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Spanish Formosa () was a small colony of the Spanish Empire established in the northern tip of the island now known as Taiwan, then known to Europeans at the time as Formosa or to Spaniards as "Isla Hermosa" from 1626 to 1642. It was ceded to the Dutch Republic during the Eighty Years' War.
The Portugal were the first Europeans to reach the island in 1544, and named it Formosa (Portuguese for "beautiful") due to the beautiful landscape as seen from the sea. The Spanish Empire had translated the name into Spanish language as "Hermosa" and is what was historically used in Spanish maps and documents about the colony.
The Spanish set up a colony in the north of the island in 1626 as part of the Manila-based Spanish East Indies that was also subordinated to New Spain (Mexico) at that time. As a Spanish colony, it was meant to protect the regional trade of Spanish Philippines, especially Manila-bound junk ships coming from Ming dynasty and Japan from interference by the Dutch in Dutch Formosa in the south of the island. The colony was short-lived due to the loss of its strategic importance and unwillingness by Spanish authorities in Manila to commit more resources to its defense. After seventeen years, the last fortress of the Spanish was besieged by Dutch forces and eventually fell, giving the Dutch control over much of the island.
Spanish Catholic friar missionaries, especially Dominican Order and Franciscans, Christianized about 5,000 indigenous Formosans, mostly the Basay people in Keelung and Tamsui District and the Kavalan people in Yilan, during the time of the Spanish governorate. The Spanish also settled Sangley Chinese Filipino and a few Kirishitan in Chinese trading settlements (Parián) as traders and laborers and employed at least 300 or more native Filipinos (especially Kapampangan), Mexican Mestizos, Mulatto, Afro-Mexicans, Mexican Amerindians, and some New Spain Criollo people from New Spain (Mexico) and Spanish Filipinos from Spanish Philippines as soldiers, laborers, and friar missionaries garrisoned in the forts and settlements of Spanish Formosa.
As a result of the Iberian Union of Portugal and Spain in 1580, the Dutch of the Seventeen Provinces fought the Dutch–Portuguese War. England and France became enemies of both Portugal and Spain. The Dutch colonisation of Formosa was part of the unsuccessful campaign to seize the possessions of the Spanish Habsburgs in Asia, including the Philippines. The Dutch began to attack a string of often undermanned coastal fortresses that comprised the Habsburg's Portuguese African and Asian possessions. The settlements were sometimes isolated, difficult to reinforce if attacked, and prone to being picked off one by one. However, the Dutch were mostly unsuccessful in these attempts.
Pursuing their quest for alternative routes to Asia for trade, the first Dutch privateer squadron to reach the Philippines on 14 December 1600 was led by pirate Olivier van Noort. The Dutch sought to dominate the commercial sea trade in Southeast Asia, often engaging in piracy and privateering. They attempted to disrupt trade by harassing the coasts of Manila Bay and its environs, and preyed on and junks from China and Japan trading at Manila. In the context of this competition for trade, the Dutch established a colony at Tayouan, present-day Anping District, in the south of Formosa. From there they tried threaten Spain's trade in the region. As a counter to this threat, the Spanish colonial authorities in Manila decided to establish their own colony in the north of the island.
In 1629 the Spanish erected a second base, centred on Fort Santo Domingo, in Tamsui District.
The Spanish governor was not inclined to give in so easily and replied in kind.
Subsequently, the Dutch launched an assault on the northern regions held by the Spanish, but the positions were well-defended and the attacking troops were not able to breach the walls of the fortresses. They returned, thwarted and humiliated, to the Dutch base at Fort Zeelandia.
The governors of Formosa were:
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