Fake Formosan

Psalmanazar was well aware that the English knew relatively little about Formosa at the beginning of the 18th century and cleverly used this to his advantage. Not only did it mean that his stories were difficult to disprove, but it also gave him the opportunity to make them outrageous – he would later write in his memoirs that he wanted his stories to be ‘wholly new and surprising’.

In order to make his tall tales of cannibalism and child sacrifice seem more credible, Psalmanazar emphatically presented An Historical and Geographical Description of Formosa as a scholarly treatise. The book follows many of the scientific conventions of its time, such as the inclusion of an alphabet chart.

This chart describes Psalmanazar’s invented Formosan language, which had been part of his rhetorical strategy from the beginning of his imposture. Shortly after arriving in London, he had presented the Bishop of London with an early version of the chart as well as a Formosan translation of the Lord’s Prayer – both can still be found in the collection of Lambeth Palace.