A descendant of Robert Swinhoe, the first British consul in what was then known as Formosa, on Thursday visited the British Consulate at Takow (打狗英國領事館) in Kaohsiung, hoping to deepen his understanding of his ancestor.
Robert Swinhoe was stationed in Taiwan in July 1861 as the first British vice-consul, and he set up the first British Consular Office in Taiwan in Taiwanfu (modern-day Tainan), the Kaohsiung Bureau of Cultural Affairs said.
Three years later, Britain relocated the vice consulate from Taiwanfu toTakao (modern-day Kaohsiung), after the Port of Kaohsiung was opened.