季風影響下臺閩歷史性航路的開發

The Monsoon Effect on the Evolution of Historical Sea Routes Across the Taiwan Strait

昔日漢人渡海來台，以帆船為交通工具。帆船航行須借助風力，故受制於風，而盛行於台灣海峽上的季風則支配著兩岸間船隻的往返。自荷西初期以至於清治晚期，或官方核定，或民間私闢，台閩之間出現了多條的航路，而使得兩岸間的海上交流變得較為安全而便捷。因此，漢人移民逐漸能夠突破心理障礙，提起勇氣橫越海峽，而源源地來台墾拓定居，而慢慢地在此間完成主體社會的建構。由於帆船航行技術上的關係，季風深刻地影響了兩岸航路的開發，然而在台灣土地開發史的研究領域中，這方面的觀點尚未被提出來討論，故筆者希望能藉由本文來檢視一下這個觀點。

In the past, Chinese came to Formosa by sailing ships across the Taiwan Strait. Sailing requires wind power, which the monsoons in eastern Asia provided. From the begin of Dutch colonization to the end of Ching’s rule(1624-1895) several historical sea-routes across the Taiwan Strait were officially and unofficially developed, which made the contacts between both sides more secure and easy. Therefore, more and more Chinese immigrants mustered the courage to cross the strait and established new homes in Formosa. Gradually, a Chinese society was built in this island. Because of the sailing techniques, the formation of these sea-routes was strongly influenced by the monsoons, but this aspect has not yet been discussed in the research literature about Taiwan’s land development. The purpose of this paper is to examine this aspect.