The Dutch commemorative toponyms in the seventeenth century East Asia, based on the cartographic works left by the Dutch East India Company (VOC)

Abstract

The paper mainly aims at discussing the commemorative toponyms in East Asia used by the Dutch East India Company (Verenigde Oostindische Compagnie or VOC) in the seventeenth-century mainly by examining contemporary Dutch cartographic works. The VOC cartographic works include those for maritime exploration of the coastal areas and off-shore islands of China and Japan, as well as the only territorial colony of the VOC, the island of Taiwan, then being called Formosa. The paper classifies the VOC commemorative place names into those of ship names, personal names, geographical names, and the highlighted nature of certain incidents. In addition to exploring the nature of the VOC commemorative place names, the paper also concludes with the way that toponyms were displayed on VOC maps which reveals the language boundary in the southeastern coast of China.