This paper employs social network analysis to examine how Dutch settlers gained access to political actors within the seventeenth-century Dutch settlement Fort Zeelandia. This city was constructed around Fort Zeelandia on the west coast of Dutch Formosa, situated in present-day Taiwan. Social Network Analysis (SNA) provides a framework for exploring the emergence of informal social relationships in this seventeenth-century colonial context. This paper uses the concept of inclusive institutions as proposed by Daron Acemoglu and James A. Robinson, who belong to the New Institutional Economics school of thought. They posit that long-term economic success is determined by the development of political institutions in which ordinary citizens could also exert influence. (Acemoglu and Robinson 2012). Hence, this paper investigates whether various social groups in Dutch Formosa had access to political actors. In a preliminary research published in 1985, Oosterhoff presumed that the Dutch presence in Formosa was successful due to merchants having access to local governance. However, his hypothesis has not been empirically tested to date. Social Network Analysis (SNA) presents a valuable opportunity to address this gap in the existing literature. (Oosterhoff 1985). The remnants of the Dutch Fort Zeelandia persist in the Anping district of present-day Tainan. In 1624, the Dutch established a fort atop a prominent sand dune along the southwest coast of Formosa. Dutch Formosa stood out as one of the few genuinely profitable territories for the Dutch East Indies Company (VOC), facilitated by a flourishing trade relationship with Chinese cities, the cultivation of sugar and rice in the rural areas, and the imposition of taxes. Fort Zeelandia served as the focal point of Dutch presence in Formosa. Adjacent to this fort, a city developed according to the new Dutch model, adhering to the principles of seventeenth-century Dutch urban planning. The city featured straight, paved streets and various public buildings constructed in ...