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Taiwan has a rich, colorful history. It becomes a protectorate of
the Chinese Empire in 1206, the year the great Mongol conqueror Genghis
Khan founded the Yuan dynasty. The island was made a prefecture(country)
of the coastal mainland province of Fukien in 1684, and in 1885, during
the Ching or Manchu dynasty (China's last reigning house), Taiwan
was proclaimed a separate province of China.
For centuries Taiwan has been familiar to the West as Formosa,
a name derived from the 16th century Portuguese
mariners who, on sighting the island from a galleon, named it "Ilha
Formosa!" (Beautiful Island!). The official Chinese name for the
Pescadores (Fishermen's Isles), a name also given by Portuguese
mariners, is Penghu. The archipelago is located in the Taiwan Strait,
and forms one of the 16 counties of Taiwan province.
The Dutch
invaded Taiwan in 1624 and remained as colonists for 37 years. The
Spanish
invaded and occupied northernmost Taiwan in 1626, but were driven
out by the Dutch 16 years later in 1642. The Dutch were finally
dislodged in 1661 by invading forces from the mainland led by the
Ming dynasty loyalist Cheng Cheng-kung, whose latinized name, Koxinga,
derives from his ennoblement by the Ming court as Kuo Hsing Yeh,
or lord of the Imperial Surname. Koxinga hoped to use Taiwan as
his base in the fight to overthrow the Ching dynasty and restore
the Ming dynasty.
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In 1884 the French
occupied northernmost Taiwan following a dispute with China
over, the Yunnan-Indochina border. In March 1885 they also occupied
the Pescadores, but withdrew from both the Pescadores and Taiwan
three months later under the terms of a treaty with China.
The Japanese went to war with China in 1894 following a dispute
over Korea. By the treaty of Shimonoseki, concluded in 1895, Taiwan
and the Pescadores were ceded to Japan.
Under another provision, Korea,
over which China had exercised suzerainty, was declared independent
and, as expected, was subsequently annexed by Japan. Taiwan and
the Pescadores were restored to Chinese rule at the end of World
War II in 1945.
The principal city of Taiwan is Taipei, which since December 7,1949,
has been the provisional capital of the Republic of China.
The Republic of China(ROC) was born in
the Wuchang Revolution which erupted on October 10, 1911. The ROC
was formally established on January 1, 1912 and brought the republican
form of government "of the people, by the people, and for the people"
to replace the weak, corrupt bureaucracy of the Ching dynasty.
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Location and Topography
Taiwan is situated in the Pacific Ocean about 160 kilometers (100
miles) from the southeastern coast of the Chinese mainland. Located
about midway between Korea and Japan to the north and Hong
Kong and Philippines to the south, Taiwan is a natural gateway
for travelers to and within Asia.
Shaped roughly like a tobacco leaf, Taiwan is 394 kilometers (245
miles) long and 144 kilometers (89.5 miles) wide at its broadest
point. The Central Mountain Range bisects Taiwan from north to south
and about two-thirds of the island is covered with forested peaks.
The rest of the island is made up of foothills, terraced flatlands,
and coastal plains and basins.
Taiwan province includes the Penghu Archipelago--a group of 64
islands previously known as the Pescadores--and 21 other islands.
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