Beyond technology: Japanese colonial mapping of water estates in Taiwan from 1901 to 1921

Abstract

ABSTRACTIrrigation systems in Taiwan were originally developed as private property and first put under strict government control during the Japanese colonial rule from 1895 to 1945. To understand how the Japanese introduced mapping to facilitate their early governance on irrigation systems developed by locals, this study explored the irrigation reform implemented in 1901 and its influence on the emergence of two types of irrigation mapping. One is entitled ‘Irrigation Register Maps’ and the other ‘Irrigation Application Maps’. By exploring unpublished papers in the Archives of the Government-General of Taiwan (Taiwan Sotokufu), the manuscripts of these two types of irrigation map were examined in terms of their mapping initiatives, rationales and techniques. While ‘Irrigation Register Maps’ were produced by the colonial government to illustrate the existing water ownership with public interest, ‘Irrigation Application Maps’ were written by the local residents in order to claim new water ownership with private interest. In addition to depicting irrigation routes, both types of mapping were integrated with rich textual information about water ownership and management frameworks. To conclude, this paper argues that Japanese colonial mapping was an in-depth activity about re-presenting and reshaping local cultures, instead of merely reproducing Western technologies.