History · 歷史
Why is there a Dutch fort in Tainan, a Japanese-era train station down the street, and a temple next to a church? Each lesson starts from something you can see, asks one question, and then tells you honestly how we know the answer.
為什麼台南有荷蘭人蓋的城、街上有日本時代的車站、廟的旁邊是教堂？每一課從一樣看得到的東西出發，問一個問題，然後老實告訴你：我們是怎麼知道的。
This series is for two groups of readers. Students in Taiwan can use it to practice telling the story of their own land in English. Teachers and friends from other countries can use it to understand the place they are standing in. Each lesson has a short reading in English (tap to see the Chinese), a model or a map to explore, and a few small activities.
這個系列寫給兩群讀者。台灣的學生可以用它練習「用英文說自己土地的故事」。外國的老師和朋友，可以用它看懂自己正站著的這個地方。每一課有一篇英文短文（中文翻譯隨點隨看）、一個可以動手探索的模型或地圖，再加幾個小活動。
History is easy to turn into a list of dates to memorize. This series tries something else. It shows the evidence, says where that evidence is kept, and, where careful people disagree, puts their views side by side without choosing one. It does not speak for any political position, and it does not judge living people. The story stops in 1996; later events are still too close to see clearly.
歷史很容易變成「背年代」。這個系列換一個做法：把證據拿出來、說明證據收藏在哪裡；遇到認真的人看法不一樣的地方，就把說法並列，不替誰下結論。這個系列不替任何政治立場說話，也不評價在世的人。內容寫到 1996 年為止；更近的事離現在太近，還看不清楚。
6 of 24 lessons are ready so far; more are on the way.
目前完成 6 課（共規劃 24 課），持續增加中。
How to Read This Series · 這個系列怎麼讀
Lesson 1 explains why these cards are there. From then on, look for them in every lesson.
第一課會說明為什麼要有這三張卡。之後的每一課，都找得到它們。
The evidence behind the lesson: an object, a document, something passed down by word of mouth, or what archaeologists dug up. The card says where it is kept and gives a link, so you can check it yourself.
這一課依據的證據：一件東西、一份文件、口耳相傳的話，或考古挖出來的遺物。卡片上寫著它收藏在哪裡，並附上連結，你可以自己去查。
Where historians, museums, or groups of people do not say the same thing, the card puts their accounts side by side, each with its source. It does not pick a winner.
歷史學家、博物館或不同的人群說法不一樣的地方，這張卡把說法並列，各自附上出處，不替誰下結論。
Eight sentences for talking about time, evidence, and cause: “about 30,000 years ago,” “according to,” “the evidence suggests.” Tap the speaker to hear each one.
八句用來說時間、證據與因果的英文：about 30,000 years ago、according to、the evidence suggests……點 🔊 可以聽每一句。
Words matter in history. This series follows the wording of Taiwan’s national school curriculum (the 12-Year Basic Education social studies guidelines). When other names for the same thing are in common use, the lesson says so the first time the word appears.歷史裡，用哪一個詞也很重要。這個系列的用詞以十二年國民基本教育社會領域課程綱要為準；同一件事另有常見的稱呼時，會在那個詞第一次出現的地方說明。
Timeline · 時間軸
Every lesson marks its place on this line. Switch the scale, zoom in, or drag sideways. More dots will be added as lessons are finished.
每一課都會在這條線上標出自己的位置。可以切換尺度、放大，或左右拖曳。課程陸續完成後，線上的點會越來越多。
Dates before writing are estimates, and different institutions give different numbers (see Different Views in Lesson 1). The colored bar begins about 30,000 years ago because that is where the oldest culture found so far begins, not because nobody could have been here earlier. A fossil jaw dredged from the seabed near Penghu, identified in 2025 as belonging to an older kind of human called a Denisovan, is older still; its age is uncertain (10,000–70,000 or 130,000–190,000 years), and it is a fossil, not a culture.沒有文字以前的年代都是估計，不同的機構給的數字也不完全一樣（見第一課的「不同的說法」）。色帶從約 3 萬年前開始，是因為目前發現最古老的文化從那裡開始，不代表更早一定沒有人。從澎湖附近海底撈起的一塊下顎骨化石，2025 年被鑑定屬於一種更古老的人類——丹尼索瓦人，年代更早，但還不確定（1 萬到 7 萬年，或 13 萬到 19 萬年）；它是化石，不是一個文化。
Unit 1 · 單元一
Before the story, the method: what counts as evidence, who lived here before anything was written down, and how the island first appeared on maps.
講故事之前，先講方法：什麼算是證據、還沒有人寫字以前誰住在這裡，以及這座島最早是怎麼出現在地圖上的。
Unit 2 · 單元二
Ships from several directions reach an island where Indigenous peoples already live. A trading company builds a fort, another power settles in the north, and Zheng Chenggong (Koxinga) arrives by sea.
船從好幾個方向，來到一座原住民族早已居住的島。一家貿易公司蓋了城，另一股勢力在北部落腳，鄭成功也渡海而來。
Unit 3 · 單元三
Settlers cross a dangerous strait to land where Indigenous peoples already live, water channels turn plains into rice fields, port towns rise and fade, and ports are opened to foreign trade.
移民渡過危險的海峽，來到原住民族早已居住的土地；水圳把平原變成稻田、港口城鎮興起又沒落，港口也對外開放通商。
Unit 4 · 單元四
Fifty years under Japanese rule: a treaty and resistance, railways and reservoirs and the question of whom they were built for, changes in daily life, and the years of war. Taiwan’s curriculum titles this period “Taiwan in the Time of the Japanese Empire” in junior high and uses the term 日治時期 in senior high.
日本統治的五十年：一紙條約與抵抗、鐵路與水庫（以及它們是為誰而蓋）、日常生活的改變，以及戰爭的那幾年。課程綱要在國中階段把這段時期的主題稱為「日本帝國時期的臺灣」，高中階段的條目則用「日治時期」。
Unit 5 · 單元五
A change of government and of language, the February 28 Incident, life under martial law, farms giving way to factories, and the steps toward the first direct presidential election in 1996, where this series stops.
政權與語言的轉換、二二八事件、戒嚴時期的生活、從農田走到工廠，以及一步一步走到 1996 年第一次總統直選——這個系列寫到這裡為止。
Unit 6 · 單元六
Houses, temples, languages, and place names: the history you walk past every day, and how to look up the story of your own town.
房子、廟、語言和地名：你每天走過的歷史，以及怎麼查出自己家鄉的故事。
