan University awarded Tsao Yung-ho, the 90-year-old godfather of Taiwanese history, an honorary doctorate last November. In fact, the ceremony was at the heart of the university's 81st anniversary celebrations. Academia Sinica has also recognized the importance of Tsao's work, and elected him an academician in 1998.

An autodidact with no university degree, Tsao is a meticulous student of Taiwan's obscure early history. His work looks at Taiwanese history from a variety of international standpoints and has given Taiwanese a new perspective on their past and on their identity.

Tsao Yung-ho has made a close study of early Taiwanese history and is an authority on the Dutch/Koxinga era. Fluent in several languages and well versed in Southeast Asian and world history, in 1990 he proposed utilizing both international and local perspectives to develop a history of the island of Taiwan. His concept, which has been influential in the field of contemporary Taiwanese studies, was to make the people who live on the island the principal focus of such a history.