物競與人擇－荷治與明鄭時期臺灣的農業發展與環境改造

The Development of Agriculture and the Environmental Reshape in Taiwan during the Dutch Period and Cheng Chen-kung Period

曾品滄(Pin-Chang Tseng)

《國史館學術集刊》 14期 (2007/12) Pp. 1-37

https://doi.org/10.7058/BAH.200712.0001

摘要

本文嘗試透過生態變遷的觀點，重新檢視臺灣在荷治與明鄭時期的農業發展經驗，論述這兩個時期的農業特徵及其間的差異，並說明其歷史意義。
臺灣在西元十七世紀時，分別受到來自歐洲的荷蘭東印度公司和中國的明鄭政權所統治。雖然這兩個殖民政權皆大力推行農業，移入大量的漢人墾民、作物及家畜，並因此建立了臺灣稻米與蔗糖產業的基礎，但兩者發展農業的目的與策略略有不同。前者重視商貿利益，除做爲糧食的稻米、大小麥外，還引進甘蔗、藍木、薑、桑蠶、棉花等當時國際貿易市場所需的商品作物，並經由漢人或荷人企業家（或頭人）雇用工人進行大面積墾植，或招募佃人進行拓墾；後者則是企圖將臺灣建立成大量軍民的給養基地，除蔗糖外，也重視糧食以及各種可做爲生活資料之作物，如番薯、芝麻、苧麻、花生、藍木等的栽培與生產，由漢人小農或軍人進行農墾。
以生態變遷的觀點來看，荷治與明鄭時期的拓墾活動，其實是一生態環境改造工程，將原來自然的或是原住民之燒墾農業的生態，改造成集約栽培的農業生態。這兩個政權所採取的農業策略，正分別代表著西方與東方的殖民地農業經驗，其對新墾地之農業生態環境的改造方式有著明顯差異。荷治時期因重視商貿利易，強調作物的市場價值，引入的作物除竹蔗與占城稻系列的稻米外，多數因水土不適，無法克服逆境而宣告失敗。此外，其推行之大面積、單一作物栽培的農作模式，在新墾地的環境中，也有著成本高、風險大的缺點。相較之下，明鄭政權所發展的栽培作物，多數是生活資料所需、抗逆性強，且是漢人在閩粵地方所熟悉者。更重要的是，其實施的小農農作模式，可將墾民與家畜、作物結合成有力的移居生物群落，彼此共同對抗新墾地原生生物，既可增加活存的機會，也可因爲產出多元化，降低風險。
雖然荷治與明鄭時期採取的策略、成果略有不同，但經過這兩個時期的努力嘗試與摸索，終能順利克服逆境，在臺灣南部地區成功地建立了以旱地作物栽培、小農農作模式爲主的農業發展形態。荷治時期移入的竹蔗、稻米、各種果樹及家畜，再加上明鄭時期大力發展的番薯、芝麻、苧麻、花生、藍木，共同構成日後臺灣南部地區數百年來的農業景觀。

關鍵字

荷治時期 ； 明鄭時期 ； 拓墾 ； 生態變遷

並列摘要

This paper intends to examine the agricultural development in Taiwan during the Dutch Period and the Cheng Chen-kung Period from an ecological viewpoint. It will pinpoint the traits of each period and discuss the differences between them. Furthermore, it will also explore the significance in this aspect from a historical point of view.
Taiwan was once ruled by the Netherlands via the East Hindu Company and by the regime of Cheng Chen-kung of the Ming Dynasty during the 17th century. The two colonial governments had all done their best to develop agriculture on the island, immigrating a great number of people, crops, and domestic animals, and also laying a good foundation in rice and sugar industries on the island. However, the two governments had different purposes and strategies. The former cared more for business profits. Other than cultivating rice and wheat as food, they also grew sugar cane, ginger, silk worms, cotton and other economic crops for profits through international trade. They also encouraged mass production by having Chinese or Dutch entrepreneurs (or leading businessmen) hire laborers or recruit tenants to grow the crops in great amount. The Cheng regime, on the other hand, wanted to make Taiwan a base for food supplies to the army and the people living there. Besides sugar cane, they also planted any crops that could sustain human life, e.g., yams, sesames, ramie, peanuts, etc. Instead of making agriculture a great enterprise, they asked farmers or soldiers to cultivate the land.
In either case, the development of agriculture in Taiwan then was in essence an ecological or environmental change from the burn-and-grow style of agriculture of the aboriginals to the centralized and controlled style of agriculture. The strategies used by the two regimes, however, represented two extreme schools of colonialism-the West and the East. While the Dutch government wished to grow crops for economic profits, they did not succeed in doing so because the many crops they introduced from their homeland did not grow well on the alien land. And the mass production measure they took also failed because of higher capitals and risks. In contrast, the crops cultivated by the Cheng regime were common to the Chinese people along Ming and Canton provinces and were meant to sustain life rather than to make profits, thus having great chances of success. Moreover, the small-farm style of agriculture was a good measure for the people to grow crops and to raise domestic animals at the same time as a way to combat the original plants on the land. In this way, they had a better chance to survive.
Although the two regimes did not use the same strategies and did not have the same results, they nevertheless had tried their best and overcome the difficulties in making Taiwan a good place for agriculture-especially the dry-land and small-scale farming as found in the southern parts of Taiwan. The sugar cane, rice, fruit trees, and domestic animals introduced by the Dutch people, and the yams, sesames, ramie, peanuts, and blue woods planted by the Cheng regime have thus remained important agricultural products in Taiwan since then.

並列關鍵字

the Dutch Period ； the Cheng Period ； cultivation ； ecological change

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