Compared to their ancestors’ meek submission a hundred years ago, today’s Plains aboriginal descendants are awakening relatively and willing to rewrite their own history. The Geopolitical Culture of the Formosan Plains Austronesians In spite of their considerable culture and linguistic differences, the Formosan Plains Austronesians shared a common geopolitical culture in the seventeenth century. This culture manifested itself most materially in the physical structure of Formosan villages, which were protected by plant defenses or bamboo or wooden walls. Such defenses could be elaborate. In 1630, for example, inhabitants of the village of Mattau built “a sturdy double wall around their village, the inside filled with clay, as well as a moat and many demi-lunes.”