Taiwan

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Taiwan is an island nation of about 36,000 square kilometers located off the coast of southeastern China, southwest of Okinawa and north of the Philippines. The island is governed by the Republic of China or ROC. Shaped roughly like a sweet potato, the nation is home to more than 22 million people and is one of the most densely populated places in the world. Besides its crowded cities and friendly people, Taiwan is also known for steep mountains and lush forests. In addition to the island of Taiwan, the Republic of China also governs the Pescadores (Penghu), Quemoy (Kinmen/Jinmen), and Matsu.

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Taiwan has been populated for thousands of years by more than a dozen aboriginal tribes. Written history begins with the partial colonization of Taiwan by the Dutch and then the Spaniards in the early 17th century. (The old name of Taiwan, Formosa, comes from the Portuguese Ilha Formosa for "beautiful island".) Han Chinese immigrants who had trickled in since the end of the Yuan dynasty (1300s) arrived in larger numbers during the domestic turmoil surrounding the decline of the Ming Dynasty. Although controlled by the Dutch, the Ming loyalist Koxinga defeated the Dutch garrisons and set up Taiwan as a rump Ming Empire with the hope of reconquering Qing China. His son surrendered to the Qing in the late 1600s. Although contact between China and Taiwan dates back thousands of years, it was not until larger numbers of Han residents arrived during the Ming and Qing dynasties that Taiwan was formally integrated into China as part of Fujian province. It became a separate province in 1885. Defeated by the Japanese, the Qing Empire ceded Taiwan to Japan under the terms of the treaty of Shimonoseki. Japan ruled the island until 1945, and exerted profound influences on its development. Much of the Japanese-built infrastructure can still be seen on the island today, and has been in fact continuously used up to the present day (e.g. rail-road crossing gates, administrative buildings, and the old port at Kaohsiung).