Fort Zeelandia (Chinese: 荐孽綛; pinyin: r?l?nzh? ch?ng) was a fortress built over ten years from 1624 to 1634 by the Dutch Verenigde Oostindische Compagnie, in the town of Anping (Tainan) on the island of Formosa (present-day Taiwan), during their 38-year rule over the western part of that island. The current name of the site in Chinese is Anping Fort (キ躇). During the seventeenth century, when Europeans from many countries sailed to Asia to develop trade, Formosa became one of East Asia's most important transit sites, and Fort Zeelandia an international business center. On behalf of the Dutch East India Company, ships departed from Formosa and headed north to Japan, west to Fujian, or south to Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia, India, Iran or Europe.